Hi everyone

This is my first post, but I've come to this site often in the last 2 years, for advice on our first Bengal, Leopold. Leopold is now 18 months old and we just received our new Bengal kitten, Athena. We are struggling to get them used to each other! Leopold has had a hard time claiming his territory it has to be said. When he first started going outside there was a roaming cat (which clearly considered our garden HIS territory!) and he attacked Leopold repeatedly, with numerous vet visits, and Leopold nearly lost his tail on one of the occasions. As he grew, he defended his territory successfully and the other cat no longer comes.

We brought Athena (12 weeks) home 5 days ago and Leopold has been quite aggressive towards her. She purrs and wants desperately to play with him. She is still isolated in her room and the first time we let him in he immediately started hissing and growling at her and swatted her with his paw repeatedly. We tried again the following day and each day after that, keeping it to about 2-4 minutes per meeting, depending how it goes. They kind of play but he is very rough with her and uses his teeth and eventually she lies on her back crying and I separate them. So I guess you can say SOME progress compared to day 1 but in the last few days not much of a change.

Any advice?? (besides keeping on doing what we're doing and try to be patient )
Or stories of success after a similar start?

Hi! Perhaps is you train Leopold to connect Athena with positive things? Feed them nearby, play with them (separately) in the same room (need two people for that) and get them treats when they are together... I'm sure others may advice better stuff here. Oh, and check out the book "cat Vs cat" if trouble continues.

Thanks so much for that advice! I will definitely try some of your ideas.
Today has been going much better already - perhaps they just need time to get used to each other. They have actually been playing a bit and seem to enjoy each other's company for a good 5-10 minutes before it starts getting out of hand.

Athena is in her safe room, right? The first thing you do is start swapping scents before you ever introduce the cats. This needs to go on for several days. It seems these two have already met and it's not going well. Leopold is defending his territory. Thus, you need to make sure each cat has its own space. You will need multiple cat trees, multiple litter boxes, multiple toys, cat beds, etc.

You can start feeding them in the same general area making the food the distraction. You can also play with them together, making the toy the distraction. Know you may spend time separating them from any type of aggression from Leopold. It takes time and patience.

That being said ... you've already discovered that allowing Leopold outside was not a good idea! Just because that other cat no longer antagonizes Leopold, that doesn't mean another alpha cat isn't in the area won't arrive in your area. Add a catio or cat enclosure and keep both of your babies safe. You've made a $$ investment in your babies.

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The little monsters 3

Athena will grow in size and hold her own with Leopold. So natural for bengals to rough house! You are doing the right thing in separating them when things get too rough. As time goes on, they will get better with each other.

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The little monsters 3