Cat to cat introductions...your experience and advice please

[coldlocation]

Beloved senior boy was pts a few weeks ago and his litter mate, Senior Girl has been miserable vocal velcro cat ever since. Very needy but very sweet too.

I did the classic of going to 'look' at a cat in rescue and ended up adopting her. New Girl came home Sat pm.

New cat is super chilled, already happy to sit on laps, play etc. Has no concept of being a shy new rescue cat. She'd been in cattery for 4 months before being rescued and is just so happy to have human interaction, a bit more space etc.

I followed all the advice on line about cat introductions - separate rooms, scent swapping etc. and have spent a fortune of Feliway Classic and Feliway Friends diffusers so the house should be full of the right pheremones etc.

I've been ensuring Senior Girl gets lots of cuddles and slowly letting New Cat explore a room of the house (when Senior Girl is elsewhere and otherwise occupied - i.e. fast asleep on my bed - and with the doors shut so New Cat can't escape and explore unfettered and Senior Cat doesn't have her favourite space trespassed yet) but last night New Cat managed a houdini like escape....I picked her up to return her to her sanctuary room then got distracted by a child for about a minute....New cat flopped on my knee briefly while I dealt with the child, I didn't realise Senior Girl was in the room and woah...a hissy smacky fight ensued. They both ended up under my bed growling and hissing at each other.

I managed to bang loudly and get them separated and it appears they didn't hurt each other. I took Senior Girl to a safe place first and gave her lots of reassurance, then returned New Cat to her quarters for time out.

Senior Girl was spooked and retreated to high places for a while but then was super affectionate with me overnight and slept next to me on my pillow. New Cat seems unbothered and is chilling in her safe space - spare bedroom and ensuite bathroom - but this morning Senior Girl wouldn't come into the spare bed room even with NC sefely contained behind the shut door of the ensuite and I'm worried I've messed up the chance of them tolerating each other any time soon.

I also made the mistake of letting Senior Girl see New Cat through a crack in the safe room door whilst holding her (SG) which I now read was also a mistake - as SG wasn't interested in what was behind the door!

I'm figuring it's best to go back to square one and keep them wholly apart - not even visual contact - til say the weekend.

Has anyone gone from bad initial meetings of two cats to tolerance or even harmony....all tips. timelines, advice welcome....

When I brought my newest cat home my resident cat was not impressed at all. Felt like I’d made a big mistake the first couple of weeks as she wouldn’t eat with the new cat around or would hide upstairs. Plus lots of swiping at the new cat if she saw him.

Now a year later she mostly tolerates him fine. Races him to the food, shares a tray (they do have one each if wanted) and will sit next to him. They still have little boxing matches on a regular basis but soon settle down.

We are getting another final cat next week, a 12 week old kitten. Hoping introductions go a little more smoothly this time

Have reverted to square one.

So no visual contact. SG did sniff at the bedroom door where NC was squeaking to get out from today. SG won't eat near the door though (all the stuff about cat introductions suggest feeding them with a closed door between them) as she's not a food motivated cat... Always been the case.

Can't persuade SG to settle in the bedroom with me even when new cat is safely shut in the bathroom though.

Fingers crossed we will get there..

How long have you had the new cat? The only way forward (from my experience) is to let them sort it out in a controlled environment (obviously NOT just shutting them in a room and walking away!) There will be lots more hissing and spitting whilst they work out the hierarchy, but once that has been established (over time, possibly weeks) they should tolerate each other. So, more access to each other for short (gradually getting longer) periods of time. Try not to interfere too much - maybe the odd verbal warning (unless it looks like it's about to get violent) as they need to go through this and you will just be delaying it otherwise. Plus carry on fussing SG and reassuring her - maybe feed her first, greet her first etc. Good luck!

There's a really good YouTube video "smoothie meets milkshake" about introducing two cats.

Although their cats probably bonded over the highly embarrassing names the owners gave them.

Thank you.

Did see that vid ...the cats were cute if daftly named.Will re watch.

