Any help that you could provide would be much appreciated.
We recently moved to a new area and discovered it is a popular area for feral cats in the city. Within a couple of weeks of each other, two different cats came to our porch and wanted to become part of our family. After looking extensively for owners, checking on microchip, etc., it was determined that they were both unowned cats. One, a seven month old female, seems to have been born outside. That said, she loves affection from people and gets along with our other three cats. The other, a two year old male, has mannerisms indicating he may have once been an indoor cat, as he is extremely comfortable and well trained with with people and gets along with our other three cats. Both were not spayed or neutered when we got them, but we have since spayed and neutered them.
Here’s the issue: the male cat seems completely fixated on the female cat. He watches her intently, and whenever he gets a chance he will go after her. We keep them separate unless we can be there to supervise, but even then there have been issues. He has attacked her number of times, and although she fights back well and defends herself, we are afraid that he could hurt her very badly. There doesn’t seem to be anything else that prompts this behavior. There’s plenty of space in the house, lots of open areas and vertical places for him to be, clean litter boxes, etc. There are no issues with the other cats, and everyone seems to get along with each other except for this one dynamic between the new male cat and the new female cat. I think it’s possible that they knew each other outside in our neighborhood and he may have been in heat and have been after her. But now that they are spayed and neutered, will that behavior end? It’s only been a couple of weeks since he was neutered, but the behavior doesn’t seem to be getting any better.
Is there anything we can do, or are these two cats just not able to live in the same home with each other because of what may have happened before we took them in?
