Cat Intro Going Really Badly

Hello all,

I’m hoping someone here can give me some advice as I’m really,really struggling. I’m living and working in the Middle East and have 2 cats.

My resident cat, Pittan is a 7yr old tri color Arabian Mau (pavement special she was found by me when she was about 2 months old and has been an only cat since. Shes very vocal and makes no bones about her grumbles and complaints, always quick to growl out her displeasure and huffs/snorts. That being said she is also incredibly cuddly with me and my partner. Not anyone else however. She is quick to anger and hold grudges for ages.
Now, I recently rescued another little Mau (squeaks, 5/6 months now) in December. She was in my housing complex being beaten up by the other cats and was quite poorly. Squeaks is a little firecracker and very active. I’ve had her spayed And am still trying out the introductions.

I’ve tried the whole safe room, scent swap, etc with them. It reached a point where Pitts would go up high on her tree or on top of the fridge and growl from a distance. Always growling if squeaks was nearby. They’d walk past each other with squeaks realizing that she needed to keep her distance or else get screamed at and whacked. It started to go well but one evening squeaks went up to my resident cat Pitts and a full on fight ensued. No blood but lots of paws whacking with claws and Lots of loud yowling, fluffing up and charging. I had to start all over again and it’s gone back to square one. I’m doing scent swaps and have cats sharing bed time with me on a rotation. Feeding behind closed doors, both cats on either side. Pittan has no problem with scent but if she sees squeaks she gets angry.
Pitts is now attacking the glass door if she sees the kitten behind it and has started charging her if she catches a glimpse of squeaks. I live in a 1 bed flat so I’m moving cats back and forth. Between living room and bedroom. I’ve got calming collars on the both of them, have a pet remedy diffuser on (like feliway), using calming oil in conjunction with all these and am now waiting on my calming Jackson galaxy cat essence drop things to get delivered.
Today Pittan actually charged at me when I was holding squeaks and whacked me, luckily drew blood but she’s never done that before.
I’m starting to get really worried as to wether this will work or not. To further compound the issue, my husbands out of work in the next few months and we’ll have to travel out of the country. The original plan was to take Pittan with but now the kitten has come in and changed it all up. If I can’t get them to get along I’ll have to rehome her. Which for me is not an option, despite my husband’s constant whinging!
Is there anything you could suggest? I’ve tried following the process by the book and am constantly reading up but nothing helping and I’m starting to get super anxious about the whole situation.

See if there are any tips you haven't tried in these:

How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide
How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction
Introducing Cats To Cats

Can you get Feliway or something similar in the Middle East?

Hello and welcome to TCS. Sorry it's cat aggression that brought you here.

It sounds like you're doing everything right, so not a lot more to suggest.

Do they ever have moments when they seem to get along? Or it is always aggression.

One crazy idea you could try is taking both cats out in the car somewhere, just to get them out of the flat. Then separating them when you bring them back, and re-starting the introductions.

One other idea is to put a dab of pure vanilla extract on each cat, so they'll smell the same. Here's a TCS thread that mentions it: Ode to vanilla extract

How long will you be travelling out of the country? Can you maybe take Pittan with you, and board the kitten somewhere? Then maybe try re-introductions when you return?

In addition to the articles LTS3 posted, here's a couple more that might be helpful:

Why Do Cats Attack?
Cat Aggression Toward People

Plus Are My Cats Fighting Or Playing?

And some on stress:
Is Your Cat Stressed Out?
You, Your Cat And Stress
Potential Stressors In Cats - The Ultimate Checklist
Six Surefire Strategies To Reduce Stress In Cats

LTS3 said:

See if there are any tips you haven't tried in these:

How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide
How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction
Introducing Cats To Cats

Can you get Feliway or something similar in the Middle East?

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Hiya,
Yea I am using Pet Remedy which is similar to feliway. Have also read the guide above. Repeatedly! It’s like I’m hoping to see something I missed

Hi hi,

Thank you for the welcome.
Despite being here for the stress of introductions, I am very glad to have found this site and everyone on it
The cats don’t really ‘get along’ per se. the kitten tries to stalk her ( when we had gotten as far as sight in the previous intro trial) and Pittan (in the picture looking rather sweet) has now started charging at little squeaks if she sees her. This is through glass doors, or cracked doors or even when I’m trying to hold kitten during a room exchange! She yowls quite horribly. Smell doesn’t seem to be much of a trigger.it seems to be mostly on sight.

The car idea seems interesting. But won’t that stress them out even more?

If we travel out of the country it’ll be probably to move away as my husbands work permit will expire and we’ll have to leave the country. So all in all a very stressful time for all.

I’ve read most of the articles mentioned but I will reread them again. Thank you so much for the suggestions.

I’m hoping to try the Jackson galaxy drops alongside rescue remedy to see if that might work. Fingers crossed! Have read about using a stinky sock and rubbing kitten or both cats down with it. But vanilla seems interesting too. I heard of a friend who used Vick’s near their animals noses (meerkats at a rescue home) and they managed to successfully introduce new animals into the group. Same concept I suppose.

