Cat introduction setback - how to get back on track

[Moggyfan]

I recently rescued an 18mo old male cat, Sam, from the Humane Society (neutered while there). My resident cat is a 10yr old male neutered cat, Sid. His companion cat (22yr old) died in the summer and we thought he needed companionship. The 10yr old is very laid back, affectionate and not overly play or food motivated. He is a bit of a scaredy cat (eg, when someone knocks on the door or when the vacuum comes out). The new cat is affectionate, confident and it turns out very food and play motivated. Once the neutering and mite/worm medications had all worn off he turned into an extremely active cat.

We were following the general introduction advice (isolation, no visual, scent swapping, site swapping, feeding opposite closed door which was going very well, Feliway diffusers, separate resources, etc.) when we had a bad incident about 10 days in. Sam escaped, ran straight at Sid who was lounging on his cat scratcher, and “attacked“ - fur flying and yowling from Sid at least. The attack lasted only a few seconds and I don’t actually remember how my husband and I broke it up. Once we had separated them we found that Sid had lost two of his back claws. There was no posturing and no noise prior to the attack so I really don’t know if Sam was in kill mode or play mode.

So back to square one. We scent and site swapped with no contact for a few days then started back at closed door feeding, then cracked open the door with a baby gate and towel, slowly adding visuals. We had got to either side of a glass door no towel (lickable treats for Sam and brushing for Sid as their jackpot treats) with Sid rolling on the ground purring and Sam distractable with the treat and seeming interested when he looked at Sid. At this point it had been about 6 weeks since Sam arrived.

We then tried a face to face with Sam on a harness & leash well down a hallway and Sid in our living room with sight lines to each other. Sid lasted about 10yr seconds before he ran into his carrier (he uses it as a sleeping den). We tried again the next day and Sid barely lasted one second. So we backed up to the glass door, Sid ran. We backed up to Sid eating directly on the other side of a closed door from Sam and that turned out positively each time. So we moved to the slightly cracked open door with baby gate. Sid would not eat at a greater distance away than when we first started and it’s as far away as we can get given our house layout.

Any advice on how I move this introduction forward with such a stressed cat?

 

[Alldara]

I never recommend harnessing a cat and leashing it for introductions.
The glass door wont really allow a lot of mild interaction and low scent. If you can switch to a gate in that doorway, that would be best.

Have you checked out any of the other introduction threads here?
We've given loads of great tips and I can't tell from your original post as there's not too much info, but it doesn't sound like you're giving them anything to "do" together during intros. I also can't tell how long in a day they have access to one another.

Here's some basics
Introducing Cats To Cats: The Expert's Guide To A Smooth Transition - TheCatSite
How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction - TheCatSite
How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat [A Guide] - TheCatSite

Some tips:
1. Cat calming music (Don't expect this to calm a cat down like a sedative. It just helps to build a calmer mood starting point and take the edge off of every little sound being frightening.)


2. Taking a used shirt of yours and rubbing each cat and then along the baseboards of the home to build a family scent. Change up which cat you start with.
3. use catnip to your advantage. If it hypes them up, use before a play session that comes before intros. If it chills them out, use during intros.
4. When you're doing the intros, plan to camp out at the gate for the evening. Bring a book or tablet, but also bring cat toys and treats. Relax so it goes new cat, gate, you, resident cat. Bonus, if you have someone in on new cat's side also. When we intro cats, my wife and I plan on literally having no life outside of introducing cats, working and the basics for 2 to 3 weeks. You want them to have as much access to at-the-gate time as possible to really just get used to one another and view each other as not-threats.

When both cats are around, you want to be playing with them. They are ultimately strangers thrust into one another's home and speak different languages! Watching one another play helps them to learn one another's body languages.

5. Narrate what's happening. Research shows that cats pick up language faster than human toddlers. They just don't get to talk back! Talk about being friends. Talk about what the other cat is doing. like you would narrate what's happening for a nervous child to help them understand what's going on. and give LOTS of positive reinforcement for neutral or positive interactions.

