My cats fight eveyday and I'm tired of it. Will it ever stop?

by Lisa
(Blaine, MN )

My husband moved into my home when we got engaged about 2 years ago. At the time, my male cat (Felix) was 2. He brought with him his female cat (Hershe)and she was 9. Our cats have very different personalities. Felix is dominant and aggressive, and really only lets me and my husband pet him. He does not trust other people and doesn't like to be pet by others, but always has to be around to see what's going on. He is very playful and wild. Hershe is calm, loves all people, and is playful but not aggressively. She is more mellow. Felix is definately still "my" cat, and Hershe is "my husbands" cat. Felix runs to me, and Hershe runs to him for affection. For the most part, they seem to tolerate one another. If my husband is not home, Hershe is no where to be found. Once my husband gets home, Hershe will come out of hiding and the fight is on. Felix gets excited to see her and wants to play, and she wants nothing to do with it. She will hiss at him, but that never stops him from wanting to attack her. So she will run, and he will chase her. Then Hershe will start fighting back with hissing and screaming. We seperate them, but Felix will still want to play so he wont stop until I give him attention. I was hoping that by now the cats would have stopped the fighting, but this is still happening everyday! Is there anything I can do to get Felix to just ignore Hershe when he wants to play? Should I seperate them into two different areas of the house, or just deal with it for years to come until one of the cats needs to be put down?? HELP!!!

Tired and Frusterated

Answer by Kate
unfortunately this sounds like normal cat behavior ro me. It doesn't sound like anyone is getting hurt just a lot of spitting and hissing. Your female cats is saying hey back off but it sounds like your male won't take the hint. I am assumeing that both cats are neutered, if not this could be casuing tension.
Apart from keeping them separate all the time i cannt see what we as humans can do about it. It is normal cat behavior and as long as they are not causing each other harm i can't see the problem, apart from the noise. You may want to try and spray your male cat with water when he goes after your female cat, he may decide that this behavior only gets him wet and decide to stop, but you would have to catch him everytime.

I hope things work out for you and that you don't go too crazy with it all, cats can be a big worry, i know.

---