new cat introduced - need advice

Just over a week ago we introduced a new female cat into the home. Annabelle is 2 years old and was desexed the day before we brought her home.

Our 4 year old Reggie is fascinated with her, follows her around everywhere then tries to bite her and, to our amazement, looked like he was trying to mate.

Annabelle was not impressed and, whilst she doesnt fight back when he does bite which I take to be a sign of his exerting dominance, I am concerned about his hormones, particularly as she is trying to recouperate.

We tried spraying water at him which did work but Annabelle is becoming very quiet.

Could this be a sign that she is finding it hard to settle in with him bugging her all the time and are we 'mistaking' his mating as a further sign of him trying to show his dominance. Will this behaviour stop and what can we do to speed it up.

Would welcome any advice.

 

Hi and welcome to Auspet. Has he been neutered? You may want to keep them separated for a week or two and let her settle in.

 

Hi Chessmind,
Yes he was neutered before we got him. They both have been. We have kept them separated for a time but he begins clawing the door thats in between them and being very irritating and i really dont want damage to my door! but thank you for that suggestion!

 

she should be kept isolated for 7-10 days. A good week, better even more, to give herself a chance to heal. And to protect your cat in case she should have any parasites that she can pass along to him. Also it helps you to keep track of whether she's eating and using her litterbox okay. In those days she's isolated you can switch their bedding so they get used to each other's smells.
Then a slow introduction - upping their time together every day.
The door can be painted....their relationship can take a long time to work out. Or if she does have some issues from being subjected to his behavior right after her spay, it can take longer for her to heal. The door isn't as important as her health is.
I'd start over with the isolation/introductions. Give her time to heal - up to 2 weeks if necessary. She's gone through a lot in a short time - spay, meeting a new cat who thinks she's his mistress and imagine how sore she is. A spay is a hysterectomy....people spend 6 weeks or more healing up, a cat doesn't show its pain. You can bet she's uncomfortable.

 

Just want to thank everyone for their advice. I have tried to keep Annabelle isolated from the amorous Reggie (who obviously can recognise a pretty girl) and have only brought her out of her part of the house under supervision. Their friendship is progressing along extremely well and he is behaving himself until he attempts to bite her (which I believe is a dominance thing). She doesnt seem concerned about him biting (more nipping) and has actually spun around and glared at him enough that he backs off a bit.

She is healing very nicely although we had to put a collar on her as she was biting her stitches but her stitches come out tomorrow so I am sure she will be very happy to have the dreaded cone of silence removed once and for all.

A very big thanks for the advice already offered. Im certainly taking it all on board and hope to keep you all up to date on both the kids.

 

at least she's standing her ground without attacking him.
And he can take the hint well

 

I'm happy to hear that things are progressing well!