Can we talk about cat introductions?

[iloveeverykindofcat]

A little while ago I sadly lost one of my senior girls to old age, and last week I brought home a new rescued youngster. I've been unusually lucky in the past that my cat pairings have taken to each other almost immediately, but these 2 have not. So I'm now in the process of acclimatising my resident cat (13 but very fit and healthy) and a new rescue (age unknown but young adult). They've both lived happily with other cats before but understandably are unhappy about each others presence at the moment. New girl has a safe room with everything she needs and existing cats has my bedroom to herself, which has her catflap in. We live in a ground floor flat in a safe rural location and senior girl by choice spends a good bit of Time in the garden. That's what she likes.

As of today they can be in each others presence for a short period as long as I keep new girl busy and distracted with toys and treats. On noticing each other they will make some unhappy noises and new girl will start making fear aggressive motion towards resident, particularly if resident moves around, so I distract again and she goes back in her room. I'm aware this isn't bad, for cats that have only just met; I've certainly heard worse. I've just been unusually lucky with previous pairings. So my questions: how long would you keep them at this stage of short exposures? A few days? A week? Then what should the next stage be? How often would you expose them? Once a day, or twice a day? More? I am scent swapping by brushing them with the same brush. Newbie needs to lose her fear aggression towards resident before we move forwards. I'm off work in July so I have time to get this right.

Hello OP. Sorry about losing your older cat (we lost one of ours only last week. Heartbreaking).

We are going to get 1/2 rescue kittens in a month or so, so I'm interested in advice on this too.

Our last pairing (the one who died and the remaining) never settled, often fought at mealtimes (though fed separately and well away from each other) and generally avoided each other. That was, until the final 2 weeks of the older cat dying when the younger started sleeping very close by. I'm sure she knew that the older was ill and dying and she wanted to give comfort 🥲

So, anyway i'd like to get it more right this time. Incidentally how was the rescue process for you? I gave up last time as they were all so batshit and didn't want to give us a cat.

Sorry you lost one too! The rescue process was easy, they are very full and this lady really needed a home. As soon as they knew I was an experienced owner with safe garden access they couldn't wait for me to take her. They had her down as having lived happily with cats before, so she should do again, I hope!

We currently have 16 cats, although have had 21. We have every combination you could think of. With cats scent is everything, simply put, if they smell the same they belong in the same space, this is why cats returning from vets and kennels are often shunned by resident cats.

Generally speaking we separate for 2 weeks, this gives the new cat long enough to take on your scent. Even after this there could be hissing or bops to establish dominance. In that time though we allow the newbie time out in the house to get to know the home, while the resident is safely somewhere else.

I would bring them together a few times a day, providing they don't get in a full blown fight, leave them to it, let them hiss, growl, its normal behaviour. After 2 weeks we try and have them out and about together and then separate them at night. We have had some who were fine after 2 days, others that needed the 2 weeks, bringing adults together is in my opinion the most difficult as a kitten would naturally be submissive.

@nuggetsandchips that's more or less what I'm doing, newbie comes out of her room when resident is outside or in the bedroom. I do see them smelling everything so hopefully they are getting used to each others scent. I will let them see each other again tonight whilst distracting newbie with toys, it's mostly her that starts the fear-aggresive noises. She is an adult, but I think only just. She's had a litter because she wasn't spayed before shelter, but she's still very kittenish in her ways. However she is clearly one of those cats that think attack is the best form of defense as she growls and makes lunges if she's scared. I don't want to do her a disservice with this description, she's a lovely little thing, just highly strung at the moment. Which you can't blame her for.

Scent swapping is more effective with a sock in my view, really hard strokes all around the mouth and face, they might try to spit at the sock at first (you put it on your hand like a glove).

@iloveeverykindofcat I would say just keep it up, maybe try distracting her a little less over time and see what they do. We have 2 rescues, one was a feral farm cat, the other a rejected Savannah, both very affectionate, one is unbelievably vocal and sounds scary but its all just a front. The only other suggestion would be some cat nip to chill them out around one another.

For the moment I am using Dreamies to that purpose. Little one is underweight at the moment, so can have as many as she wants (though she won't be for long the way she eats). Might get some catnip too, God knows I've spent a fortune already what's a few quid more.

Update - I just pet them at arms length from each othr while they could see each other. Couple of little unhappy noises but no attempts to fight. Then I put Winnie back in her room before anything could escalate.

That's not so bad for Winnie only being here a couple of days is it?

@soupfiend will definitely try a sock!

Winnie is of course the name of little one.

I'm a bit sad that resident cat has taken to going behind one of the big chairs, showing she is not as confident in her enviornment as she was, but she's eating, drinking and toileting normally and accepting fuss, so she's not overly stressed.

I completely messed up the introductions with my new boy. Like you, all my cats had got on well before, so wasn't envisioning a problem this time. Wrong! Paddington wouldn't stay in the spare room as planned. Existing cat Penelope ended up at the emergency vet after not seeing for 48 hours as she was stressed. Penelope is scared of him. He's not aggressive to her, but has jumped on her in a playful way. A few times, and she hates it. She growls at him, but no other aggressive behaviour from either of them. So I think it will be ok. Just take a very long time.

I'm still separating at night, and that's going ok.

@Toddlerteaplease oh dear that's not good! Thankfully I am not seeing any toileting problems. If he won't stay in a room perhaps he could have one side of the house or flat and you could do scent swapping for a while until she forgets the bad associations? Mine have only seen each other for brief periods at the moment but little one has only been here a few days. The very first time she saw resident cat she lunged at her so I don't want a repeat of that. Slowly slowly.

That sounds quite intense for only two days in - the advice for introducing adult cats is to generally completely separate them for two weeks before attempting any kind of face to face introduction.

She was out on gabapentin to calm her down. It worked well. We are six weeks in now. And she's getting there slowly. She got on well with my previous cat, who was much more aggressive towards her. However, she's pretty traumatised from her previous life as a breeder. (She refused to mate) and new cat is a boy, who's twice her size. I thought a neutered boy would be ok for her. He's not aggressive, he just wants to play with her. But she won't fight back and is a bit thick and isn't getting the message!

Sorry if this has been mentioned already but have you tried a Feliway diffuser ? When you are trying to socialise them - have it on in the room ?

Yeah we do have Feliway and I have ordered more! It is perhaps a little fast, but they showed no reaction to each others smell so sight is next I guess. Only for a few minutes at a time. As they've made a few noises but apart from that one error I made at the start, no fighting, I have kept it up. But I put little one right back in her room before anyone can get too worked up. I'm feeling better about it today.

How did you get on op? Am thinking of adopting a cat but don’t know if my resident bonded 2 will like it

We got there. Don't get me wrong, the little one has her moments and gets told off by her sister most days, but its brief, and they soon cuddle up again. It was nowhere near as easy as my previous pair. We don't use Feliway anymore and they have access to each other pretty much 24/7. The main things that helped were 1) getting senior girl on glucosamine, thus making her more comfortable and restoring her full and calm nature 2) little one's skin allergies naturally improving with age, making her a calmer and happier animal and 3) plenty of outdoor time for little one. If she gets pouncy/grabby, immediate redirect and close a door between them until she forgets. But it all worked out in the end.