Adopted 2 cats but they don’t get on anymore. Help!

[EveryChairIsWobbly]

Last week I adopted two cats from a rescue centre who had been living together in a double pen quite happily. They came from the same home previously - the owner died.

At the rescue, they were both neutered etc. they are about 18m/2 years old, one male one female. The male is older.

Since coming home with me they have been fighting periodically and I’m wondering what I can do to help them settle. I have opened up the downstairs of the house to them bit by bit, they have separate food bowls and litter trays, with space between them. They don’t cuddle up or groom each other but they will sit next to each other to sleep and sometimes follow each other around.

However, most evenings the male starts chasing the smaller female, whacking her, she runs and hides. Whilst somewhat short-lived, it is daily and today I felt the need to separate them for a bit. She doesn’t do this to him.

How can I help them settle?

Water pistol the male cat when he misbehaves. You don’t have to get him just near him

i had son who started being mean to his mother. Got to just shaking the water bottle got him to behave

It may just be temporary while they establish territories in their new space. Maybe some of those feliway diffusers to help calm them?

I got a feliway diffuser to help my two. Think it was called “Happy Families” blend or some such 😀 but it seems to have worked. Good luck.

Do they have somewhere high they can go like a cat tree. The female might go up high to escape the male.

They are the classic age for it. They will settle. Feliway, plenty of resources (food, toys, litter trays). Moving will have unsettled them
massively but my 2 siblings (female/male) are 2 and having a phase of being fairly horrible to each other. In my experience (I have had a lot of cat pairs) they go from being lovely as kittens to little gremlins at 2 for a year or so. Then harmony comes again.

Weirdly my 2 will still eat out of a bowl together but they scrap over sleeping places and compete for me.

Oooh yes those feliway plug ins are good for reducing stress! It smells very earthy. The different height cat bed/tree suggested would also be super helpful.

I would try playing with them for 10-15 mins per day to burn some of his energy off.

I think personally it’s just what boy cats do. Mine are 6 year old siblings and generally have some sort of disagreement once a day, if not more. Sometimes she will just look at him the wrong way 😹 but they cuddle up for the majority of the day, share food and cry looking for the other one.

have added pre and post fight pics

Play fighting like this is really normal behaviour. I would just leave them to it. It’s not a sign that they are not getting on.

You say that both pets are neutered, and that they live together previously. So they had to go through the stress of losing their previous owner, and the stress of their home. Did they go straight from their home to your home or did they have to go to a shelter in between? All of this is exceptionally stressful for cats and if they didn't express this right away, they are now.

I've had cats all my life and occasionally, they will chase each other around and whack at each other. Very occasionally they'll end up with a scratch in their face for their trouble too, but this isn't being done maliciously, like, trying to kill each other. It's more like a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old sibling on a rainy weekend when they're stuck in the cottage and there's nowhere to go and nothing to do and there's no TV and no internet, they lost all the pieces to the board game, so they have fun by poking at each other and driving each other crazy.

I know it's easy for me to say this to you but you have to give those poor souls a lot of patience. They've been through a lot and they can't communicate any of their concerns and worries and stresses to you.

There is a product, it's called feliway I believe, It looks somewhat like a plug-in air freshener except that humans can't smell it. It's supposed to put out a happy cat pheromone smell, which is supposed to calm cats. I've never had a lot of luck with it. But maybe it would help?

I would not recommend doing anything to punish the cats. Don't chase them don't yell at them don't throw things at them don't water spray them Don't do anything like that because that will make them more nervous and more defensive and more aggressive. Try putting on some quiet music in the house, I don't know if your house has kids or other people or if it's very quiet or kind of noisy but something like easy listening or a nice instrumental classical music, something easygoing, this will help them settle. Because that way the strange noises of the house aren't quite so noticeable to them.

Make sure they have lots of secure places to hide, I don't just mean behind the couch or under the bed but, a decent sized cardboard box. A few of those, they may really enjoy having that privacy. This is a tricky transition for all of you. I wish you patience during it

I had sisters that the rescue said were inseparable. Once they settled in, they weren’t so keen on each other but co existed happily. One of them
did take a chunk out of the others ear when another cat came into their garden.

I can tell when the Felaway plug in needs changing as my cats start fighting! They are mother & son & came as a bonded pair!
sometimes it’s fun & games, he hides behind doors and furniture & waits for her to come by and then jumps out at her & chases her but when mum starts hissing you know it’s got serious.

This doesn't sound like fighting - it sounds like unwanted play.

Personally I wouldn't do anything unless it escalated into actual aggression (growling, spitting, fur flying, blood).

Thank you all. I’ve ordered a feliway so let’s see if that helps.

Eventually the female does growl. I’m not sure if he’s hurting her but she doesn’t reciprocate the play/fights so I’m hoping he gets the hint soon