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My young cat attacks my older cat. How to stop cat aggression?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Male | neutered | 13 lbs

I have a 1.5 year old male cat who attacks and bullies my 12 year old cat, Ziggy. He gets along with his two siblings and is extremely loving toward me. He stares at Ziggy and sits up close to her which obviously makes her more and more anxious. Yesterday, he scared her so much that she peed. I've separated them but it's Ziggy who is alone in the room because Mr. Winkle would destroy everything in sight to get out and I rent.

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jessica Desrosiers

Veterinary Technician

Published on June 25th, 2021

Poor cats! It's possible there is stress being caused over dispute of territory, especially if you have quite a few cats in a small home or apartment. A good first step is making sure each cat has their own access to food, water, litter, and perches they can get away from each other so that the cats can establish their areas without having to compete for resources. A good second step is to add in a pheromone collar or diffuser, which can help reduce inter-cat aggression and make things less stressful. In some cases, a younger cat may bully an older cat if there is an underlying health problem going on. A vet visit to rule out any pain or illness that could be making Mr. Winkle the target of this attention may help reduce the problem as well. If the changes to the home don't help, speaking with a veterinary behaviorist in your area may also be a good option: https://www.dacvb.org/page/about

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    Answered By Jeffrey Milner

    Veterinarian

    Published on May 21st, 2017

    The addition of a young cat into a older cat's home can be extremely stressful. This is especially true if they were not introduced slowly. If its possible, I would say that you might want to try and just separate them for a little while. Let things cool off, so to speak. In the meantime while this is happening, pick up a Feliway Multicat diffuser. This is a pheromone device that sprays something into the air that is discernible only to felines. I have seen success with this in homes where things were completely unmanageable. I would also start considering generalized positive reinforcement training for the young cat as well as the older one. Sit with the two of them in the same room while supervised, rewarding each of them for any positive behavior that is taking place. This would include sitting quietly not bugging one another.

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