WAHM Forums

I have a female cat. My girlfriend has a male cat. When she moved into my house, the two cats immediately started fighting. We keep them separated now. It's been over a month and they still don't get along. I've read all the advice online; female cats tend to be more territorial, first impressions are everything (which we screwed up), rub the cat with other cats scent...Can anyone offer different insight than what's already online, or is it just going to take a long time before they can co-habitate like their owners?

the kitties need a reintroduction, which involves a few steps. with some time, patience and effort , the two kitties can live happily together.

Its a lot to post here but if you would like you can email my animal Rescue org at [email protected] and I will send the protocol used in our feline behavior counseling

It took about three weeks for us to introduce our two female cats to each other. The new cat didn't care about the other one, but the cat who had lived there longer was very territorial and would hiss at just the scent of the newer cat. We kept them in separate rooms for three weeks, with separate food bowls and litter boxes. However, sometimes we would switch their food bowls so they would get used to the scent of the other cat. We would also rub their toys or a sock with the scent of the newer cat and make the other cat smell it. At first she would hiss at the smell and growl and even be mean to us about it, but eventually she just got used to it. Sometimes it just takes a lot of time. Another thing you can do is separate them by a screen door or a crate; that way they can't get to each other to actually hurt each other but they still are meeting face to face. You are supposed to introduce them actually face to face several times, each time making the visit longer so they get used to each other. If they hiss and paw at each other, I wouldn't get too freaked out, this is highly normal among cats. Our problem was we were so afraid that one was going to hurt the other, when really, all they needed was to be exposed to each other long enough for the older cat to realize the newer one wasn't actually a threat. At the time, my older cat was being so vicious I thought we might have to get rid of one of them, but the more we introduced them the easier it got. Now, they love each other. They play all the time, and they will even bathe each other, they will whine at the door when the other one is in a different room. They're best friends. We were able to move their food bowls next to each other and they now share a litter box. I say to not be so fearful of a little bit of cat fighting, which is completely normal, and work on slowly exposing them to each other until they can get used to it. If you need any other advice, let me know, I know it can be extremely stressful.