Smithster Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 HI, I'm just after some advice from more experienced cat owners here.... Last October we adopted two male kittens from the same litter from the Thornberry shelter in Dinnington. We called them Otis and Floyd (we are both music lovers you see!) and to start with all seemed perfectly OK. Otis was clearly a lot more affectionate with us while Floyd was quite shy to begin with, and although he did come out of his shell for a while and lie down on our laps a lot, he seems to have gone back completely the other way now. The thing is, despite being quite obviously the smaller of the two, it appears that Otis is nothing but a bully. If ever we show any affection to Floyd then Otis will come running over making a lot of noise as though he is jealous, and he is always crying for our attention. If we play with Floyd using a teaser etc... then Otis will jump in the way. Otis also eats a lot more quickly than Floyd does, and once he has finished what is in his own bowl he will go over to Floyd's and start eating that as well, leaving Floyd to wander off looking sheepish. I understand that cats have social hierarchies and that Otis has clearly established himself as the dominant cat in the house, but it is to such an extent that Floyd hardly ever comes in the house any more and we are suspicious that somebody else in the area is maybe feeding him, although it is hard to tell how much of the food we put out for him he eats seeing as there is another cat in the house. I'm not too concerned because he is far too nervous and jumpy to ever go near the main road, and he is neutered and microchipped as well, but it's like he doesn't want to be our cat any more and we obviously don't want him to stray permanently. Is there anything we can do? I know trying to train cats is almost completely futile, but are there any techniques we can employ to try and prevent Otis from being such a bully and allow Floyd to feel more like this is his home as well? I would be interested to hear from any other cat owners who have had similar experiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RepoUK Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 Have they already been castrated?, if not then that might solve your problem. I assume however that Thornberry have already done this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithster Posted July 20, 2012 Author Share Posted July 20, 2012 They were both snipped at Thornberry before we adopted them at 5 months old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBump Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Have you tried feeding them separatly yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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