6. Don't move past the gated intros until you have more relaxed body language from both cats.

7. If one hisses and they walk away, also praise this behaviour. If they don't, use a treat toss to get them to back off. This teaches them if one is stressed, they communicate with the hiss and then they back up instead of go attack mode. Hissing is communication for cats. It's saying "hey don't do that!" or "woah too fast!"...so you just want both cats responding appropriately.

 

[Alldara]

How to Read Cat Body Language and Emotions

 

[Kwik]

Hi M Moggyfan
Welcome to TCS

I agree with everything Alldara said,I've not watched the videos but I'm confident that since she posted them they must be good!!!

It's very difficult to give you any advice without knowing any timelines- it would be very helpful to know when you brought Sam home and your process with Sam as you brought him in to " where"? A safe room? Where does Sid typically stay- you mentioned scent swapping,,room swapping and then something about things going left " 10 days in"

If the process was for 10days only with a bold kitty & a timid( wallflower) kitty then it's way way too fast.... so if you will provide more specifics it would really help to see where you need to go back to

Personally I've not a fan of the JG method of eating together- it's not a one size fits all and if there is any competition issues it can be counter productive once thst door is open.... it greatly depends on the individual cat and you really don't want to force a cat to eat near another cat when he/she would eat peacefully in their own space.... to achieve that with cats thst feel threatened by eating too close it takes some effort and first they should eat in their own respective place.... it works for cats that are very similar in personality and comfortable with it.... so you might want to consider Sid needs confidence building and Sam has to find his respective place- sounds like Sam is quick to establish this new territory by a takeover!

When you have a high energy,dominant confident new cat it can be a little challenging to modify the environment to build confidence in the timid cat.....if Sam has the run of the house this won't help Sid ... Sid needs lots of attention and help during the process

I did see you mentioned Sam had been there 6 weeks so I'm just a little confused( which is not unusual for me,lol) So if you don't mind giving more detail( for example when you started room swapping- for how long and what you did with each individual at each stage)

 

[Moggyfan]

Thank you so much for responding so quickly. Hopefully I can provide the appropriate details - apologies if this is long winded.

My cats are always indoor only so live to around 20 so I have only introduced cats once every 10-15 years. Previously I have followed the vet/humane society advice of the day which was “slow” introductions but by today’s standards lightening fast. This is the first time I’ve used YouTube and googling for advice and have watched all the Jackson Galaxy videos and articles on introductions, cat fights, wallflowers, Napoleon cats and some of the cat from hell shorts. I’ve read the previous threads on this site and its advice articles as well as advice from other humane societies and purported cat experts. Some cat behaviour experts swear by meal feeding, some say OMG meal feeding bad, only use treats and play, others say OMG meal feeding and treats bad, only use play. Some say leash bad, some say use leash. My head is spinning and I’m cursing google at this point. But no advice adresses specific cat personality and preference combinations. They’re all so generic.

I’ll review carefully what you posted though because there is likely information there I either haven’t seen or reviewed recently.

Timeline:

Oct 28: Sam arrives and stays only in his base camp room for 7 days. This room contains litter box, bedding, food, water and some new toys. We borrowed a pet gate (the kind with the door in it) and put that outside the base camp door. This is a room that Sid almost never went in.

Oct 28-Nov3: During the 7 days, we changed clothes after seeing Sam and left them around for Sid to smell. Once Sid stopped hissing at those, we swapped bedding. Sam never hissed at the Sid smell on us - in fact we’ve never heard him hiss. We developed a timetable so we keep playtime, mealtime, etc at predictable times as much as possible.

Nov 3-7: After the 7 days, we started both scent and site swapping and feeding either side of a closed door. On the latter, we were up to both eating right up against the door.

Nov 7: We were changing rooms when the escape and attack occurred (miscommunication between me and my husband). Up until then they had not seen each other.

