Expert: Karen Craft - 3/2/2010

Question
I had two cats, one female Siamese Himalayan mix that was 6yrs old and one female Calico that was three, they got along great with only a stray fight a couple of times a year.  A long story short we took in a 2yr female Grey Tabby.  The tabby came from a multi cat home and was very use to other cats.  We did the whole introducing slowly thing that you should do.  It took about a month before the hissing stopped and we let the tabby have free range of the home like the other two do, but in that time frame our Calico died.  Our Siamese mix started crying a lot, which was new for her, and is now hissing at the tabby every time she sees her.  It’s like she blames the Tabby for the Calico dieing (that is not true).   The tabby wants to play and is almost kitten like most of the time so she actively seeks out the Siamese.  The Siamese wants nothing to do with her and will run away or hiss to get the tabby out of “her room”.  Both cats are eating and using the litterbox with no problems, we have several bowls of food and water, but only one large litterbox.  We have a 1500 sqft two story home.  The Siamese will roam the upstairs comfortably, even lay in the middle of the hall and clean herself, but is very nervous downstairs and only goes down to eat/drink or use the litterbox.  The tabby will go everywhere and acts like she owns the place, and has taken to chasing the Siamese back upstairs whenever she comes down, but she doesn’t stop there.  They run all around the house, growling and hissing.  It has never gotten physical, but it’s been three months like this.  

Is there anyway to get them to accept each other?  Or at least for the Siamese to calm down.  I heard about Feliway, but everything I read is about spraying and I don’t have that.  The vet suggested I get a kitten to play with the tabby, but that just sounds crazy with the way they are fighting.  Any suggestions or do I just need to give it more time?

Answer
Hi Jillian,

In my opinion cats grieve like we do when a companion dies. She may blame the tabby. You can try the introduction route again. This might work. Feliway also works for this problem also. It calms cats down. I would definitely give this a try. You might also want to speak to your vet about short term tranquilizers. This will give the Siamese time to calm down and relax with the tabby. Try the other suggestions first. She may just need a little more time. And show her a little extra attention. Sometimes that's all you need. Good Luck.

Ciao, Karen