AM interpreting this behaviour correctly?

[Willowwombat]

So here we are, at five weeks after our introduction of nine-year-old Dude in to our household with our cat Willow. Most of the time it's great and I feel as though Willow has completely accepted him. He's playful and happy much of the time, and he doesn't seem to mind it when Willow chases him -- he even solicits a chase from time to time (he never chases her). She never jumps on him or growls or scratches him -- she stops when he turns around, and the game is over. Most of the time he feels pretty comfortable around her and if he doesn't want to be chased he just goes somewhere else.

For the last two day, though, Willow has started a new behaviour. To me it seems very open and friendly, but she is the dominant cat, so I want to make certain that I'm interpreting it correctly.

What Willow has started to do is saunter up to Dude with her tail straight up and her ears forward. This morning she had her nose 8 inches away from his nose, the closest they've ever been when not playing chase. He backed away, but didn't run away.

I've always assumed that when a cat's tail is straight up or straight up with a bend in it, that's a friendly, happy cat. Is she being friendly towards Dude when she does this, or is it a show of dominance?

 

[vince]

It doesn't seem unfriendly, given her ears forward-tail up posture. Direct stares are regarded as a challenge or threat, and I can't imagine being nose to nose wouldn't imply some kind of stare. I figure it's a friendly display of dominance as you suspected, and I wouldn't worry about it.

It also might have indicated Willow was trying to instigate a play session, but Dude didn't buy into it.

 

[ArtNJ]

I find its really hard to figure out what stuff might mean sometimes, maybe it means different things to different cats in different situations, and I've found that reading too much into things really just seems to be lead folks astray.

If I were you, I'd just be pleased as peaches that you introduced two middle aged cats and surprisingly its going very well, and not worry too much about interpretation of little stuff. I'm happy its still going well for you!

 

[Willowwombat]

Thanks for the reassurances. I really want the two cats to be happy. I try to keep my attention even between them, but I'm also training Dude to not be afraid of visitors, which means he gets extra attention when we have people over, and Willow seems to be a bit more pushy when that happens.

The work I've been doing with Dude about his fear of strange people is paying off, though. He's becoming far less afraid of visitors and will even come into the same room now and sit near me. He always runs away when they stand up, but he's made huge progress. I'm determined to get him comfortable with other people.

I figure if he can overcome some of his fears he'll be that much more confident in all aspects of his life, including his relationship with Willow.