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- Jul 13, 2015
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Hey, my husband and I are having a bit of a time with introducing our new cat to our two resident cats. I was wondering if anyone has gone through something similar and has some advice that could help!
Background: We've had Dunlop for 4 years. Before hubby and I lived together, Dunlop was successfully introduced to a female Tortie and a female Siamese with no problems after about a week of introductions. We got Donatello after we bought our house, and have had him for 2 years. They're both around 5 years old. Donatello is alpha dominant. Their introduction took about 2 weeks, and they'd fight periodically to sort out the pecking order for a few months after that. Now they get along pretty great.
Our new fur baby, Coca, is a 2 year old male, recently neutered. He's been isolated in his own room for a week and a half. We can let the cats into his safe room for supervised time without any issues. Don prefers to watch Cocoa from above. Dunlop will sometimes play with a toy in the room, but gets a bit anxious when Cocoa gets close. They're fine with his scent - when we've let Cocoa out to roam around the house with them locked up, there's no hissing or anything. Cocoa loves them and would just love to make friends ASAP, but he's also respectful of their body language and stays away when they ask.
Now, we thought we were onto the step where we're letting Cocoa out into the house for bits at a time. Dunlop and Don are super scared and unsure of him. It doesn't seem to be getting much better. Donatello will keep his distance and sometimes try to hiss/growl him out of the room. (Puffy fur accompanied by warning growls). Dunlop gets scared and follows him a bit. They get overwhelmed after about 20 mins. Usually, Don will give an angry meow, puff up his fur. Sometimes Dunlop will walk by and he'll have some misdirected aggression and go after Dunlop. Of course, Cocoa goes back to his safe room after this. (We don't want Dunlop & Don's relationship to degrade due to misplaced aggression). The last time, Cocoa went to pounce on a toy, scared Dunlop, and Dunlop puffed up and went after him and ran him under a cabinet in the basement. After he calmed down and they were separated, he seems fine, but Cocoa was understandably a bit freaked out. (not wanting to leave the basement when he's out for solo roaming time now). I don't really feel like letting them "fight it out" will help the situation at all. They also don't react/care if he's in a carrier anywhere in the house. Just when he's out, not in the safe room. Cocoa isn't territorial either - he's honestly the most chill, least threatening cat I've helped out with in an introduction.
Since we seem to be having a rough time with this next step, I was wondering if anyone has some tips or tricks they'd like to share! This is the first time I've been dealing with this much fear aggression at this step in an introduction, with the supervised safe room visits being pretty fine. We're very patient, and we don't want to do the wrong thing
Our game plan is to keep trying a few short house visits a day, and lots of "Eat. Play. Love" supervised visits when the cats are into it. (By the way, how do you know the cats are 100% relaxed with each other? An hour of hanging out? 30 mins?)
Since Donatello is the biggest problem, I was thinking of dialing it back with him. Putting Cocoa in his carrier, putting Don in the room, then letting Cocoa out when Don is completely relaxed around Cocoa.
Cocoa is a siamese-tabby mix. We've been getting a bit worried about him in the isolation room. Even though he's getting 2-5 hours of attention in there a day, if he gets really frantic he throws himself against the door. He's going to the vet on Friday for booster shots, so I'm wondering if I should see about anti-anxiety meds for the three of them to get them through the short term.
Thank you for reading this!
Background: We've had Dunlop for 4 years. Before hubby and I lived together, Dunlop was successfully introduced to a female Tortie and a female Siamese with no problems after about a week of introductions. We got Donatello after we bought our house, and have had him for 2 years. They're both around 5 years old. Donatello is alpha dominant. Their introduction took about 2 weeks, and they'd fight periodically to sort out the pecking order for a few months after that. Now they get along pretty great.
Our new fur baby, Coca, is a 2 year old male, recently neutered. He's been isolated in his own room for a week and a half. We can let the cats into his safe room for supervised time without any issues. Don prefers to watch Cocoa from above. Dunlop will sometimes play with a toy in the room, but gets a bit anxious when Cocoa gets close. They're fine with his scent - when we've let Cocoa out to roam around the house with them locked up, there's no hissing or anything. Cocoa loves them and would just love to make friends ASAP, but he's also respectful of their body language and stays away when they ask.
Now, we thought we were onto the step where we're letting Cocoa out into the house for bits at a time. Dunlop and Don are super scared and unsure of him. It doesn't seem to be getting much better. Donatello will keep his distance and sometimes try to hiss/growl him out of the room. (Puffy fur accompanied by warning growls). Dunlop gets scared and follows him a bit. They get overwhelmed after about 20 mins. Usually, Don will give an angry meow, puff up his fur. Sometimes Dunlop will walk by and he'll have some misdirected aggression and go after Dunlop. Of course, Cocoa goes back to his safe room after this. (We don't want Dunlop & Don's relationship to degrade due to misplaced aggression). The last time, Cocoa went to pounce on a toy, scared Dunlop, and Dunlop puffed up and went after him and ran him under a cabinet in the basement. After he calmed down and they were separated, he seems fine, but Cocoa was understandably a bit freaked out. (not wanting to leave the basement when he's out for solo roaming time now). I don't really feel like letting them "fight it out" will help the situation at all. They also don't react/care if he's in a carrier anywhere in the house. Just when he's out, not in the safe room. Cocoa isn't territorial either - he's honestly the most chill, least threatening cat I've helped out with in an introduction.
Since we seem to be having a rough time with this next step, I was wondering if anyone has some tips or tricks they'd like to share! This is the first time I've been dealing with this much fear aggression at this step in an introduction, with the supervised safe room visits being pretty fine. We're very patient, and we don't want to do the wrong thing
Our game plan is to keep trying a few short house visits a day, and lots of "Eat. Play. Love" supervised visits when the cats are into it. (By the way, how do you know the cats are 100% relaxed with each other? An hour of hanging out? 30 mins?)Since Donatello is the biggest problem, I was thinking of dialing it back with him. Putting Cocoa in his carrier, putting Don in the room, then letting Cocoa out when Don is completely relaxed around Cocoa.
Cocoa is a siamese-tabby mix. We've been getting a bit worried about him in the isolation room. Even though he's getting 2-5 hours of attention in there a day, if he gets really frantic he throws himself against the door. He's going to the vet on Friday for booster shots, so I'm wondering if I should see about anti-anxiety meds for the three of them to get them through the short term.
Thank you for reading this!
.
