- Joined
- Apr 1, 2019
- Messages
- 12
- Purraise
- 19
Not sure what to do but to ask for help. Been trying to mingle since November. I have read all of the usual Jackson Galaxy stuff like everybody else. Here's the journey so far:
Introduced them too quick. They resident cat didn't like the new cat immediately, but they kept their distance , so we let them mingle with supervision within a few days. We then allowed open door for the third or fourth night and then an attack broke out when we were asleep. There has been war ever since.
Slow introduction for weeks. Somebody finally suggested that it was playfighting, so we let them go at it. This turned into the new cat surprise attacking the resident cat when she exited her litterbox. This was the beginning of January. We had a vacation the day after and asked tried to inform our cat sitter to keep them separated instead of mingling at all. He didn't get the memo and a fight broke out when he wasn't paying attention. When we got back we noticed little blood spots on our bedroom door. Not sure if it is from that fight or the litterbox attack or something else we had just never noticed before.
Then we did a slow reintroduction. Kept them separated fully for a few weeks and have been doing site swaps ever since. We let them go in the same room for wet food and laser pointer time (in particular because we can use he laser as a distraction to stop a fight before it happens).
So here we are in the present. Our resident cat seems mostly calm, but you can still tell she is on the defensive and could pounce herself at anytime if the other cat warrants it. The new cat is always in stalker mode unless distracted by food/laser. She will attack if we don't supervise. 100%
While I am not certain that it isn't a playfight, I would say the signals that its a real fight are the dialiated pupils that they both get (especially the aggressoe), the swishing tail that he resident cat gets as a sign of aggitation, and the fact that they both are just fixated on each other when they are together. There is never a focus on anything else but the enemy whether it is the stalker or the defender.
Both probably need a vet checkup. That's probably what the advise I will receive will amount to. The resident cat is due for shots and the new cat had a vet check up soon before adoption, so we have her to take her ourselves which is probably neglectful on our part. I heard that cats get aggressive when they don't recognize another cats small because they pick up the vet scent, so I have been hesitant to take either since that seems like it can reset any progress we have actually made, but at this point it seems like we have just been at square 1 or square 2 for so long that we may as well just stunt that progress with vet trips. Other than medicating, I just don't know what a vet will do beside quoting the same reintroduction techniques that I have read over and over 100 times for the last 5 months.
Both have claws that they refuse to let us trim so we can't let them fight it our. We live in a one-bedroom apartment with limited space and are working on a bigger space, but don't want to assume that will fix anything. Feliway multicat plugged into living room and bedroom and feel like wastes of money at this point. (Have not given them a full month to kick in, but previously had one plugged in the living room for a month and a half before he litterbox fight to no effect).
So...any advise? Insight? Questions? They both love us and want to cuddle and be normal cute cats, but they won't do anything but fixate on each other when together.
Introduced them too quick. They resident cat didn't like the new cat immediately, but they kept their distance , so we let them mingle with supervision within a few days. We then allowed open door for the third or fourth night and then an attack broke out when we were asleep. There has been war ever since.
Slow introduction for weeks. Somebody finally suggested that it was playfighting, so we let them go at it. This turned into the new cat surprise attacking the resident cat when she exited her litterbox. This was the beginning of January. We had a vacation the day after and asked tried to inform our cat sitter to keep them separated instead of mingling at all. He didn't get the memo and a fight broke out when he wasn't paying attention. When we got back we noticed little blood spots on our bedroom door. Not sure if it is from that fight or the litterbox attack or something else we had just never noticed before.
Then we did a slow reintroduction. Kept them separated fully for a few weeks and have been doing site swaps ever since. We let them go in the same room for wet food and laser pointer time (in particular because we can use he laser as a distraction to stop a fight before it happens).
So here we are in the present. Our resident cat seems mostly calm, but you can still tell she is on the defensive and could pounce herself at anytime if the other cat warrants it. The new cat is always in stalker mode unless distracted by food/laser. She will attack if we don't supervise. 100%
While I am not certain that it isn't a playfight, I would say the signals that its a real fight are the dialiated pupils that they both get (especially the aggressoe), the swishing tail that he resident cat gets as a sign of aggitation, and the fact that they both are just fixated on each other when they are together. There is never a focus on anything else but the enemy whether it is the stalker or the defender.
Both probably need a vet checkup. That's probably what the advise I will receive will amount to. The resident cat is due for shots and the new cat had a vet check up soon before adoption, so we have her to take her ourselves which is probably neglectful on our part. I heard that cats get aggressive when they don't recognize another cats small because they pick up the vet scent, so I have been hesitant to take either since that seems like it can reset any progress we have actually made, but at this point it seems like we have just been at square 1 or square 2 for so long that we may as well just stunt that progress with vet trips. Other than medicating, I just don't know what a vet will do beside quoting the same reintroduction techniques that I have read over and over 100 times for the last 5 months.
Both have claws that they refuse to let us trim so we can't let them fight it our. We live in a one-bedroom apartment with limited space and are working on a bigger space, but don't want to assume that will fix anything. Feliway multicat plugged into living room and bedroom and feel like wastes of money at this point. (Have not given them a full month to kick in, but previously had one plugged in the living room for a month and a half before he litterbox fight to no effect).
So...any advise? Insight? Questions? They both love us and want to cuddle and be normal cute cats, but they won't do anything but fixate on each other when together.