Kitten Bullying Cat

[Darky]

Before I got Honey, my cat Tiger died due to an inoperable tumour. In turn, her son became lonely despite them never having a good relationship, he obviously missed her lack of presence.

He became oddly attached to me and we bonded properly for the first time ever (he is about 9/10-years-old), I spent all day every day playing with him rather than him going out like he usually did.

Then I got Honey at 6-weeks-old. At first Spike, Tiger's son, was confused, then didn't seem to care, then became curious. They got on well quickly, with Spike always letting Honey know when he was out of line with a bap to the nose.

Honey became more and more playful as he got older. They'd wrestle and pin each other down in the kitchen, always pouncing on each other.

The problem is.. Honey is now 5-months-old, and Spike is small but heavily built, and now Spike is a tad scared of Honey. o_O

Honey has become too strong but doesn't seem to realise it. Whenever he sees Spike, he gets super excited and wants to play, and it results in him chasing Spike right out of the house, out of the garden.

Spike stopped coming back indoors for a little while, skipping meals, he's definitely lighter. (Doesn't look it, but feels it) He's started coming back now for breakfast and dinner, but still gets hastle from nutcase Honey.

I have no idea what to do. Spike also got a nasty abcyss recently which was probably caused by Honey's too-rough playing. I pity poor Spike so much, but I know that Honey means well.

I think I'm going to start keeping Spike indoors at night, like I do with Honey, in hopes that Honey can't chase him away instantly and will learn to calm down around him. They sometimes sleep together on the landing, but as soon as Honey wakes up - he pounces.

Any ideas? :C

[Elaine]

Is it possible for Spike to have a room of his own? Somewhere that is out of bounds for Honey? Some where that you and Spike can have some special time together and play, play can help increas a cats confidence.
It may be an idea to re-introduce the two of them.
When Winston was still with us, he was very old when we got Eva. She too became a bit of a bully as she got older and would run at Winston and knock him off his feet. He was never scared of her though, just couldnt be bothered with her mostly but would smack her when she went too far.

[Darky]

We don't have that much room in this house. XD

My bedroom just isn't suitable for playing in, only the living room and kitchen really.

I suppose what I could do is catnap him once a day for a while and block the living room door shut (our living room and kitchen doors don't shut o_o) to play with him for a while.

But I worry that as soon as I let him out of the room, Honey will jump on him and chase him out again.

It might be worth keeping them both in the living room for a while, because at one point they did both adjust to trying to play with the same cat toy at once, and that usually got Spike in a good mood.

I do not know.

[dinahsmum]

I hope that these two soon sort their issues out and learn to live harmoniously - most do, you know. Good luck

[Elaine]

http://wizz-catz.co.uk/multicat.html
This link might help, you can also contact Wizz and discuss the situation further. She is a lovely woman with a wealth of knowledge on cat behaviours.