Cats turning on each other

by Francesca
(Saddle Brook, NJ)

Hi i currently have 3 all male all neutered cats. two of them are from the same litter and are about a year and half old. about six months ago we found a male kitten only a few weeks old and we took him in. One of my original cats, Salem, didnt adapt too quickly to the new addition and after about 2 weeks of hissing and growling, all seemed fine. Now six months later, the newest one, Merlin, wont let Salem anywhere near him. he'll growl, hiss, and make high pitching noises. Can you please tell me why this is happening and what, if anything i can do to stop it?

Answer by kate
this can happen from time to time and is usually caused by something quite trivial and sometimes even non related to the other cat.

Something has frightened your cat and he is taking his fear out on the other cat, it is known as trauma aggression.

the only thing you can do is to try and rebuild the confidence for the cats. this is done using the introduction method over a period of a week. It does take a little time and effort but is worth it in the end I find.

the process is described here in full

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/introducing-cats.html

best wishes Kate

P.s love the picture

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