How to Stop Your Young Cat From Chasing Your Old Cat

Sometimes cats like one another right away; other instances, they need time. If your felines didn’t get proper introductions, separate them for a few days, or a week or two, to give the older cat some relief. Provide young Max with his own area upstairs, with a separate litter box and feeding dishes. Allow Lulu to continue to own the main level of the house. Swap scents by sneaking up and petting your kitten after giving Lulu a good rubdown. You’ll be covering Max with Lulu’s aroma, making her seem more familiar. After several days, give them supervised visits with a divider -- like a baby gate -- in the middle. They’ll get more familiar with each other, lessening Max’s desire to chase after your senior kitty to get to know her better.

Those catnip-filled mice toys might be making Max act a bit loonier than normal. Although catnip affects only about half of all cats, according to the website of the Humane Society of the United States, those that it does affect have intense reactions. Catnip makes felines rub against everything, run around like crazy and pounce on anything that moves -- including other kitties in your home. One of the first steps in getting Max to calm down and ideally stop running after Lulu is replacing all of his toys with ones that don’t have catnip.

Every time your older kitty strolls into the living room, little Max comes barreling around the corner, trying to get Lulu to play. Clearly Lulu is annoyed and swats and hisses at your younger cat. Prevent an all-out brawl from occurring by tossing out a few balls, fuzzy mice or other types of catnip-free toys to distract Max. Have a few stashes of toys throughout the house so the next time your pint-size fur ball decides to chase after Lulu, you’ll be able to distract him with something else to play with.

For those times when you’re not around, you’ll need to provide plenty of areas for Lulu to hide from your rambunctious young fur ball. Purchase a scratching tree with a built-in condo up high and down low, in case she has difficulty climbing in her old age. Pull the sofa away from the wall and move her favorite pillows up off the floor, setting up ramps to get to them if need be. This way Lulu will have several places to hide and get away from Max when she needs a break. Max will have to find something else to play with if he can't find where Lulu is hiding -- preventing a chase from breaking out in the first place.