diandpat, Thanks,
14+K ,for the links giving the background as I had not read it before. Here's my take on Ziggy & Zuzu. First of all you have 2
red tabbies--it's the red hair thing! Now I know some don't believe colour has anything to do with personality, but that's not my experience--of course there are always exceptions. Red tabby males can have dominant, aggressive, spunky personalities and that's Ziggy's personality and not likely to change. The reason Zuzu keeps "coming back for more" is that she's red tabby/white too and spunky as well (
not "kitty battered"), just not as much as Ziggy, so you've got an explosive situation. That said she's not likely to change either!
You got Ziggy on Oct. 13/09 and he got your first attention. Even tho Ziggy in the room at the ASPCA met Zuzu, she was
not impressed with him and
hissed at him, so it wasn't love at first sight. Then she was spayed on Oct. 14 and discharged & sent home
4 hrs. later!! (horrible!) feeling miserable, sore, in pain and vulnerable with Ziggy's advances and hissed at him, and he ran away. You isolated her to a separate room and were paying more attention to Zuzu because you were concerned with her pain and recovery from spaying--a natural thing to do, and Ziggy didn't like the extra attention she was receiving, since he got it all in the beginning.
On Oct. 19th, Ziggy developed a rhino health problem, and was treated, but definitely did not feel well during his recovery, at which point, he lashed out at Zuzu when he was starting to recover.
So here we are and what to do? You've got two cats who did not get the best start together, tho in my estimatation are
never going to be friends, for all the reasons I stated above. To keep peace in your house, you're going to have to rehome one of them,
or continue to do the room-juggle routine.
diandpat, Sorry, wish it were different, but it's not! That's my take on what you're dealing with. I hope I'm proved wrong!
Here's a link to whether coat colour is linked to temperament you may find of interest:
http://www.messybeast.com/colour-tempment.htm