Hi all. I was hoping someone could give me a bit of advise. We adopted at 5 year old maine coon 6 weeks ago. She came from a lovely breeder who was adopting her out as her last litter didn’t survive due to a pregnancy complication.
We have already a small male cat whom we’ve had from a kitten, he’s 3 years old now. He’s an adorable cat, very mild mannered and quiet, likes to be outside a lot.
The maine coon settled into the house immediately and loves us but hasn’t accepted the resident cat. We’ve kept them separated and swapped over bedding to get them used to each others smells. We gradually tried to introduce them to each other. The resident cat seemed a bit nervous but not too bothered until the maine coon started to run at him and attack him. The resident cat took off terrified and didn’t come back to the house for a day or so. Since then every time we try to get them together it’s the same story, the resident cat just sits and the MC tries to go for him. We hold her back and try to distract with toys and treats which works very temporarily but she soon goes back to stalking him and trying everything she can to get at him, then he runs again, she runs after him, sometimes gets hold of him and the outcome is never very nice.
Really hoping someone can advise on what we can do next as it’s becoming very stressful, the MC is constantly locked into a room as we work all day and can’t risk her attacking him while we’re out. It’s not fair on either cat and we feel that if it goes on any longer we will have to rehome the MC.
Any advise from a behaviourist or anyone with similar experience would be very much appreciated.
We have already a small male cat whom we’ve had from a kitten, he’s 3 years old now. He’s an adorable cat, very mild mannered and quiet, likes to be outside a lot.
The maine coon settled into the house immediately and loves us but hasn’t accepted the resident cat. We’ve kept them separated and swapped over bedding to get them used to each others smells. We gradually tried to introduce them to each other. The resident cat seemed a bit nervous but not too bothered until the maine coon started to run at him and attack him. The resident cat took off terrified and didn’t come back to the house for a day or so. Since then every time we try to get them together it’s the same story, the resident cat just sits and the MC tries to go for him. We hold her back and try to distract with toys and treats which works very temporarily but she soon goes back to stalking him and trying everything she can to get at him, then he runs again, she runs after him, sometimes gets hold of him and the outcome is never very nice.
Really hoping someone can advise on what we can do next as it’s becoming very stressful, the MC is constantly locked into a room as we work all day and can’t risk her attacking him while we’re out. It’s not fair on either cat and we feel that if it goes on any longer we will have to rehome the MC.
Any advise from a behaviourist or anyone with similar experience would be very much appreciated.
