Are my cats ready to meet face-to-face?

[nkhanpirate]

Hello! I posted a while ago about introducing my two cats and got some great advice. Looking for some guidance with them again. We're trying to decide if we are ready to have face-to-face meeting with our cats. To set the stage a bit, our new cat (2 years, male) is super easy-going and wants to meet his big sister badly. Our resident cat (3 years, female) has been generally wary and she is the one we are most worried about. Today marks a month since we brought new cat home.

We've progressed to the point where they can eat on either side of a baby gate with no problems. They are maybe a foot apart from each other, but I think both understand there is a barrier between them. Usually after they finish, resident cat will groom for 10-15 seconds and walk away. Sometimes before the food is set down or if he approaches the gate after eating, our resident cat will come up to the gate and hiss/swat at him a bit. She stops if we tell her to and she doesn't have any other signs of aggression (ears are forward, hair is not raised, etc.) Both are totally fine after. Over the last two days we have played with both of them with the door to new cat's room open. New cat is playing with one of us in the far end of the room and resident cat is playing at the end of the hallway, about 15 feet from each other. We've been able to do this for 15 minutes with no incidents. Resident cat will try to approach the new cat (she is generally less interested in play), but we block her/redirect her. Because she still hisses at him sometimes and her general attitude, we have been airing on the side of caution and stopping her from approaching. New cat is very easily distracted with wand toys so while he has noticed his sister, he hasn't really tried to make a beeline for her.

Should we allow our resident cat to come into the room and see what is going on? We are concerned she will get spooked and turn aggressive. New cat got out on accident once and she chased him under the bed, but that was 3 weeks ago. We are prepared with blanket, spray bottle, and cardboard to intervene if a fight does break out, but we are cautious about creating negative associations. Any thoughts and advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Alldara]

- have you room swapped? Did she hiss or become stressed/tense during room swapping? (Licking lips, muscle tension, hissing or growling).

- If no, do this first. Carry easy going cat out in your arms, allow resident cat in. Provide resident cat much rewards. Allow new cat to explore and become familiar with all the new sites.

- If yes, tire new cat out. Prepare lots of treats and release new cat. Let resident cat watch new cat play. Provide treats, pets, verbal praise and keep something HIGHLY distracting to resident cat (we used a colourful string). Reward ALL small things like looking at one another without agression - a hiss is okay. That's communication. Even a swat but then they back off, that's okay too.
Whenever we got a his or growl I would say "Hey it's okay." Jingle the string or something, get them to back off or give space and then reward with a treat. Giving another cat space when grumpy is a very positive behaviour that should always be encouraged in a multi-cat home.

 

[Alldara]

Oh I will add- no matter how well it goes, still allow resident cat to have at least one or two hours with a closed door from new cat for a few weeks. . This is resident cats chance to de-stress and learn to sleep etc peacefully. It also keeps the routine of the cats providing each other with this independent time to chill.

These days, all my cats sleep together but in the case one does want some separate time, they allow it and don't follow or stalk because we kept this routine.

 

[nkhanpirate]

Thanks for the response! We site swap every day for at least a couple hours. We've been doing this for most of the time we have had new cat. Resident cat doesn't display any of the behaviors you mentioned, but she eventually gets annoyed with being stuck and starts whining/jumping at the door.

That's a good plan to follow for letting them meet. We'll try that and see how it goes. We just got a laser point which resident cat loves so we should be able to distract her with that. And yes, we plan to keep the new cat in his room for parts of the day/night even after they have met for a while.

 

[ArtNJ]

Is the gate only up during meal time? I'd try to leave it up 24/7 for a few days and see if you can get rid of the hissing. But at some point, you do have to see what they can do. I think its the rare introduction that needs more than a month -- but if you haven't left the gate up 24/7, you might try that for a bit. It doesn't sound like its going badly -- you cant always extinguish all hissing before they meet, and even if you do, you'll likely get more during free interaction.

 

[nkhanpirate]

Thanks! The gate is only up during meal time mostly because we only have two and it doesn't go all the way up to the ceiling. We think the new cat might figure a way out with only two. We're going to try to get at third gate, and then we can try the 24/7 interaction. We've certainly been making progress and don't feel like it's going poorly. Just want to keep things moving in a positive direction!

 

[ArtNJ]

Sounds good! Just dont think its 100% on you. Good chance that no matter what you do, there will still be some hissing when they are allowed to interact.

 

[Alldara]

100% agree with A ArtNJ
Some cats don't become fully comfortable to stop hissing until full integration. Waiting for it to halt completely can just drag it on.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[IronCladLou]

I agree with Alldara. Hissing is perhaps more of an expression of displeasure than overt aggression. We integrated two kittens to a adult resident cat and although there was hissing through the gate there was no aggressive behavior and when we let the kittens out the adult cat hissed some but then just walked away. The hissing continued for some days but then went mostly away completely. We did continue to keep the kittens in their room at night for another week or so before letting them out full time for good. There are still occasional squabbling but nothing real serious. One of the kittens is a large male and although very mild mannered the resident female would really like to see him move on. We just give them a lot of love and affection at the same time if they have a tiff. Hopefully it will pass with time.

 

[Alldara]

Oh these videos are super helpful too in teaching how to pick up on if your cats are actually fighting, or playing.

Each cat is different. Nobel makes a lot of noise during play, a hiss means finished. However, even a single squeek from Magnus means it's gotten too much for him and he's done (but a hiss or a 'ffft' - like Tolouse from Aristocrats is game on!). Basically I watch for turn taking, return for more and if they are relaxed enough to have small breaks in eye contact, or will pause to look at something else or lick themselves or one another briefly. They also leave once too stimulated even during play which is a good sign, it's different than taking off to be chased.