Both of my two are adutls - SG is 16 (a very spritely and playful 16), NC is 18 months. NC has lived with another cat in cattery but has possibly never lived in a house before, she came from Romania with a dog rescue charity. Is baffled/terrified by things like a steaming cup of coffee, the toilet being flushed and moving images on my phone screen.

NC arrived Sat so has been with us for 5 days...she's getting bored of her confinement, dug up the carpet last night trapping herself in the bedroom and me out of it....duct tape deployed to fix carpet back down.

Tried to settle to sleep in the bedroom last night with NC trapped in the ensuite so that SG would come and cuddle me and a be calm in the spare bedroom where NC been exploring....she wasn't having a bit of it , came in and saw me then wandered downstairs to shout from outside my room until I went to my room!

I am making sure to come in from work and give all the attention and cuddles to SG that I normally would (deploying a child to NC's room in the meantime) offering SG treats, extra high up places to hang out etc.

You need to slow things down. 5 days is very early days. I'm not sure from your description if you have a separate room for new cat, or is she in a bathroom? The bigger the room, the longer she can stay there of course - weeks, if that's what it takes.

Get Pet Remedy spray and/or plug ins to relax them (we find this works for most cats better than Feliway at our charity). You can give your older cat Zylkene in her food, it's a supplement that helps them adjust to new situations.

Do lots of scent swapping with blankets/toys/towels etc. before more visual introductions.

It is not a good idea to let them "sort it out" early on - if they get in the habit of fighting, it's much harder to change this pattern later on. Best to stop it in its tracks as much as possible. Their time in the same room/access to each other should be supervised for several weeks until there's no hissing/growling.

You can also consider a baby gate or a spacious cat carrier to do visual introductions in a safe way without the possibility of fighting.

And finally, your goal should be for them to live together and tolerate each other - anything beyond that is a bonus. It is better in many cases to help the cats avoid each other by providing enough litter boxes, food dishes, water dishes, toys, beds etc. rather than trying to force them to become friends.

Thanks. I have lots of feliway diffusers and been doing scent swapping.

I know I should not have let them have visual contact thru a door so early. Mistake.

Progress was upset by new cats escape on Monday night.... Hence going back to square one... I totally don't want them sorting it out by fighting.

New Cat has a bedroom and ensuite to herself, I can close the bathroom off if nesc too allow Senior Girl to explore the spare bedroom (and New Cats scent) unmolested. It's the whole top floor area of a fairly large house and NC has her own, litter, food, scratch post, beds etc up there, windows to look out of, beds to lie on etc.

I will look up pet remedy spray. I have some zilklyene.

Feliway
Feliway
Feliway

Feliway friends diffuser in New Cats quarters and living room, Feliway original in my room (SG's sleeping place at night with me) and kitchen..... Cost me a fortune.

My Dt's are back from the Exh's so New Cat has overnight company in her quarters....I am spoiling SG rotten and not having to divide time between two moggies.

You're doing all the right things, but just need to give it time. Both times I've introduced a new cat to an existing cat it's taken about two months for them to settle down. If one of the cats has to go to vets, e.g. for vaccination, neutering, that seems to cause a setback in harmony. It is just a case of giving it long enough for them to see one another as part of the furniture, and also to take on the same 'house smell' (the scent swapping you're doing will help there).

It can take a long time.
It has taken over a year for one senior cat to tolerate 2 new kittens.
The other 2 senior cats loathe the 2 new ones even after all this time.
It is exhausting.

I introduced a new kitten to our older cat, and it took 8 days for cat to tolerate kitten.

In that time I kept them in separate rooms, but put them together each morning. Also put an old towel in both cat beds and swapped them over every morning so they would get used to each other's smell. They would sniff each others's faces, circle each other slowly and then cat would start growling and hissing, at which point I would separate them before it became a fight. After 8 days of this, she sniffed and circled as usual and then started licking the kitten's face.

They do still have little spats, but basically are friends and sleep in the same bed.