Nov 8-12: We stopped for a couple of days and then backed up to the “last successful step” as per Jackson which basically meant continuing with scent, site and closed door feeding which was going well.

Nov 13: We started feeding with the door cracked open, towel on the baby gate and about an inch off the ground and the food several feet away from the door.

Nov 14-20: We moved the towel up and the food bowls closer together (based on cat comfort level). Sam treated each meal like it was his first in days so we weren’t sure we could trust his reactions as getting used to Sid or simply putting up with him to get food. And we realized our pet gate was too low for the new acrobat to fully open the door. We had started swapping food bowls, water bowls, and toys - none of which caused any cat comment. They also used each other’s litter boxes with no impact on their litter box habits (we had planned to keep them separate at this stage but accidents happen).

Nov 21-Dec 1: We continued with this step using a towel taped to the glass door and treats, play and brushing for Sid. The glass door is to another room Sid doesn’t use much and has a paw width gap underneath and doesn’t latch properly so we use a weight to keep it almost closed with a slight gap - it should hopefully enable scents to be smelled. I’m kicking myself that we didn’t take video, but we got to the point where a few days in a row, Sid was happily staying by the door, eating treats, laying on his side, looking at Sam and purring. Sam was interested in Sid with tail up with the little hook in it - though it was twitching slowly side to side at times.

Dec 2-3: The face to face fiasco.

Dec 4: Backed up to glass door

Dec 5: Backed up to cracked open door and pet gate.

Dec 6-now: Backed up to feeding directly either side of closed door. We changed to Feliway optimum refills since we realized after the face to face that it had been more than 30 days since we first plugged them in. I had assumed that the green light would go off or turn red when you needed to refill - but no. There still was liquid at the bottom but I’m not sure if the diffuser running out had an impact on Sid.

Some other background on the cats. I have no information on Sam’s previous life other than he was a stray found in an “unknown” location (our Humane society normally provides a location) but he obviously had a home not long before they found him. He is highly food and play motivated. Sid plays but on his terms - he likes playing with us fishing a wand toy into a large cat tunnel we have so all I see of him is paws and glimpses of ears and eyes. He also tends to graze on his food and is not overly motivated by it though he does like chasing after temptation cat treats and only those. His favourite activity is brushing - a cat sitter once commented it’s amazing he has fur left given how long he wants to be brushed!

 

[Kwik]

Thank you so much for responding so quickly. Hopefully I can provide the appropriate details - apologies if this is long winded.

My cats are always indoor only so live to around 20 so I have only introduced cats once every 10-15 years. Previously I have followed the vet/humane society advice of the day which was “slow” introductions but by today’s standards lightening fast. This is the first time I’ve used YouTube and googling for advice and have watched all the Jackson Galaxy videos and articles on introductions, cat fights, wallflowers, Napoleon cats and some of the cat from hell shorts. I’ve read the previous threads on this site and its advice articles as well as advice from other humane societies and purported cat experts. Some cat behaviour experts swear by meal feeding, some say OMG meal feeding bad, only use treats and play, others say OMG meal feeding and treats bad, only use play. Some say leash bad, some say use leash. My head is spinning and I’m cursing google at this point. But no advice adresses specific cat personality and preference combinations. They’re all so generic.

I’ll review carefully what you posted though because there is likely information there I either haven’t seen or reviewed recently.

Timeline:

Oct 28: Sam arrives and stays only in his base camp room for 7 days. This room contains litter box, bedding, food, water and some new toys. We borrowed a pet gate (the kind with the door in it) and put that outside the base camp door. This is a room that Sid almost never went in.

Oct 28-Nov3: During the 7 days, we changed clothes after seeing Sam and left them around for Sid to smell. Once Sid stopped hissing at those, we swapped bedding. Sam never hissed at the Sid smell on us - in fact we’ve never heard him hiss. We developed a timetable so we keep playtime, mealtime, etc at predictable times as much as possible.

