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Old June 23rd 04, 03:38 PM
Wendy
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"Jonny R" wrote in message
om...
We currently have a 6 month old ragdoll cat (Hummy - male) who's been
with us for 3 months now. On Monday we brought back home a 3 month
old ragdoll cat (Normy - male) that we purchased from the same
breeder. We were expecting for things to go fairly smoothly given
that:

*Hummy is only 6 months old
*has only been in with us for only 3 months
*was raised by a breeder who had 20 other cats (and he got along well
with the other cats)
*both cats are neutered
*both cats are from the same breeder
*Hummy has always been very non-aggressive and very social with people

But we are astonished to see the degree of hostility that Hummy has
towards Normy. On day 1 even though we made sure to pay a lot of
attention to Hummy and not try anything to get him jealous, he hissed
and growled all day after seeing Normy for the first time, and hissed
at us when he would smell Normy's scent on our hands. He would even
growl while eating, even while playing with us with toys!

Normy isn't showing any aggressive behavior at all. It actually
doesn't appear that he knows that the other cat is angry at him.

On day 2 Hummy is a little better, but still aggressive. He only
growls and hisses whenever he sees Normy (on day 1 he growled all day
long). He also no longer hisses if he smells Normy on our hands. But
he still gets very upset and hisses and appears aggressive whenever he
sees Normy.

Up to now we've been keeping both cats in separate rooms, both using
separate litter boxes and food/water dishes. The older cat has access
to the whole house, and the younger one has access to only 1 room at a
time. There's been a couple of occasions when both cats have been in
the same room at the same time (either Normy escaping the room or
Hummy getting into the room) and at 1 occasion Hummy striked Normy's
back with his paw - although he did not use his claws.

Anyways, my question is whether its normal for such a young cat to be
so upset towards a new cat, and how long in general does it take
before both cats can live with one another.

Although Hummy is only 6 months old, he looks almost like an adult
cat, while Normy looks very much like a small kitten. I would guess
that Hummy is probably close to 10 lbs. So I'm not sure if he's
simply being a bully given that the other cat is much smaller than
him.


Sounds normal to me. I'd continue to keep them in separate areas and
gradually let them get used to each other's smell in the house. When a
glimpse of each other no longer brings on the hissing you can let them
interact more. As you've noticed things are improving already. I wouldn't
anticipate the adjustment taking too long but be patient and let the cats
determine the pace.

W