World War 3! My cat and kitten won't stop fighting! It's been going on for nearly 8 months!?

Question

Cleo is almost 4; just before our older cat was put to sleep (she & Cleo tolerated each other) 8 months ago, we bought a half rag-doll male kitten (Jasper) who is 10 months old. We tried to do all the right things, keeping them separate, introducing them slowly, giving Cleo a place of her own Jasper wasn't allowed to go, feeding them together. They are both desexed.

Jasper wants to play with Cleo, she will have nothing to do with him. She growls & hisses, then lashes at him with claws out. He used to just run away, but now he's bigger than her, he chases her back. They ignore each other at dinner time; their bowls are close together but it doesn't seem to worry them. They are given equal amounts of affection.

I'm really afraid one or the other of them will get hurt. Nothing has worked so far, so ANY suggestions welcome. I NEED HELP!

Previous answers (thanks): I tried the tuna oil, they licked themselves not each other; neither are interested in catnip so spraying that doesn't help.

Answer 1

the kitten is growing up and is finding himself as a cat. make sure they have enough toys and activities to keep them busy. reward them for playing with the toys. cats really need a scratching / climbing pole to attack and work out on.

Answer 2

First, try and find a way to provide two litter boxes. That will help in many ways that you probably haven't even considered. It has only been four days, and what she is doing is somewhat typical. Zelda is still very much a kitten, and Sakura, although you didn't state age, is probably a much younger kitten. So the adjustment should go smoother. What Zelda is doing, by going up and swatting at Sakura, is letting Sakura know that she is the alpha kitty in the apartment. Once the pecking order is set, things will settle down. And being that they are kittens, kittens do play rough. Very rough. So they may become friends, and it may not seem like it to you. It is easy to over think situations like that. One thing that will help is to have vertical separations. In other words, can one kitten cross the room at a different level, such as from furniture to furniture? That helps a great deal. Just give it some time.

Answer 3

Get another male kitten for Jasper to play with. A less dominant personality than Cleo or Jasper. For the most part, ignore the new kitten and give Cleo tons of extra attention to show her she's #1. Let Cleo be the one to have the run of the house and Jasper be the one who's got the place of his own.

Answer 4

To be honest, the best you may expect is toleration. I have two cats and it's the same w/ them. At first they fought and I'd spend all day trying to break it up. Now you don't have to do this but one day I just let them have at it. I figured, one of them wants to let the other know who's boss so I let them figure it out. Neither got hurt, but now they'll be within inches of eachother and be fine and sometimes the most it takes is a growl and the other backs off and that's usually only when one cat is where the other wants to be at the time. The important thing to me is the fighting has stopped and they can at least live in the same place together and no one needs to go to the pound.

Answer 5

I has the same problem with my cats Mya, and Rocky. Mya I've had since a kitten she is three and Rocky I've had as well since he was young and he is now two. The moment the two met it was like you said world war three, now everything is happy here they still don't care for each other but they live with it.
I went to my vet for some info and he told me that cats are very independent animals, even though they are domestic you have to look at where they came from every wild cat accept for lions like to be alone and are very territorial. Basically he was telling me they need their own space which means, they each should get their own litter box that is separated form each other cats do not like to mix their own scents. That is why when they go to the bathroom they cover it up they don't want other cats or predators to smell that they were there. Another thing food bowls should be in different rooms I know you said that they don't mind this but trust me it will make your problem better. Each cat should have their own designated bed and toys put them in the cats favorite room in the house. My cat Rocky loves our bedroom that is his room, Mya is always in the family room. Trust it really worked they are very happy cats and are relaxed,. and every so often we will now catch the two of them playing and grooming eahother but after that they go to their separate terrtories of the house. DO NOT SQUIRT THEM WITH WATER THAT WILL MAKE THEM MORE UPSET CATS DO NOT LIKE THAT!!!! MAY MAKE YOUR PROBLEM WORSE.