Nov 3-7: After the 7 days, we started both scent and site swapping and feeding either side of a closed door. On the latter, we were up to both eating right up against the door.

Nov 7: We were changing rooms when the escape and attack occurred (miscommunication between me and my husband). Up until then they had not seen each other.

Nov 8-12: We stopped for a couple of days and then backed up to the “last successful step” as per Jackson which basically meant continuing with scent, site and closed door feeding which was going well.

Nov 13: We started feeding with the door cracked open, towel on the baby gate and about an inch off the ground and the food several feet away from the door.

Nov 14-20: We moved the towel up and the food bowls closer together (based on cat comfort level). Sam treated each meal like it was his first in days so we weren’t sure we could trust his reactions as getting used to Sid or simply putting up with him to get food. And we realized our pet gate was too low for the new acrobat to fully open the door. We had started swapping food bowls, water bowls, and toys - none of which caused any cat comment. They also used each other’s litter boxes with no impact on their litter box habits (we had planned to keep them separate at this stage but accidents happen).

Nov 21-Dec 1: We continued with this step using a towel taped to the glass door and treats, play and brushing for Sid. The glass door is to another room Sid doesn’t use much and has a paw width gap underneath and doesn’t latch properly so we use a weight to keep it almost closed with a slight gap - it should hopefully enable scents to be smelled. I’m kicking myself that we didn’t take video, but we got to the point where a few days in a row, Sid was happily staying by the door, eating treats, laying on his side, looking at Sam and purring. Sam was interested in Sid with tail up with the little hook in it - though it was twitching slowly side to side at times.

Dec 2-3: The face to face fiasco.

Dec 4: Backed up to glass door

Dec 5: Backed up to cracked open door and pet gate.

Dec 6-now: Backed up to feeding directly either side of closed door. We changed to Feliway optimum refills since we realized after the face to face that it had been more than 30 days since we first plugged them in. I had assumed that the green light would go off or turn red when you needed to refill - but no. There still was liquid at the bottom but I’m not sure if the diffuser running out had an impact on Sid.

Some other background on the cats. I have no information on Sam’s previous life other than he was a stray found in an “unknown” location (our Humane society normally provides a location) but he obviously had a home not long before they found him. He is highly food and play motivated. Sid plays but on his terms - he likes playing with us fishing a wand toy into a large cat tunnel we have so all I see of him is paws and glimpses of ears and eyes. He also tends to graze on his food and is not overly motivated by it though he does like chasing after temptation cat treats and only those. His favourite activity is brushing - a cat sitter once commented it’s amazing he has fur left given how long he wants to be brushed!

Thank you for the clarifications.... I can share my methods for introductions,I don't give generic suggestions because cats have individual personalities and there are so many variables- videos are of course the best way to assess interactions but there are some basics I do highly recommended for introducing a new cat to a new territory - it's a 30 day rule..... others might disagree but it's,as I said ,my method - same method I've used for over 4 decades- I work mainly with ferals who might take 60 to 90 days because they first need to transition to indoor life

For the Lil already indoors house kitty I still recommend 30 days to establish his new territory well( especially in a mulgi cat housdhold),his new feeding schedule and diet,his new humans and this is done in a safe room .... the resident cat usually has the entire house as his established territory so new kitty,firmly establishing that one room will have him comfortable,confident and it's his safety zone to run back to as he begins to expand his new territory- this method can prevent the gang buster approach of entering someone else's territory.... it doesn't matter that he " seems bold & confident " what your describing to me sounds like a response to competition and when resident cat is not quite so bold he becomes an easy target- make sense so far?

During this 30 day period what you should watch is for the resident kitties interest in the new arrival.... this is the tike for major scent swapping,I don't swap resources( food bowls,water bowls or litter boxes- yet) but surely beds,blankets ,toys and brush using the same brush and towel the baseboard- its a good thing is they both take an interest at this time to smell under the door or paw..... cats get to know each other through scent...

