How long have they been together, and is the tom neutered? I got a “returned” cat almost 2 years ago; I had given him as a 4 or so month old kitten to a friend, but almost 2 years ago she became too sick to care for him so we took him back.
He was then around 8 years old, the brother of our current 8 yr old neutered tom and sister of the 9 yr old female different litters). There was no getting along and a fair amount of hissing, whacking and the occasional leaping upon and snarling ball of fighting.
Now the “new” cat and female get along peaceably even with sitting close and taking turns licking each other, sometimes. The two males have a truce with the occaisional spat, but even sometimes a bit of friendliness.
When we took him back, he was in ill health, not fed right, many problems. He’s got well but is currently having some kind of intestinal thing.
Maybe it will just take time?
They’ve been together about four months. The tomcat is neutered. The girl cat will be spaded soon as she just had her first heat.
Before this.. Tomcat “ruled” his turf. Any cat who stepped onto this property he went after with a venence. I had found him shivering on my deck two years ago and took him in. Very sick and battered, be had been in the elements for quite a long time according to the vet, and pretty beat up. Yet he was micro-chipped and someone had all his teeth removed so we don’t know how old he is, but he’s definatly more than full grown.
The little gal came on the deck over the summer and he just let her wander around without bothering her at all. But she was thin and clearly not cared for so I took her in, especially since he seemed to be ok with her. But she wants to play and romp which he’s not at all interested in doing. And he’s protective of his food..if she gets too close to his food he’ll box her.
Yes, he’ll also hiss at her, and box her when she’ persists in trying to get his attention....but his taking her down at the neck where his teeth were locked into her jaw was more than disturbing. No skin was broken but it sure alarmed me.
Makes me wonder what they do when I’m at work!