Hi,

My boyfriend and I live in a 2nd floor flat with a 6-year old moggy, Ninja.

Athough she's an independent introvert, we still felt that she would appreciate some company, especially when we were both out working. So we searched through Pets4Homes and - based on pictures alone! - decided on a Bengal.

The next day, we visited the breeder, cooed over the 5-strong litter and fell in love with the only kitten that hadn't been reserved, a playful female. We visited her once more before taking her home at nine weeks and naming her Nala.

Fortunately, we HAD researched introductions so did this by the book, keeping Nala in her own room for 3 days, letting Ninja catch the occasional sight of her, smell her scent etc before carefully letting them meet in the living room.

For practical reasons, they are both indoor cats and naturally, her boundless energy has been a challenge which we've done our best to manage with all manner of cat toys, a tower, climbing post, wands, rods, etc

However, what we hadn't taken into account was her fiercely dominant personality. Perhaps seeing her rule the roost back at the breeder's house and pounce on her sleeping brothers should have been an indication of what was to come, but what can I say, we were blinded by love.

She's beautiful, intelligent, incredibly affectionate and we wouldn't replace her for the world BUT she's been making Ninja's life a misery. From eating her food, to taking over her toys, to bullying her off her lounging spot and, most recently, pouncing on her from above or behind and holding on...

Ninja was the runt of her litter and although she could initially hold her own, Nala is now 13 weeks, growing rapidly and constantly asserting her dominance.

Exhausting her with play only makes Ninja jealous at the perceived favouritism. Even then, Nala still manages to retain enough juice for a few long-range pounces. Disciplining with 'No!' or 'Ch!' doesn't seem to be doing the trick either.

We love both cats dearly and watching Ninja constantly harried, hassled and bruised is heartbreaking.

How do we resolve this? Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!

Ninja does not need to be bullied! This drains her confidence and can start severe behavior issues. She was there first .. this new little girl is infringing on her territory and she doesn't like it. Your first mistake was thinking your Ninja needed some company. Many cats prefer solitude and quiet and they don't need a playmate. Now this playmate is aggressive and dominating and making Ninja's life miserable. I feel so sorry for her.

The introduction process did not go well. You can try to start over, but it's probably not going to go much better. There are some things that might help. Make sure each cat has their own territory. Make sure there are no dead ends so that Ninja is cornered. Make sure you have at least two litter boxes, preferably three so they do not have to share. You obviously have cat tree. I have one cat and he has three of them! So you may need another one.

Do you play with each of them together? Are you wearing out your bengal's energy? Do you divert it away from Ninja? It's fairly common that a bengal will dominate -- and your bengal is still very young and will grow. You're going to have to step in and make some changes so that each of your kitties is happy.

You might want to check out http://www.spiritessences.com and see if any of the products might help you out.

I know Jackson Galaxy has dealt with this on many of his My Cat From Hell shows and I believe you can view some of then online. You may get some ideas. I hope you're able to solve this problem before Ninja just gives up hope. I always feel bad for a cat who is being terrorized by another cat. I wish you luck!

I question whether you are interpreting this correctly. A 13 week old kitten (brought in at 9 weeks) I really don't think is capable of bullying an adult cat. Being a pest? yes, wanting to play constantly? yes, not respecting the other cat's territory and turf? yes. Not respecting the other cats privacy? absolutely. Bullying? I doubt it, but I suspect that the real bullying will come later when the kitten gets bigger.

It sounds to me like your "independent introvert", not too surprisingly, is unimpressed by having a kitten hassle him, and is perhaps afraid of the kitten? Can you describe what their interactions are like? What is a typical "bullying" episode like? How do each of the two cats react when this happens? I think you may have badly miscalculated his desire and compatibility to be with another cat, much less a very outgoing and demanding one like a bengal.

If you want to try to continue on, making this work, I think you definitely need to separate them again, separate rooms, separate sleeping, food dishes, litterboxes, and all that, then real short exposures between the cats. See if Ninja can become confident around the kitten. But I think you should consider returning the kitten. It's a very inauspicious start to things, and I think what you really need to be concerned about is how things will be 6 months from now, when the bengal will really be able to "hunt" him in a more real way.

I think a much more appropriate type of "friend" for Ninja would have been one of the real docile breeds like Persian or Ragdoll or something like that. But I think what he might be telling you is that he really didn't want a friend to begin with, and this may always be the case.

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The little monsters 3

6 year old singleton cats very, very rarely want or need any companions.
It is the owners who want kittens and "kitty friends" not the cat.

I tend to agree with Brian.

Reading between the lines this may just be exuberant kitty behaviour. Kittens can be extremely active. We've had ones that attack us every time we move, hanging onto our legs with their sharp little claws or climbing up dh's trouser leg 'ouch'!

It sounds to me that she is just displaying this sort of behaviour and not really 'bullying'. I think your older cats reaction is as expected as Brian said. Your older cat just doesn't want the hassle.

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Oscar and Jasper (or one ear and two ears as dh calls them) black rescue mogges

RIP my sweet baby Dexter, Snow Bengal 19/5/14 to 5/3/15 and my lovely dear old friend Muskey, Brown Burmese put to rest aged 15 on 14/11/15.

Debbie

Thank you all for your very helpful advice!

I understand that you all must get fed up of people (like me) who take on Bengals without during proper research and come asking you for help.


:)

We had success with our cat Muskey (who is 14 years old) accepting Dexter almost immediately.

We lost our old Burmese last year and Muskey was pretty lost without him. We waited a year to see if Muskey would settle and although things improved he would still look for our other cat and cry now and again. I felt he missed having another feline to snuggle up to.

So I think it depends on the cat's personality really whether or not they will be accepting of another cat and it's not just simply down to age.

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Oscar and Jasper (or one ear and two ears as dh calls them) black rescue mogges

RIP my sweet baby Dexter, Snow Bengal 19/5/14 to 5/3/15 and my lovely dear old friend Muskey, Brown Burmese put to rest aged 15 on 14/11/15.

Debbie