At What Point In An Introduction Did You Leave Your Cats Unsupervised?

[cheeseburger]

We are four weeks into a cat introduction. This is the first week that during the day we've let the cats run around and fully interact while I'm at home.

There have been up and downs. Our resident cat is still chasing, jumping on, and antagonizing the new cat a bit, but they also have slept together on the cat tree a few times, so it seems to be going okay.

Right now we are still separating them physically at night and when we leave the house. I'm just curious - what are the signs that they are ready to hang out together without us there? How long into your introductions did you do it?

 

[susanm9006]

If there is no actual fighting going on I think it is time to take the next step and leave them together at night. That should give you some confidence in how they will interact when you aren’t there. But I think you won’t need much time to feel comfortable. If they are sleeping together now, I think they are already friends and nights or days when you aren’t there isn’t going to change that.

 

[cuppa]

I think I ended up leaving mine alone after the first couple days of them interacting for longer periods of time. As long as it's just play and not actual fighting (drawing blood or pulling out fur), I think you'd be okay to do as susanm9006 says and let them interact overnight.