Young male cat aggressively defending his territory from tiny female kitten

by lauren
(sebring, fl usa)

I brought home my little male cat (6 months) home 3 months ago. He now runs the place, and is very oddly attached to me personally. Crying when i leave for work, sitting at the door until i come home, following my EVERY step! Even to the bathroom in the middle of the night! I would definately say he's VERY protective of me (which i only thought dogs did). Last weekend i adopted another kitten. This time a female which is 3 months ( but looks no more older than 6 weeks). She's very tiny for her age, but full of spunk, and very loving!

Well, he wasnn't gonna have it! Plinko (the boy) gets all in a rage when he see's her. I have been keeping her in her own room with her own box for 6 days now, letting them sniff eachother through the door, feeding him at her door, and letting them paw at eachother through a small crack in the door. All the while exchanging toys and blankets with them for the scent. Now that i started letting them in the same room together, he will get all in a huff and sniff her butt, then attack her! biting her neck hard. He really gets violent! Shes a tough little cookie though, and she fights back hard, she will also pounce on him playfully. A couple times he played nicely with her, but every time it ended up too rough, with her squealing. And he constantly walks around when shes in the room crying with a weird "rolling meow". He also has sniffed and licked her butt a couple times, then attacked her. Is this normal? and is he tring to kill her, or is that just normal male behavior? Please help as i can't stand having to keep them locked away in different rooms all the time.

Answer by Kate
Hi
Well firstly you need to make sure that your male cat is now neutered and that your female is neutered after she is 5 months old. this will ease the situation somewhat as hormones won't be driving the behaviour anymore.

Next you will need to reintroduce them to each other in such a way as to make the experience a non threatening one, which is calm and controlled (please see this page for a fuller explanation of the process https://www.our-happy-cat.com/introducing-cats.html

With these two things done you stand a much better chance of the two gets rubbing along together (although they may never be mates) as cats are very territorial and not pack animals like dogs and so prefer to be the only cat in town. But they can live together if introduced in the right way.

I hope everything works out for you all and that things calm down for you in the next few months.

best wishes kate

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