Cat Introductions - Are We Doing This Right?

[cheeseburger]

We have a resident male cat, fixed two year old. He was a semi-feral that has come along wonderfully in the past eight months, but has a boredom problem. He's incredibly social and loves cat videos on Youtube, so we thought he'd benefit from a companion.

Yesterday, we brought in a fixed one year old female rescue. New mom with weaned babies. She is separated in a room of her own and it took our resident cat about twelve hours to notice something was up.

Now that he's noticed though, we can't pry him away from the new cat's door. He's not aggressive, he's just curious. Sitting outside, looking under the one inch gap under the door, and occasionally meowing.

The new cat is not too happy about this. New cat is already very, very sweet to us humans, playing, using the litter box and generally doing well, but hisses at our resident cat under the door when alone in the room. Resident cat does not respond to hissing, which is good. New cat is not eating yet and we're a little worried resident cat is stressing it out.

Our goal is to take these introductions SUPER slow. But I have two questions about what we should be doing right now:

1. Should I try to pry our resident cat away from the door and put him in another room? Or is it okay for him to be basically staking it out?

2. Should I cover the gap under the door with a towel so they have less of a view of each other right now? We can do scent exchanges later, but I'm worried the inch gap is too much of a visual for both of them.

Thanks for any suggestions! I'm sure we'll have many more questions as we go... Hopefully we can create two kittie friends.

 

[ArtNJ]

I think your doing good. You need them to know the other is there so they can get used to the other. Since they are close to each other, your getting scent exchange to some degree through the door. You block the door so they can't see or smell each other and you won't make progress.

Both cats are young, good chance this will work out nicely in time. Maybe you can try the baby gate thing a couple days after the new cat starts eating again. Several members have reported success stacking them double high so the cats can see each other and get used to each other without physical access.

Of course, if the not eating continues, you might *need* to pause the process, but cats can go a little bit with no health consequences. Give it another day or two. (Your using the same food the rescue used I assume?)

 

[duncanmac]

You seem to be doing fine (it sounds like it has only been a few days).

Instead of trying to break them up, try to make the interaction at the door a positive one. Play with both cats at the door, give them both treats at the door (shoot some under the door too). Alternate which side of the door you are on so you are playing and giving treats to each cat. The goal, in general, is to get them used to each other before they see each other so that when the big reveal comes, they are comfortable with the presence of the other cat.

When we got our new kitten, Duncan and Barry would stare at the door for hours from the safety of our bedroom's doorway. Like your guy, they knew something is up - they were just trying to figure out what.

 

[cheeseburger]

Phew, thank you! That makes me feel much better that we're on the right track. I read the steps we were supposed to take, but I wasn't sure what behavior was normal at this point. Thank you!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! I'm coming at this from a little different perspective. Your new cat is working very hard to figure all the newnesses (lol) out, and the extra pressure from a strange feline just outside her door is stressful.

If it were me I'd make sure she's eating and drinking first, so my answer to your first question would be yes. There's no need to hurry this, do give her a bit more of a chance to get some nutrition in her so she can better deal with it all

 

[ArtNJ]

I agree that eating and drinking is much more important and that there is no rush. Just that I'm not sure putting a towel under the door is really going to do anything. ALL the rooms in the house probably smell like the resident cat. And the resident might well just paw at the towel. Plus, sounds like its only been a day or so. My guess is that the new kitty will eat very soon regardless.

Maybe rather than the towel under the door, we can just give the resident cat some love in a separate room for an hour or two, starting prior to your putting food down for the new cat. So she won't see him moving around through the crack. That may be enough to get her eating.

 

[cheeseburger]

ArtNJ, we put the resident cat away for a little bit and went in and had some cuddles with new cat who then promptly ate some food. Still working on water, but that seems to be the trick. We also moved food and water further from the door. Thank you all so much for the suggestions!

 

[cheeseburger]

Day 3 in cat introduction: New cat is eating! Yay, thanks everybody!!! New cat is also playing, scratching, and generally seems to be acting more comfortable. New cat is still hissing at resident cat under the door. Resident cat keeps putting paws under the door and meowing. I'm pretty sure resident cat is excited and wants to play. New cat is not super happy about it.

I think today I will have the towel down half the day so they can see each other and interact and towel up the rest of the day to give new cat a break.