Sid probably eats in the kitchen - do you free feed,feed on a schedule,wet,dry or both..... I'll stop here to get thst info

If they are both non competitive cats and not too bonkers over mealtime then the JG method is fine imo--- eating like there is no tomorrow like you describe Sam I'd not use it,that too is why I prefer taking adequate time before introductions so new kitty gets familiar with the routine,understands there's an unlimited supply of food and is not devouring his meal.... you can either use food puzzles ,slow feeder or free feed so he's not so starved and looking to " hunt"

 

[Moggyfan]

I should provide a little information about our condo. We have a large open concept living/dining/kitchen with more window than wall and a balcony with the master bedroom suite beside that area. A narrow and dark hallway leads to the front door and off that hallway is Sam’s base camp room (the spare bedroom), a small den (with the glass door), a utility room with Sid’s litter box, and a small bathroom/laundry room. The only door that has room for paws underneath is the den (glass) door and it doesn’t close properly.

So Sid is fed in the kitchen area but that is also the living and dining room. He is fed three wet food meals a day which he eats on and off (grazes through) for about half an hour. He is given about 1/4 cup of kibble at night which he can eat overnight but it is taken up in the morning.

 

[Kwik]

I should provide a little information about our condo. We have a large open concept living/dining/kitchen with more window than wall and a balcony with the master bedroom suite beside that area. A narrow and dark hallway leads to the front door and off that hallway is Sam’s base camp room (the spare bedroom), a small den (with the glass door), a utility room with Sid’s litter box, and a small bathroom/laundry room. The only door that has room for paws underneath is the den (glass) door and it doesn’t close properly.

So Sid is fed in the kitchen area but that is also the living and dining room. He is fed three wet food meals a day which he eats on and off (grazes through) for about half an hour. He is given about 1/4 cup of kibble at night which he can eat overnight but it is taken up in the morning.

How about Sam- what's he getting - same?

 

[Moggyfan]

Sorry, should have included that. Yes the same but the location is his room. He of course doesn’t take 30 mins to eat his wet food though he does not eat all of his dry.

 

[Alldara]

Hi MoggyFan,

I do like that JG has posted guides but yes, google is giving you a headache because intros ARENT a one size fits all approach. Even JG's videos are generic information that won't suit everyone. If he comes to your home and tell it to you, then it's directed for you! But online he has to he careful to just use what works generally speaking.


For me, I "hit the ground running", so to speak. Quarantine, if needed (7 to 14 days) and then no scent or sight swapping. I just found it worked best to have that sight access as much as possible. If there's a ton of hissing or swatting I give a break and then right back to gated. Backing up like JG says is to allow the cats to lower stress. If your cats weren't showing big signs of stress after a few hours then you can get back to it.

Lots of private play time for both cats. Even if the old man is just swatting and rolling a bit. Let them take breaks by walking away from the gate a ton.

Site swapping for me works like this: upstairs is two bedrooms, a landing and a bathroom. New cat goes in bedroom 1. For intros, the gate goes up across the bedroom door the first few times. Then, across the landing which allows new cat access to both bedrooms and bathroom. Resident cats have half a landing and then the rest of the house. They can leave whenever. But cat goes away if a human isn't at the gate. New cat goes back into the spare bedroom if we can't be there. New cats smell is in areas of high reward to resident cats.

One last thing is the shirt thing. You want to take a shirt one of you has worn and wipe each cat down with it and then the wall. This is separate from site swapping or leaving scent out. The point of this is really really getting both cats to smell like one another. This is a tip I didn't get to try but from this site that has really really worked. I do brush my boys with the same brush daily and have since they each came home so I did something similar.

 

[Alldara]

I've got a couple of videos from introducing Cal to Nobe and Magnus and then Ghost to Cal and Magnus.
Just short little things but if give you an idea of what we were doing basically as many hours in a day as work and sleep allowed.
Alldara