Answer 6

You are goin to have to be a refferi I have 5 cats one of them is the oldest and she dosent like to be bother the the yunger ones at, first I though they were goin to kill each other, so what I did was I but some water in a spay botle and every time they would fight I would spray them BOTH with the direct spray and say very fimly NO I did this for 2 Days and they finaly got it if they fight they would get water
Good luck

Answer 7

AWW I HAVE CATS NAMED CHLOE AND JASPER... CUTE.

Did you try feliway spray/diffusers? It's supposed to help calm and relax them.

My other suggestion is to get Jasper a little friend that actually wants to play. This will divert his energy away from Cleo, and she'll just keep to herself. Jasper is probably too high energy for her. You said she tolerated the old cat, but s/he probably wasn't jumping all over her.

I got my oldest, Chloe, a friend (Jasper, hehe) after years of her being alone... she didn't like him at allll. Then a stray kitten named Dora came along and Jasper and Dora are in love and Chloe just keeps to herself. To be honest with you, two cats OR three cats, doesn't make much of a difference.

Chloe always smacks the other two and hisses at them. That's the way it will be forever, but they just walk around her and avoid her and they play with each other.

Good luck :)

Answer 8

First I would keep the sharp points on their claws clipped. Then I would get a squirt bottle for water. When he starts chasing her say "Jasper no" and if he doesn't stop, squirt him. They can be taught just like dogs that it is unacceptable behavior. I have 17 indoor cats and only have a problem with 2 of them, this is what I did and now I just yell Smokey no and he stops. Always use his name so he knows he's the one being disciplined before you squirt him.

Answer 9

Well, coming from some one who has 4 indoor male cats, and an outdoor feral male- they all get along. I never had truely any problems with them, as I was very lucky, but the time's i did have problems, there's only one solution. You stand yourself to them as Alpha, and alpha only. Don't worry, they won't hate you, they'll respect you, and learn that you are the one they need to follow. I find that if you are also loud with a cat, as you would be a dog, training behaviors goes alot quicker. I do have a must have, when it comes to behavior training, and that is a compressed air can. (like for computers and stero's and such) That vs Water- the air can has a uncomforting noise when blown, and cats HATE to be blown on, especially with force behind it. Cats and a spray bottle-they've geneticaly grown past that I think, they all dont care about being squirted, and ive found that they really just dont understansd why they are getting wet. They focus on getting wet, instead of the why.
I know this is a novel, im sorry.
ALWAYS be consistant with your words, when training them. My feral, when being fed has a tendancy to swat me when im feeding him wet food. I do it with him there however, to encourage him to not be afraid of me. When he starts to swat, i loudly say "dont hit". After about a week of this, all i had to do was say it in my normal tone, and he got the point. My indoors, well they've mostly always gotten along. I do however have 2 of them going after alpha cat between them. When I was training them, I would spray the air can in the air and say "-your cats name-" and they would stop in their tracks. This must be a consistant, so that they are stopped from what they are doing when they hear their name. Its a HUGE step. When they were bad and in my close range, is the only time i would ever actually spray them with the can, because the noise bothered them enough. Now, when they see the can, they just stop, and when i call their name sternly. It doesn't take alot of work, but ti does take patience, and consistancy. I swear it, for the peace in my small house with 4 cats at peace, it's totally worth at least trying, to see if it works with your cats. If anything, it'll at least establish dominance in your part to them.
Hope I was of some help!

Answer 10

I had that problem, and the way my friend told me to handle it was to pet one of them and then pet the other (Cleo in ur case) around the face.. that way it's getting Jaspers smell all over her so she HAS to accept her since it's now part of her smell. She told me to just keep doing it everyday and eventually they stopped fighting and started to tolerate each other.

Answer 11

Sometimes cats (females especially) are too territorial and they don't want another cat. They may never like each other. You can help release teh stress with feliway, a plug in liquid that releases feromones in the air and cats are "happier", but don't expect too much of a change with that.
Also, try to keep their claws trimmed, so that they don't hurt each other. I mean slightly trimmed, not declawed.