Cat has become mean

by Karen M
(Florida)

Sasha

My son brought this cat home when she was about 2-3 months old. She had been living outside. We tried unsuccessfully to keep her inside. We have a dog door and our dog went in and out and Sasha is smart and figured it out. She used to come in and hang periodically and always came in at night to sleep with my son. Unfortunately our dog (14) never had much to do with Sasha, but they lived happily near each other. Sasha tried to play, but the dog wouldn't cooperate. Well, last March, our dog died and we got a new puppy. Sasha was almost 2. Sasha didn't really like our new puppy, but tolerated her. And the pup always tries to get her to play, which if outside, Sasha would sometimes chase her around. About 3 months ago, I found an abandoned 3 week old kitten in the backyard. Of course we brought him in and took care of him. Took him to the vet, etc. We kept him away from Sasha for the most part, but Sasha did see him and only got angry and growled and hissed. The new kitty has become a member of the family--stays inside always, but Sasha now only comes in at night and growls and hisses from the dog door to my son's room...And in the morning she growls and hisses on the way out as well. She seems happy with my son, but she gets herself into such an angry frenzy, it takes 20 minutes to calm down sometimes while she's isolated in his room. Noone can be nice, talk to her, let alone touch her. And in the morning she's calm to start and I keep the other animals out, but Sasha starts growling and hissing. She lets me pet her for about 10 seconds and then the growling starts. The kitten is curious and whenever Sasha comes out into the main part of the house he runs after her which only incenses Sasha. She acts like she's afraid of him and she now attacks the dog if she gets near...She's even attacked me, minimally, but I just really don't know what to do.