Thanks for taking the time out to respond

If you google "science feliway" or something like that, you'll find that there have been scientific studies, and that there is really no evidence it works. Some people think that it worked for them, while others report it did nothing, which is exactly what one would expect by chance. I dont think there have even been studies on the other products. So I think its fine to hope a different product will work, but you have to understand it isn't too likely, and that if something seems to work it might just be chance.

Have you tried baby gates or that can't work with your layout?

Also, how did the younger cat respond to the aggression? Any evidence he might have gotten the message? If he is cowed and will avoid the bigger cat, you may not need the bigger cat to calm down *that* much -- they can work it out if he comes off "attack on sight" if the younger cat will learn that distance is needed.

Hi,

The calming collar seems to kind of work. But the Diffuser is just leaving a bit of a funky smell in the flat! But at this stage, 3 months in, I’m willing to try anything.

Baby gates don’t work with our layout too well, but I did buy a kitty playpen. Unfortunately little one managed to claw a hole in the mesh within the first 15mins. She hated being zipped up and covered up with a blanket.
I kept her covered with a blanket in the same room as the resident cat and I for a soft intro. But littles just keeps going mental in it. It worked for a bit so may have to try again. Will attach a picture of the playpen.

Little one doesn’t seem to cow down. Quite the opposite. She isn’t afraid to stand her ground And will swat back. Even if we’re around she will have a go at us. However she would leave her alone during the last introduction, but only until resident cat was asleep in her cat tree box. Then it was constant peeking and sniffing which would result in a fight as she felt cornered being in her box. She would also try to get closer to her. Interest or itching for a fight....I don’t know.
It was that last fight when she cornered her in the box that got us back to square one and third at the attempt at Introductions.
This attack on sight thing is horrible. They are interested in each other and sniff at the bottom of doors etc. they can’t play paws as not enough room under the door but even with the door open a crack it’s all drama. At this stage I’m a little confused as to who’s the bigger bully!


The kitty play pen. The top zips up.

Natashan said:

The car idea seems interesting. But won’t that stress them out even more?

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I think that's kind of the idea. Both cats get stressed, think they're going to the vet, then voila, they're back safe and sound at home.

We have a couple members who always take all their cats to the vet, even when only one has to go, that way they all come back smelling the same, and it prevents non-recognition aggression.

Natashan said:

Despite being here for the stress of introductions, I am very glad to have found this site and everyone on it

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I'm glad you found us too. Hopefully things will settle down between your kitties, and then you'll be able to relax and enjoy all the different forums on the site.

First, you said something very important. "No blood." If there is no blood, things are not as bad as they appear. Not good, but not horrible, either.

Next, are you "scent swapping" or "site swapping?" There is a difference. At some point, Pittan should be placed in Mau's safe room for a few hours a day while Mau is out exploring the entire rest of the apartment. We need to shoot for having BOTH cats' scents all over the living area.

Honestly, you're doing ok. This is probably going to be a longer introduction, but a couple of months is NOTHING compared with some very successful introductons we've seen. Just remember that time is your friend, DO NOT PUSH things, and you can only go as fast as the most reluctant cat!

Thank you so much for the response.

No blood. As yet! But they just seem quite mean, yowly and violent.

I think I’m doing both site and scent. I’m keeping kittens toys near Pittan and vice cersa. Also having them change back and forth between both rooms. They’re also using each other litter boxes and food bowls (!?) I never thought they’d do that but they seem to just....do. Pittan makes it a point to hunt down the almost empty food bowl of the kitten and eats her leftover bits. Granted she snorts at the door when she sniffs kitten scent but doesn’t seem to diminish her appetite much.

Wish I could push things a bit quicker as this needs to work ASAP! I’m starting to worry that I may have to rehome kitten if this doesn’t work soon. Very worrying.

Are you positive it's aggression and not play? The following article explains how to tell the difference, and includes both pictures and videos.

Are My Cats Fighting Or Playing?

Completely positive. Pittan is really aggressive towards the little one and the noises she makes is nothing close to anything playful. Shame really. Little one is very curious.

Hopefully Pittan will come around eventually. How old is the kitten now? Has she been spayed yet?

Pittan is 8yrs old and the kitten is now 6months. They’ve both been spayed.
I’m hoping they’ll get along sooner rather than later!

Are you able to post a video of their interactions?
How To Upload And Add Videos To Your Posts

hi,
Sorry it took ages to respond. I’ve been busy making videos
I’ve been unable to add them to the gallery on this platform so have instead uploaded them on YouTube.

I see upthread you mentioned baby gates didn't work, but I was wondering if you could stack them in the doorway where Squeaky was getting the treats?

Have started keeping door much more open when giving treats. That’s really helping. Squeaky almost completely got her head out for treats. Pittan right nearby, near my legs.
Update though, been trying it with a harness and lead. Done a little today, twice so far for short spells. Pittan was ok from a distance. I also been using door stops to keep door a bit more open. Squeaky managed to escape, running up to Pittan and she just lunged at squeaks, screaming bloody murder. Now i have one scratched up hand as I, picked up squeaks by the harness.
The idiots keep charging at each other. If it’s not squeaky then it’s pittan. Argh!

Natashan said:

Now i have one scratched up hand as I, picked up squeaks by the harness.

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Do keep an eye on the scratches as both cat bites and scratches can become infected.

Natashan said:

The idiots keep charging at each other. If it’s not squeaky then it’s pittan. Argh!

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