New cat - aggression.

[vivicrocodile]

Hi all, I'd really appreciate some advice.

I adopted a cat (approx 12-18 months old) last Monday from a rescue centre. It's obviously still early days but she is really quite aggressive.

It was mostly aimed at our other cat at first - lots of hissing and posture/puffy tail etc. He completely ignored her though and it seems to have improved.

Now the aggression is mainly aimed at us. She has scratched all of us, she hisses at us and has tried to bite on a couple of occasions. This is a worry as I have a 4 and a 6 year old. At present, we can't even approach her without aggressive behaviour, let alone try and stroke her. We couldn't even get close enough to put the flea treatment on her without issues. (Just to add, when she first arrived it was easier to stroke her than it is now.)

At her initial check up with the vet, he couldn't even complete all of the checks because of her aggression.

She has lots of time where she's left alone (as in left to do her own thing, not because we are out at work) and a separate place for her food and litter trays. She is eating well and there's no toilet issues. She has a couple of comfy hiding places too. She can be playful on her terms - she will play with a cat toy if we dangle it by her.

Does anyone have any advice or ideas?

Thanks so much :)

It’s a bit early to have met your resident cat. What is her history? Has she been hit in the past?.

They met on day 4, after scent swapping and seeing each other through a glass door.

She was a stray so unsure of history. She also had kittens a few months ago.

It's still early days as you know. We had a really aggressive cat a few years ago and eventually the only thing that worked was a Feliway plug-in. She calmed down a lot in about 2-3 weeks, it made all the difference x

4 days is a bit soon, Jackson Galaxy does YouTube videos on introductions.

If you think about it in just over a week she’s moved in, met another cat, four of you, had a flea treatment and been to the vets. It’s probably all a bit much which is why her reaction is ramping up

I would dial back on who in the family is interacting with her and ideally just keep it to you as alpha female for the next week. Try to keep her territory peaceful for the next week and yes try feliway