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Does anyone have any ideas as to how to correct a stalker behavior? My new cat likes to "stalk" my resident cat (especially when eating!) but all the time too. He has this look in his eyes like he wants to pounce. My resident cat is just very laid back and wants to be left alone but the new cat is VERY VERY curious about my resident kitty (Shadow) and I am not sure how to break him of this stalker-like behavior?? Any ideas or thoughts?
I suppose your new cat is rather young. Then it's normal to pounce. And I would leave it to your older cat to help himself. If it's to much for him there might be a little kitty fighting;)
I agree with Barbara if the new cat is a kitten then this is normal. The kitten is just testing out it's abilities. I also agree that you may want to let your older cat take care of the situation.
You can help out a little bit by playing with the kitty and working off some of it's excess energy. You will never get rid of all of the excess energy. However, if the kitten finds other items to stalk or play with, it may do it less to the older cat. I am not saying that you don't already play with the kitten, but the more that you do the more energy will be worked off. It won't stop it completely, but it may lessen the frequency of the event.
I am not going from experience here, I have not had a kitten in a long time. I actually read that somewhere on the net, and it made sense to me.
Good luck.:)
Well he is a 2 year old Maine Coone. Problem is that he has attacked my resident once before and caused him a big abscess wound on his back. They are both male, same age, but the new cat has claws and resident cat does not. Resident cat is very laid back and doesnt really want to play. New kitty wants him to play. I feel like the more I play with him the more worked up he gets and if I dont play with him he is more tame??
Ashley,
Did you ever try, our last advice ?
i.e. Seperate both cats and reintroduce slowly, in order to improve their relationship.
Yes I did. What I did was keep Topper separate in his room all by himself for a little over a month. During this time I was also using Feliway and Flower Essences (multi cat household in food for both cats). When that time frame was up, I would let them in the room with each other but only while I was still in there. He just gets this look in his eye like he is hunting and then he will pounce. But I usually pick him up before he has the chance. He especially does not like Shadow to eat, even though they have separate feeding stations. Shadow has not hissed at him lately but he did hiss this morning. Last night I had them both in the bed with me before I went to sleep just to see how they would act. Shadow just ignores him, he just wants to sleep. THen Topper tried to pounce him but I intercepted, picked him up, told him he was a bad kitty and put him out of the room and shut the door. I just don't know what to do at this point. Sometimes Topper could care less about Shadow (usually when he is tired). It seems as though when I play with him it gets him all excited and then he thinks Shadow wants to play too, or I don't know if he is pouncing to be mean or b/c he wants to play?
I have had a cat do that also. He was a terror. He would stalk only one cat, Weezie. Finally I took him to the Vets to see if anything was wrong with him. Vet did blood work and a good over haul. Not a thing was wrong, so the Vet put him on Amitriptyline for a couple of months, it helps to modify behavior. And it did the trick. Tyler got one pill a day and now is doesn't stalk or attack Weezie, just catnip toys. Thank goodness. Or he would have had to been history.
Stella