A cat behavior problem - bullying.

[Man_With_a_Cat]

Ok cat people, I’m stumped.

People paying attention to these boards know Cuervo , the amazing rescued kitten.

Relax, he’s in fine health - physically. The problem I have that I can’t for the life of me figure out how to solve, is with Scarlett and her bullying the little guy.

As I write this, I am 100% certain that he is under the living room couch, tucked up into the torn lining where he can’t be seen. He used to live almost exclusively in the big, carpeted family room, but now only ventures there when mama (me) is home and playing with him. Now he hides there most of the day whenever he’s not eating in the downstairs bathroom, out playing with us, or in the bed sleeping. He almost never voluntarily goes upstairs, because the stairs have a blind corner and she could be lying in wait.

It’s not bullying in the sense that if she sees him, she’ll give chase. She seeks him out just to growl and swat at him. The pictures don’t do her justice, she’s easily a 15 lb cat.

She knows she’s not supposed to be doing it, because she’ll behave if I’m around. But “behaving” for her means just sitting and glaring at him. And even at that, if she’s in the room, he doesn’t relax, he stops what he’s doing and keeps on eye on her. She’s been punished when she’s been caught smacking him - banished to the basement.

Before we moved, we had to put Erica to sleep. At the time, I think Scarlett assumed she’d take over as the alpha cat. Marty is the older male, but he has the spine of a jellyfish, he’s all lover and no fighter. Scarlett also was my sleeping companion - always in the crook of my arm while I slept. So, no doubt some of this reaction is jealousy.

I make sure to spend extra time with her, hold her and play like she likes to - which is to say rough. But none of it matters, she still is intent on making him completely miserable when she’s around. So far, she’s not scaring him out of the litter box, and he eats by himself anyway.

A couple weeks ago, I pondered briefly finding her a home with adults and no other cats where she could be the Diva she wants to be, but I can’t just give up one of my kids that way.

I have to believe that either this is going to play out with him finally learning to stand up to her a little, or her learning to back off.

Anyone have to deal with this kinds of thing before?

[silenus]

Have you tried getting them to play together with something? It may just be a matter of habituation. If not, Cuervo will just have to swat her back a couple of times until she gets the hint, or join Marty on the Lover’s Bench.

[MLS]

Have you tried a setup where they can see (and smell) each other but are physically separated? A safety gate or some such arrangement?

[Man_With_a_Cat]

Once in a while, I’ll have this toy out and both of them will play with it, but not together. I have to “fly fish” with it. They’ll be on opposite sides of the room. I can sit between them on the couch, petting both and they tolerate it, but to get them together is almost impossible. He’s literally terrified of her.

I tend to think one day soon he’s going to swat back and get some bravery, but he’ll probably never actually scare her off. She’s just too agrressive to be intimated.

[carnivorousplant]

It’s all politics and will work out over time.
Nadia beat up Nellie the new cat until Nellie started hissing back.

[Man_With_a_Cat]

@carnivorousplant

It’s all politics and will work out over time.
Nadia beat up Nellie the new cat until Nellie started hissing back.

Have I mentioned that in the four months we’ve had him, all any of us have heard from is a couple squeaks? The damn cat doesn’t talk, let alone hiss.

[carnivorousplant]

Vigorously petting cat “A”, then vigourously petting cat “B”, and yet again vigorously petting “A” supposedly gets them used to smelling each other. YMMV.
As long as no blood is being drawn, you are ahead of the game. Worst case I had was going from hiding to hissing back and each establishing their own territory in three months.
BTW, Grandmother had a red cat who squeaked instead of meowing.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

Dumb Friends League to the rescue! With a pdf!

Territorial Aggression: Cats are very territorial, much more so than dogs. Territorial aggression occurs
when a cat feels that his territory has been invaded by an intruder. Depending on where your cat
spends his time, he may view your whole neighborhood as his territory. Female cats can be just as
territorial as males. The behavior patterns in this type of aggression include chasing and ambushing the
intruder, as well as hissing and swatting when contact occurs. Territorial problems often occur when a
new cat is brought into a household, when a young kitten reaches maturity, or when a cat encounters
neighborhood cats outside. It’s not uncommon for a cat to be territorially aggressive toward one cat in
a family, and friendly and tolerant to another.

What to do? They suggest pretending that you’re starting from (heh) scratch, and reintroducing them to one another. Here’s their pdf on that subject.

www.ddfl.org is a fantastic site for animal advice.

Daniel

[Man_With_a_Cat]

LHOD, thanks! This looks pretty helpful - very similar to what carnivorousplanthad to offer - the concept of re-introducing them to each other.

Odd part is, that this has gotten worse as he’s gotten bigger, but this:

…when a
new cat is brought into a household, when a young kitten reaches maturity

seems like what’s going on. She might have not been threatened when he was this tiny but now he’s in the 6-7 lb range, things are different for her.

[carnivorousplant]

Nadia comes into the bed room, reaches up and begins hissing and swatting at Bubba on the bed who swats back. This usually occurs very early in the morning and feeding them ends it.
I thought they were playing “I’m on the bed with Daddy and you’re not!”, but maybe it’s a territorial thing over the location of the food bowl.

[dwyr]

I just want to add one more thing-punishing her for her behavior towards him will only cause her to be angrier with him. In the long run it just doesn’t work very well, speaking as a herder of four resident cats.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

[url=http://www.petfinder.com/journalindex.cgi?path=/public/animalbehavior/cats/1.2.521.txt]Another interesting article, with additional suggestions–including kitty valium!

Daniel