depressed cat

Question
i have a female cat 3.5 years old now, i have her for more than 3 years and she is spayed when she was 6 months , then after 2 years i brought a male cat he is now 1 year old and he was 3 months when i found him and he is Neutered since he was 6 months old.the male cat always wants to play with the femal but she doesn't like to , and actually she looks like she doesn't like him and she is very Jealous of him, so he all the day is teasing her , hitting her , jumping over her . my female cat is very upset now and she is spending the day sleeping and i feel like she is depressed.when i see the male cat is hitting her i started yelling on him and some times punish him by putting him in a seperate room , and now i feel like he is doing this because he feels Jealous of the female cat.what can i do now ..... both of them are upset and very Jealous of each other:(

Answer
Hi
I'm afraid to say you are miss reading the situation and your actions are probably making things worse, sorry.

Cats have different emotions and behaviors to us humans so you can't say that a cat is jealous as this is just not an emotion they have. Instead it is likely that your older cat simply does not want to play and your younger cat does, this is normal. Your male is trying to get her to play with him and if she chooses to ignore him she will this is fine. She may even tell him off if he gets on her nerves and again this is fine and normal.

if we try to interfere the cats wont understand what they have done wrong and may just become a little afraid of you. Instead just let them get on with doing what they want to.

I have had similar situations like this myself and I know that the older cat is not depressed but simply not interested in play. If she was feeling really fed up she would show it by batting him back and telling him off herself. this would be enough for the male cat to know to leave her alone at that time (although he may try again later ).

Some cats just like to sleep and not play, some cats love to play all the time, they are all different just like us humans. So don't worry. As long as you are giving both cats the attention they need then they will sort out there own differences and is in fact the best way.

best wishes Kate