Ok so my boyfriend has a cat named Neko who is five years old and I have a cat named Howl who is four years old. Their both male. I moved in ten months ago. Now two months ago Neko started to hiss whenever he saw Howl and figured he needed a break from Howl. So his sister took Neko for a week. When he came back he still hissed but not as bad. However over the months he now even attacks Howl. The constant hissing has aggravated my boyfriend to the point we gave the cat to his sister again. What should I do to help him stop doing this?
~~~Siggy~~~
Carl: You hear that? That's the sound of forgiveness!
Paul: That's the sound of people drowning Carl...
Carl: That is what forgiveness sounds like ... Screaming and then silence~
Wait, so you moved Howl into Neko's home, and when Neko didn't welcome him, you moved Neko out as punishment? That seems like a poor decision in my eyes.
There is no way Neko could understand why he's being uprooted from his home, and he probably hates Howl as a result. Your best solution is to give them entirely separate litterboxes, food bowls, toys, and equal attention times. When in doubt, give Neko more, since he was there first and has "seniority."
Nothing will fix it except repeated positive interactions between them and a reduction in the resentment between Neko and Howl, which will probably take a very long time.
"Women. They are a complete mystery." -Stephen Hawking
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Bad Wolf
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When you bring a new cat of ANY age into a house, you need to keep them separated for a bit and gradually introduce them. Set up a litterbox, food and water in your bedroom and keep one cat in there. let them sniff at each other through the door, and then slowly allow them to mingle supervised for small chunks of time. Gradually increasing the length of time and frequency until they are only separated when no one is home.
They're gonna hiss at each until they fight it out and figure out a pecking order. But once they do they'll be fine. They may never be friends, but they'll tolerate each other's existence.
He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the
storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and
forever. He burns at the center of time
and can see the turn of the
universe. And... He's
wonderful.
Tits its not to punish Neko but he's the one who attacks Howl. At first Howl just kind of took it but after a while of random attacks he started to attack back. My boyfriend's sister takes him because Neko is already use to her and Howl hides from her. (Also Howl sheds like no tomorrow and she doesn't want all that fur in her room. I mean if you run your hand over him once you already have a fur ball amount all over your hand). Pretty much if Howl is in eyesight even across the room Neko will just start to hiss.
Lyss we did that since day one. They both have their own water bowls, toys, litter, we did keep them separate for a while, and they got along pretty (Neko was cleaning Howls face it was cute!) well until recently. We do give both of them a lot of attention and even play with them but the random hissing as of late, were not sure why.
Oh I forgot to mention she lives just upstairs. Its one house but divided into three apartments so it's not like Neko goes far.
~~~Siggy~~~rCarl: You hear that? That's the sound of forgiveness!rPaul: That's the sound of people drowning Carl...rCarl: That is what forgiveness sounds like ... Screaming and then silence~
Lyss [forum info]
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All hail Queen Lyss
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Bad Wolf
Posts: 25394
So let them fight it out. This is how they communicate. Maybe Howl used Neko's litter box and Neko is offended by that. It won't solve itself any other way.
Our cats go through phases. Some days my old man cat will let the kitten groom him. Other days, he wants her no where near him. They know when I yell it's time to cool off but if I don't here a meow that sounds like a cat is in pain, I generally let them fight it out.
He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the
storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and
forever. He burns at the center of time
and can see the turn of the
universe. And... He's
wonderful.
My old boy doesn't like my younger boy. Lots of hissing and growling and he will never get on with him but I've got used to it now. They fight if they invade each others space but otherwise they put up with living together in their seperate parts of the room. They only come together when it's dinner time.
"I have become the monster you once thought me to be" - Alexandre Dumas (The Three Muskateers - Milady de Winter)
