- Joined
- May 27, 2022
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I know this gets asked a lot and I’ve read many of the other threads and links on introductions, but I’m having a bit of trouble telling if my cats are fighting or playing.
Two months ago I adopted a ~1 year old female cat (Sandy) from a shelter. My roommate already had a ~3 year old male cat (Kio) that has been with us for ~1.5 years. We decided to do the slow introduction, having my bedroom be Sandy’s base camp. Kio wasn’t too thrilled with having a new cat around - there was some hissing and whatnot when he would get near her door but that all died off after about a week. We eventually moved on to letting them see each other through cracked doors and had been feeding them on either side of the door.
We are at a point now where there is normally just a baby gate barrier between them when they are playing or eating. Both of those go well, so long as one cat doesn’t think that it is still hungry after eating (one might paw in the direction of the other’s food if they don’t feel like they had enough to eat). I’m trying to give them more regular visual access to each other by not limiting their time at the baby gate as much each day. What I’m finding is that unless I’m there to mediate/watch/play with them, we will have almost nonstop instances of the linked videos. I can’t tell if this is aggression or play. There isn’t any hissing that I can hear and there (usually) isn’t any growling from either cat (I actually think Sandy may have let out a small growl in one of the videos). Sandy (the new cat) is on the opposite side of the baby gate as the camera. Kio (the resident) is on the camera side of the baby gate and hanging out in Sandy’s base camp.
Kio and Sandy 1 - 6/2/22
Kio and Sandy 2 - 6/2/22
Kio and Sandy 3 - 6/2/22
Kio and Sandy eating - 6/2/22
The fisticuffs are all within a 15-20 minute period. The eating is shortly thereafter. Both are their normal selves afterward. I just can’t tell if they are bored or trying to kill each other. Thanks in advance!
Two months ago I adopted a ~1 year old female cat (Sandy) from a shelter. My roommate already had a ~3 year old male cat (Kio) that has been with us for ~1.5 years. We decided to do the slow introduction, having my bedroom be Sandy’s base camp. Kio wasn’t too thrilled with having a new cat around - there was some hissing and whatnot when he would get near her door but that all died off after about a week. We eventually moved on to letting them see each other through cracked doors and had been feeding them on either side of the door.
We are at a point now where there is normally just a baby gate barrier between them when they are playing or eating. Both of those go well, so long as one cat doesn’t think that it is still hungry after eating (one might paw in the direction of the other’s food if they don’t feel like they had enough to eat). I’m trying to give them more regular visual access to each other by not limiting their time at the baby gate as much each day. What I’m finding is that unless I’m there to mediate/watch/play with them, we will have almost nonstop instances of the linked videos. I can’t tell if this is aggression or play. There isn’t any hissing that I can hear and there (usually) isn’t any growling from either cat (I actually think Sandy may have let out a small growl in one of the videos). Sandy (the new cat) is on the opposite side of the baby gate as the camera. Kio (the resident) is on the camera side of the baby gate and hanging out in Sandy’s base camp.
Kio and Sandy 1 - 6/2/22
Kio and Sandy 2 - 6/2/22
Kio and Sandy 3 - 6/2/22
Kio and Sandy eating - 6/2/22
The fisticuffs are all within a 15-20 minute period. The eating is shortly thereafter. Both are their normal selves afterward. I just can’t tell if they are bored or trying to kill each other. Thanks in advance!