Expert: Norman Auspitz - 11/16/2010

Question
Hi. Long story so I'll try and keep it fairly short. I have 5 year old female. In May our other cat died.  I brought a new 3 year old male into the home from the shelter and the intro did not go well because he is aggressive.  It's been 7 months now and both cats have full run of the house except at night I put him in the spare bedoom so she can run the entire house without fear. I'm working with Feliway, herbal formulas for aggression, pet calming things. The cats have divided the house. He primarily stays upstairs now during the day, and she downstairs.  When he comes downstairs she hides under the couch. I've tried all kinds of things to get these cats to get along but she growls at him from under the couch. If he sees her walking around, he attacks her like she's a little bunny rabbit. Both are neutered/spayed. So far no issues with using the litter boxes or fights over food. Unfortunately when I bring anything new into the house now my female marks it.  I bought two new area rugs over the weekend and she marked them.  I cleaned them good with a pet oxy-clean product.

The question is now my male cat goes up to the areas where she marked and rolls around in them, lays all over them like he's in heaven and seems completely content to be where she has marked. Last night he took a nap on one of the spots. I've never seen anything like it.
What do you make of this behavior?  Is it normal?
Is there anything else I can do to get them to get along?
By the way, I got him at the shelter so I don't know his background but he looks like a California Spangled or a little bit Bengal-looking. He has his claws.  I am wondering if he is attacking her because he's really trying to mate or thinks he can mate with her.
Thank you!

Answer
Nancy,

Is she spayed? If not, that would be the first order of business.

It seems that they just are not getting along, which is why she is exhibiting marking behavior. Remember, that was her house and now she is objecting to the new cat.  We mere humans do not understand the rules of cat inter-relationships and, sometimes, things do not go as would like.  After 7 months, their relationship is pretty much set and there is little, if anything can be done to make things easier.

His behavior is perfectly normal. If she has been spayed, I would have her hormone levels checked as it does sound like she is exhibiting some "whole female" behaviors.

Males neutered when they are older will sometimes go through mating behaviors with unspayed females.

Please let me know if this helps, at all.

BTW, most herbal things for modifying feline behavior, either do not work at all, or really need to be administered transdermally, usually in the ear.


Best regards... Norm