Young, deaf cat bullying resident older cat

Question
Hi. About six months ago I rescued a deaf, white cat from a shelter. I brought him home and have been spending the past six months introducing him to my resident cat. The deaf cat, Ghost, is a little over one year old, the resident cat, Shady, is going to be seven years old in june. I've gotten it to the point that the two cats can be together when I am home, and they're best friends when it is time for them to be fed. They have to be separated during the day and late at night, though, because Ghost thinks it's absolutely hilarious to bite shady in the neck. He grabs him by either the front of the neck or the back of the neck and will not let Shady eat. Shady makes horrible noises when Ghost does this, but he doesn't seem to be drawing blood. Both cats are male, and shady was declawed on the front when we got him. Ghost is not declawed. Both cats are also neutered.

Now, the biggest problem is that I have read that cats with behavioral issues respond to loud noises. Ghost is deaf. I have tried the water bottle, but Ghost doesn't seem to care at all if he's wet. Adopting another cat for Ghost to play with his not an option, either, as my husband is quite allergic to cats and I think that another may put his allergies over the edge.

I was just wondering if you've got any suggestions that I can try. I do play with them quite often, but whenever Ghost sees Shady, he immediately forgets everything around him, toys, food, etc, so he can jump on him and bite his neck.

As far as background detail, by the way, Ghost, the aggressor, was found taped in a box on the side of the road and came from a house with 16 other cats where he had to fight for food. He has a chronic sinus issue. Shady lived with two other cats until they both passed away of old age. Both cats are extremely attached to me. The behavior seems to happen when my husband is around. They don't fight nearly as much when it is just me or me and my father in the house. Both cats are fed ample amounts of food (but not too much) and I try to play with both of them as much as possible.

I hope this helps, I look forward to your reply. Thank you!

Answer
First, as I'm sure you know, it is very common for cats living in hoarding situations to be very socially repressed, and the fact that he's deaf just makes the behavior that much harder to retrain, but don't give up just yet.  Second, it sounds as though your husband most likely closely resembles a person who the cat had some relationship with and didn't trust.  I had the same issue with my dog.  When she was young before I adopted her, she had been abused by a tall, white man with facial hair.  She was distrusting of men in general, but much worse with men matching that description.  At any rate, if Ghost is mainly only exhibiting this behavior when your husband is around, it sounds to me like he is deflecting his anxiety regarding your husband's presence toward Shady, the one creature he feels is his subordinate.

That being said, that doesn't mean that you can't work toward retraining his mind to associate him with something positive.  This would start with feeding time.  If you free-feed (leave food out all the time), I would stop that now.  Long story short, free-feeding is bad because it generates constant amounts of acid in their stomach all the time, which over years will lead to the early deterioration of their organs, and also leads to obesity, as bored cats will overeat, especially on commercial foods because they have to eat more of it because the quality is so deficient.

At any rate, keep to the regular schedule, but have your husband feed him.  Have him get the food ready, call to her, and when she's sitting right in front of him,  have him talk to her calmly while saying her name and set the food down for her.  As he's setting it down, say he acts out, hisses, and swats at his hand.  The appropriate reaction would be for him to freeze as he goes to do swat, and even if he hits his hand, stomp on the ground--deaf cats can still feel vibrations.  Stand back up, wait a minute, go to do it again, and if he's good, set it down.  Remember, aggression only begets more aggression, so never react to situations like that.  All he is really doing is saying I don't like you, I'm unsure about you, I don't trust you, etc.  Of course his reactions are more severe than they should be, and this is what you will be trying to teach her.  Eventually after your husband has been the one feeding her consistently for a certain period of time, he will begin to see him more positively, as he is the one providing the nourishment. Maybe on the second day, have him sit on the floor with him while he's eating.  Just his calm presence will help gain his trust.  Also, does she have any favorite toys?  If so, have your husband play with her with that for 10 or 15 minutes a day.  Does he enjoy water?  I always have my cats in the bathroom with me when I take a bath, and they perch on the side of the tub and dip their paws in.  It's yet another bonding experience for us.  The more things he does like this each day, the more he will change his attitude.  If and only if he is being good with him after several days of this should you come into the picture and sit and spend time with her as well.  If she hisses, growls, or swats at him in your presence, then you need to leave the room.  Cats are very intelligent, and if you do this consistently and calmly, you should start to see a change.

Now as far as attacking Shady, I'll warn you in advance, this method may sound silly, but it's worked for me in the past. The key is going to be consistency--you need to be committed to always watching them so that you can catch the behavior in order to retrain him, and keeping them separate when you can't supervise until the behavior is almost extinct.  That's the hardest part with working with adult cats is that you have to spend much more time correcting the behavior and doing so calmly and consistently.  At any rate, get a kitten-sized stuffed toy from Petsmart as well as some spray catnip.  Apply just one squirt of catnip on the toy.  Be close to shady and be ready for it.  Despite the fact that he is deaf, you still have sense you can utilize--sight and touch--and you can still use your body language.  When you even see him act as if he's stalking or going to pounce on Shady, stomp the ground.  If you don't like stomping, you can try using a cane or something of the like--just something to create vibrations.  You should also move toward him, trying to place yourself between Shady and him.  The point here is that you're trying to stop the behavior before he has a chance to execute it.  Be sure to follow through and praise him if he retreats or redirects his attention somewhere else.  If he gets on Shady and bites him, immediately move in calmly but quickly and place two fingers on his neck just above his shoulder blades.  The intent is not to hurt him, so apply just enough pressure to get the message across that that behavior is not to be tolerated.  Immediately give him the stuffed toy with catnip and praise him for using it, biting it, whatever he does, the goal is for him to redirect his attention to the toy.  The more you repeat this, the better he should get.  Remember, the point here is to hopefully stop him before he gets a chance, and if not, get his attention, redirect the behavior, and praise praise praise when he does what you want.

Personally, I feel the key here is for him to develop a positive relationship with your husband, which will dramatically decrease the incidence of the behavior.  After that, this redirection technique should show improvement as well.  Like I said, this will take some time, maybe even months, just depending on how consistent you are and how much time you can spend each day working on it.  I wish I could give you a quick fix, believe me, but I think it's wonderful that you adopted Ghost and are committed to making it work for him.  Too often people except the perfect pet when they adopt, and are quick to take them right back where they got them when they find they may need to do some work in helping them acclimate, so thank you for honoring your commitment and taking the time to work with him.  You are clearly a giving person.  I wish you the best of luck, and please keep me updated with his progress.

Yours truly,
Holly