- Joined
- Jan 26, 2021
- Messages
- 4
- Purraise
- 1
My partner and I adopted a kitten (7mo) a few weeks ago. She was put in a separate room and our resident cat (5yrs) had the run of the rest of the house. Once the kitten was comfortable in her space and was interested in exploring the house, we put the resident cat in the master bedroom so the kitten could explore for a few hours. After a few days of this and allowing them to interact under their separating door ("playing paws"), we allowed them to meet. I immediately could not tell if they were getting along or not. I've never had multiple cats before so I don't know what is normal behavior. They kind of chased each other around the house and tackled each other. There was no hissing, no batting, no fluffing up, nothing that I recognized as cat aggression, but it didn't seem particularly friendly either. One cat would kind of trap the other in a space (under the table or in the shoe rack) and not let them leave. Then the roles would reverse. I fed them both treats around each other (trying to enforce positive association) and they were never aggressive about it or anything. Then the kitten came down with a sneeze. We separated them again to avoid transmission to the older cat. (We had the vet examine kitten and they said she's fine and probably has a very mild upper respiratory infection. She's acting/eating/drinking normally, just sneezes now and again). After two weeks, it was clear our resident cat had caught it too. Same extremely mild symptoms, just a little sneezy. After consulting with the vet's office, we reintroduced them last night. Their behavior is the same but amplified. Before they ignored each other for bouts of time before attacking. Now, they're interacting almost constantly. I've been stepping in and giving time-outs if it looks like things are getting a little too aggressive (and they don't interact unsupervised), but I honestly can't tell what's happening. This morning I noticed our resident cat bite the back of the kitten's neck. It's not hard and she hasn't been reacting to it, but it was to the point where she got up to walk away and he was kind of dragged along because he wouldn't let go of her collar. There's still no hallmark aggression signs, but this seems more intense than regular friendly play, especially since they are so new to each other. I've done some googling to see what are "real" cat fights and it doesn't seem to fit their behavior, but I still am confused as to what is happening between them. I'm not sure how much I should allow before intervening and I'm not sure how to ease tensions between them. I know it takes cats potentially a long time to get along, but any advice would be very helpful.
