Long term not getting along

[delurkingtoaskagain]

Looking for your thoughts on this situation please.

I have an elderly female cat. As she gets older she is getting a lot crankier with my younger cat that I got four years ago. The younger cat (6) is very stressed at this point, and it has culminated this morning in her properly attacking me as I’ve lifted her off the worktop to put her on the floor. I’ve got a really big puncture wound in my hand amongst plenty of cat scratches.

My younger cat came as a rehome a few years ago and the woman had been keeping her in the garage/largely outside. I spend a lot of time with her and sometimes she is lovely one-on-one, but her general reactiveness is getting worse. I think this is linked to the old cat.

I don’t have a catflap at the moment, but I did in my previous house and the old cat was always on guard behind it so the newer cat never used it. The newer cat doesn’t really like going out at this time of year so it’s always heightened and better in the summer.

I am not sure what to do at this point because I think my younger cat would be much happier in a home on her own as a lot of this is due to stress from the old cat, but I feel really guilty about it as she was a rehome.

I’ve tried things like feliway to improve the mood and both cats have their territory in the house really, but sometimes the older cat just wants to hang out with me in the other cats territory.

Any thoughts gratefully received.

Just to add the older cat is going strong, I could do for a few more years hopefully.

I would re-home the younger cat. You may be able to cope for a few more years but I'd argue that the current situation is incredibly unfair on both of them at the moment.

Thank you. I think the older cat is fine she’s top cat IYSWIM but there’s general cat beef every day, so maybe not.

I've just taken on a cat who was not getting along with an older cat. The older cat was already timid and became very stressed. The cat who has come to live with me is very aggressive with our existing cat and I am not at all sure it is going to work. It's hard work socialising the little furry bastards!

We are using feliway and cbd oil for new cat (that was from the original owner, I'm not spending that kind of $ on cbd oil!).

Maybe I’ll get the CBD oil for me

Cats really shouldn't be fighting or "having beef" every day - it honestly isn't normal and it won't be doing your elderly cat any favours either.

She shouldn't be having to worry about asserting herself at that age - she should be relaxing and enjoying her twilight years.

We have three unrelated cats and they've never fought - our current trio are all neutered males but we've had females too and it's always been the same. Yes, they wrestle and do skippity paps (hitting each other with closed paws) but there's never been any blood or true aggression.