Had To Separate The Two

[Maruandme]

Have a two year old neutered male and adopted an 18 month spayed female from the shelter. They were just keeping distance but no major problems for the first few weeks. Then when he would come near her, she would back away with fear. It got worse from there. Put a Feliway Diffuser in hoping it would help. Tried separating them for times during the day, but that made it worse. When they were together he would find her. I saw terror in her eyes as he cornered her on the couch. Growling & hissing from fear. He normally is a calm sweet cat. They are on different floors and she has relaxed and is also a sweet girl . Any ideas? They can live apart but it wasn't what I expected.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi - maybe something in these articles will help;

How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide
How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction

 

[KarenKat]

Depending on two major things, sometimes you have to let them work it out among themselves. The two things where this is not the case is
1. Fighting - which means fur flying or injuries/blood
2. Behavior issues - if she is so scared that she is hiding all the time, not using the litterbox or eating, or if she has other signs of major stress (redirected aggression, biting, overgrooming)

Cats "working it out" sometimes sounds super scary and it's hard to watch one cat dominate over another who is cowering. But if they are to coexist, they need to determine this without your interference (as long as it's safe). When we were integrating Olive, Gohan would chase her back to her safe room. If she got cornered, she would panic and back away quickly (often knocking over things or tripping on shoes). This was accompanied with insane growls and hisses. Gohan would loom over her, sometimes even with a paw in the air ready to strike. And then .... he would just walk away. It took a long time, but eventually Olive realized he wasn't going to murder her, and Gohan realized he had some power over this new chaotic creature invading his territory. They are not BFFs, but they can walk past each other without incident.

Does your girl exhibit intense stress behaviors when he's not around? Is everyone still using the litterbox and eating? You might want to let one of these altercations come to a conclusion and see if a fight starts. Be prepared with a towel / piece of cardboard to break up a fight if it happens (do not intervene with your own body, you don't want to get scratched). But they may need to work this out in cat fashion.

 

[Maruandme]

Thanks. Will try some of the methods.
Ralph is not aggressive but just getting near her scares her. I don't know if he reminds her of a bad experience with another cat . She was housed in a large room with other cats and was okay. She just is so fearful of him.

 

[Maruandme]

She is calm and likes to watch out of the window. She didn't know how to play with toys, but brought me a toy mouse and that's the one and only toy she is interested in.
The last spat she had blood on her mouth. I don't know if she bit her lip herself. They all use litter box okay. Thanks

 

[KarenKat]

I think when they get panicked, self-injury can happen. Olive had a torn claw once and a scratch that abscessed early on. Also one swipe to the side of nose when they surprised each other. And Olive would growl anytime Gohan got withi a 5 ft radius. It's a warning, and part of the integration.

Hopefully after a few weeks, the growls lessen and she is less panicked.

 

[Maruandme]

Thanks for the support. I was so afraid one of them would get hurt. I have had many cats over the years, but have never seen terror in anyeyes before.

 

[Furballsmom]

Would you be interested in trying any calming products?
There are treats, collars, diffusers...
Calm-o-mile, Composure etc

 

[Maruandme]

I have a Feliway Diffuser set up and it has a calming effect. The photo avatar shows my little girl after finding the diffuser. May check into other calming methods as well. Thanks

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh, LOL
What a sweetheart!!

 

[Maruandme]

My two cats have been together for 2 days, except at night and when I left for an hour . He stalks her, she growls, there's some paw slaps but no injuries. Hope they agree to disagree.