Expert: Ali - 1/15/2009

Question
Three months ago I had to take in my sons cats. They are siblings, maybe about a year: teenager kitties for sure. I also have two cats, one is an extremely fragile cat, Alydar, born with a congenital intestine deformity ( 5 grand vet bill, and worth every penny), anyway one of my son's cats recently had a hernia repair and neutering, and now he is viciously attacking little Alydar. It is extremely violent and frightening. Alydar came down w a doozie of a stress related respiratory infection. He is outwardly well, but what can I do here to re-introduce Alydar, and my son's cat Willie Lomax? These are our kids, and getting rid of any of them would break our hearts. Please advise. No cats are spraying, and I marveled from the first day how easy the intergration had come down, man o man was I mistaken...help! ps all are indoor cats...

Answer
Kerri,

I would like to start off by saying that I know exactly where you stand in terms of your cats, mine are my children as well. I would never recommend that somebody ' get rid of ' any pet. Improperly introducing the new kids is probably what's causing the aggression between them and your resident cat. Since questions about proper new cat/kitten introductions are quite common I'll give you some basic information, if you would like further details on this subject, please feel free to check out my previous answers on new cat/kitten introductions. It's generally wise to isolate new cats coming into a home with resident cats in a room behind a closed door with all of the usual kitty amenities for a period of 2-3 weeks. There are a few reasons for this recommendation. The most obvious is that cats are quite territorial and will tend to display aggression in varying degrees to any new cat coming into their territory. Isolating the new cats will allow your resident cat to become accustomed to the new arrivals in his/her own time. You can help this process along by feeding the cats on opposite sides of the closed door which will allow all of the kitties in question to associate something positive (food) with a change in their territory. It's very important to play with and give affection to the resident cat as well as the new babies, after all, isolation doesn't mean that their need for love changes. Another positive point to isolating the new cats is that you will gradually become familiar with these little ones and the isolation period allows you to find out what is normal for these cats in regards to energy levels, toilet habits, appetite, personality quirks and more. Another very important reason to isolate all new cats coming into your home for 2-3 weeks is that they may be fighting off an infection of some sort - some viral and bacterial infections may not be readily apparent so the isolation period doubles as a precautionary quarantine period to prevent the spread of infections. It's a good idea to watch for signs of illness in these cats throughout their isolation period as well as being sure to test for feline leukemia and FIV which are serious chronic viral infections similar to HIV/AIDS in humans (don't worry though, they can't pass these infections on to people).

In order to help calm your resident cat (who is probably quite upset by now) you can try out a homeopathic remedy called Bach's Rescue Remedy which is a safe blend of flower essences designed to calm and reassure. I don't recommend that you administer this remedy directly by mouth as the  flower essences are preserved in a grape alcohol solution and most cats aren't typically fond of the taste or smell of alcohol which is why it's best to add it to the water except in cases of emergency. Rescue Remedy is used by some vets and pet parents worldwide as a safe non-pharmaceutical way to treat anxiety, fear, trauma and other similar emotions, it won't hurt pets or children. I would recommend that you try a dose of about 5-7 drops in each fresh bowl of water every morning, you may also want to add the same dose of Rescue Remedy to the torties' water so that everyone is peaceful and happy. You can generally find Rescue Remedy in health food stores, naturopathic pharmacies, in some mainstream pharmacies and I believe it can also be purchased online.