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How can a 7 yr old male cat and a 2 year female get along?
MY mom adopted a male cat that had been fixed and declawed. He is about 7 years old now. She has had him about 3 years now. She recently in the last 4 weeks took in a female cat fixed but not declawed. She hisses at the male cat and tries to attack him. We have tried isolating them and spraying her with the water bottle, nothing seems to be working. My mom does not want to have her put to sleep, she is a very affectioned cat. The only thing we can think of is to have her declawed and that is a expense my mom can't afford now. Is there anything else we can do.
dwhite, it was more help than you know. You originally posted this in the Forum Help board where we have a big red Announcement about not posting cat questions there.
We moved it to the board where our Tax Expert will see your question.
The two cats may never become friends, but the following may help.
1. Isolate the new cat in one room, with food, water, litter box, and some toys.
2. Allow the two cats to interact under the door for several days. Basically, this needs to be done slowly, so you want to let it go as long as it needs to so that she is no longer hissing at the male cat.
3. Allow the two cats to interact together, but keep the new cat's stuff in the room that she has been in.
The difficulty that I can see is that the new cat is being the aggressor. Normally it's the cat that has been on the territory the longest that is the aggressor. So this may be a situation where the female is just not going to share the house with another cat, in which case it may be necessary to rehome her.
And declawing won't solve this situation, and may make things worse since they could resort to biting.
I have had it take up to 2 months for cats to be able to be around each other without fighting. I think you may have a chance since this is a boy and girl.I really would not spary either cat unless there was a full blown attack.
In about a week try putting their food on the opposite sides of the door when you are feeding them even if you only do this with a tasty treat. Let mom on one side with the female cat and you on the otherside whit the male cat. I would suggest not touching just watch.
You could even try a little cat nip on each side as well. Let them both see that pleasant things can occur while they are within range of each other. Also try a toy that hangs down to the bottom of the door on one side and let the other cat play with it the movement will make the other cat curious and maybe they wll eventually play with each others paws under the door.
I would not try these suggestions all at one time It may be too much. Try each one for a week at a time and see what happens.
dwhite. I think if you take things slowly it will all work out. It may take more than a week or two, but if the male is receptive to her then that is a really good sign. They may never be best friensd and may only learn to coexist with each other. An adult female and male together is alot easier than them being the same sex.
My bet is in a few months they will be play mates Just go slow and use their natural curiosity.
Another plug for Feliway...check with your vet to see if they carry it; Petsmart may have it. It is a synthetic hormone similar to the ones cats deposit when they "whisker mark" by rubbing their cheeks against objects. It is a calming hormone that sends an "all is well" message. Comes in a spray or a plug-in diffuser (like a glade plug-in) which would work well because it covers more area. Doesn't always work, but certainly worth a try!
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