Two Girl Kitties at War!!!

by Amy
(Brighton UK)

I have a 5 month old female that I have spoilt to death! We recently got another female who is only 12 weeks old. I first introduced the youngest by keeping her to one room and taking her down in a cage so the oldest could get used to her. Muffin (the eldest) was shaking and looked at me in resent. I kept doing it all day, taking Crumpet down in the cage and then taking her away. The problem was Crumpet whines when she is on her own and I wanted to attend to Muffin so the next day I introduced them fully. At night I sleep with Muffin and my boyfriend sleeps with Crumpet, so the love is shared equally! Muffin is so green eyed and goes for Crumpet at the neck and sometimes licks her?? But mainly swipes and bites.

She constantly stalks her and I'm constantly protecting Crumpet which makes Muffin even more mad. Crumpet is small but has huge paws and seems to be very tough and goes for Muffin and Muffin gets scared and vice versa. The problems is Crumpet thinks its a game and Muffin is very serious. When Muffin pounces on her Crumpet she makes whiny noises and hisses, however seems to get up and runs for her, or I intervene and pick Crumpet up. Is this completley distressing the baby? Should I intervene? Will they eventually sort things out? its been 5-6 days now. I know I should give it more time but I keep thinking this will turn Crumpet into a scatty cat.
Muffin follows me everywhere and can't stand Crumpet being in the way. Also Muffin has resentful eyes, she doesn't purr with me anymore and her tail is constantly wagging! PLEASE HELP!!


Answer by Kate
My advice is to STOP WORRYING. i think a lot of the anxiety in the house may actually be comeing from you. cats are very good at picking up on our emotions and if you are stressed and worried about them this can make them nervous too.

the behavior you describe sounds like completely normal cat behavior between two cats who are sorting out their relationship with each other and their place in the house. this is completely normal and although can look rather scary, should be allowed. this enables the cats to sort things out for themselves.

yes it will get easier the longer they get to know each other. You did not mention if the cats were spayed or going to be. This is very important as two female cats together can be more of a handful than two boys if they are not spayed.

Give them time and let them sort things out for themselves. try to distract them with toys or a ball if things look they are getting too rough but 9 times out of 10 it looks and sounds worse than it actually is.

i went through this with my two, at first they would play, which later turned more rough and now they rarely interact together and if they do it is all about chasing rather than biting etc. cats have their own rules and if we intervene we can make things worse in the long run.

best wishes KAae

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