Hello,
I have a very aggressive Bengal, Looch (Luke), not towards humans but towards Beau my blue abby. Looch and Beau have been together for almost three years now. Looch was eight weeks and Beau seven months when they became house mates, they have always loved each other and been very codependent on one another. That is until last month, my husband was visiting his mother who was cat sitting, the cat decided that my husband's luggage was the best new bed and made himself cozy. Then when my husband returned home Beau decided that the new smell was fabulous, wallowed all over the luggage until she smelt exactly like the other kitty. And guess what? Now Looch thinks that she is the new enemy threat and has tried to kill her on a few occasion, yes he wants to hurt her. His whole demeanor changes, it is almost as if he goes wild. We have bathed both of them using the same shampoo, they both have on pheromone collars, I have used a calm kitty elixir, and they have been separated for the last month. Nothing seems to be helping, and especially now that Beau sees him as one of the hounds from hell and, I am convinced, hates him. They can not be in the same room or Looch will stalk her until she starts to run away and then he attacks her and a knock down drag out fight will break out and Beau bless her heart is half his size and not nearly as well equipped for battle.

Does anybody have any advise on how to calm Looch down, he is so aggressive I fear that he will hurt Beau?

There have been several episodes of My Cat From Hell that have dealt with this. You first need to know that cats are territorial. Each kitty is going to need its own space. You've had them separated and now you're going to have to start all over with a reintroduction. The first thing is to start swapping scents. Next, make sure each kitty has their own spaces available throughout the house. Catify your home. Cat trees, super highways, shelves. Your bengal requires this. Next you can try feeding them together, but separated by a gate of some sort. This lets them see the each other, but the food is the distraction. Your kitties should love play time, so when you put them in the same room, distract them with toys -- you'll need another person for this. They need to associate good things with being together. Do not let your bengal be too aggressive with your other kitty. Last of all, I'd suggest trying some of Jackson Galaxy's Spirit Essences http://www.spiritessences.com products and see if they will work for you.

You can watch videos from My Cat From Hell episodes on http://animalplanet.com. I know your exasperated over this, but it's going to take time and patience and work from you! I think too many people just put the cats together and think they will work it all out and everything will be okay. Most of the time, it's not.

Since you believe the luggage was the culprit, next time you'll know to clean it completely before your hubby brings it into the house. And I hope you've cleaned it already to get rid of the other cat's scent. Know that a cat's sense of smell is 14 times better than ours, so your Looch can smell things that we can't. You may think you've gotten the scent off Beau, but now your bengal is associating that smell with Beau.

Good luck and keep us posted on how things go.

Thank you, I will try some tuna and extra play time. I think though that I may put Looch on his leash just to make sure that we don't have another fight. I will keep you posted.

I don't know that a leash is going to help. Yes, it will keep Looch away from Beau, but it's not the solution. The kitties must live happily together the way they used to. You are not going to be able to leave them together unsupervised until you are sure things are good with both of them. You need to be working with them every single day because I'm not sure the cats can work through this themselves. Beau is going to lose her confidence and then you have behavioral problems happening. No cat likes to be bullied by another one. And there's a real risk of injury to Beau. There is a method to fixing the problem as I outlined previously. Good luck.

Hello again and thank you for the advise. I tried to feed them together last night and I could not convince Beau to come any where near the food bowls with Looch there. I moved the bowls across the room and she still would not have anything to do with it. She promptly went back downstairs to her safe zone. How do I convince her that he is not a threat and also convince him that she is not prey at the same time. We work on this everyday and I am being so patient with him, but I have this fear of him hurting her which puts me on super alert and I know that they sense this. We play every day when I come home from work, now it is one on one play time instead of together. I have made it a point to make sure that they each know how loved that they are by myself and my husband, both get extra cuddle time. I have brought Looch into the living room with us to sit on the couch and visit, but they start screaming at each other and they get so agitated that I take Looch back upstairs to his spot. It has been well over a month now, and you are right Beau does not trust him at all and being a true Abyssinian gaining her trust does not come easily. I feel like I have two troubled children, what am I doing wrong. As I write this to you Looch is slinking down the stairs towards Beau, he seriously stalks her until she runs and then the fight happens.

We have been ten days with out a major throw down and just the fact that I am counting "no fight" days really makes me question my sanity thus far!

I greatly appreciate any advise and I am willing to try anything as I love both of them and the thought of rehoming one of them breaks my heart.

They both also have crates should I try putting them in their crates with the doors towards each other?

From what I've seen on My Cat From Hell you need to get Beau to feel safe in the areas upstairs that she's afraid of so that Looch doesn't see her as prey. The more scared she is the more he's going to take advantage of it (dogs do it too, they sense the fear). What they've done on the show is take the shy cats favorite toy(s) into those areas and played with them over and over until their body language shows they are relaxed and confident in those areas (tail up, eyes normal, focused on the toy not the entrance to the area).

Then they reintroduce the trouble maker and engage both cats with play in the area.

More climbing spots will help too, but make sure that every high place has more than 1 way to get down. That way if Beau is up there and Looch decides he wants to be there too Beau can get down without having a confrontation with Looch.

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Dallas, TX USA
Diesel - snow Bengal born 09/01/2013 adopted Feb 2014
Tuck, Chloe, Buddy, Lewis & Tia - rescue kitties
Clyde, Bleu & Coal - Great Danes

It sounds as if your stress is coming through to the cats. Obviously Beau has been traumatized by the attacks and she's petrified of Looch. You've got to get Beau's confidence up first of all. I'm sure Jackson Galaxy has something that could help both of your kitties at http://www.spiritessences.com. The situation is just so unfair to Beau. But, you've got to begin reintroducing them at some point or they will be separated forever.

Make sure you have cat trees. There has to be avenues for escape for Beau. She can never be boxed in. Second of all, try feeding them on opposite sides of a blocked door. They will be able to smell each other, but not actually see each other. Make sure they Looch cannot get to her. When cats get hungry enough, they go to the food no matter what, so if she doesn't exactly head to the bowl, don't worry. Let her go at her pace.

Reintroducing cats like this takes time and so much patience. Hopefully, you can eventually get them in the same room and distract them with playtime with toys and not each other. The more you can do this, the sooner Beau will realize Looch is not a threat any longer. However, "once bitten, twice shy" could mean Beau will always be hesitant around Looch.

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The little monsters 3

Thanks for mentioning the specific episodes that would be helpful, Brian! I know we don't get to really see all the work that goes into this from the owners, but I can only imagine what this poster is going through. It would be like two children fighting all the time. Sometimes it's difficult to put in the effort that is required, but I really hope these two kitties can co-exist again.

Thank you for all of the support! Yes, I feel like I have two warring children. Here is where we are; yesterday when I cam home from work my husband said that they were playing with each other all day under the bedroom door, Looch has now commandeered our bedroom as his official cat room toys, litter box, and all the kitty accoutrements, Beau is initiating this play so she is getting a little comfy again. I figure a week of this under the door play and we will go to a gate in the door way and food. I will take any form of progress at this point, I feel like we are on our way. I did have them in the same room and Looch starting his chuffing and chattering at Beau and I figured that was enough of that when she started to get nervous.

I will keep everyone updated on our epic journey, let's see we are going on two months now.

Thanks again for all of the support.

Sounds like you're making some headway. Hopefully, within two weeks, things will be back to normal again.