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- May 5, 2021
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Hello everyone, I'm new to the site and reading a lot of posts has given me some great insight into introductions however, I still feel like I need some advice introducing my two cats. I'm sorry in advance for a potentially long post..
My resident cat, Sapphire, I adopted about ayear and a half ago. She is a 2 y.o. spayed female. Typically very calm and laid back and can be playful at times.
This February I adopted a 2 y.o neutered male cat named Fluffy. He was very calm at the Humane society and was with several other cats with no issues. Once home he became very playful with seemingly never-ending energy.
I followed slow introduction steps as Sapphire was very upset knowing there was another cat in the house and would hiss at the smell of Fluffy on my hand for about a week and after that progressively got better to the point where they could see eachother through baby gates without any issues after about a month of being seperate. At that point I tried to do a face to face introduction and Sapphire immediately ran away and Fluffy chased after her (I believe he thought she was playing) and one thing led to another and they had a small fight, Sapphire trying to defend herself and Fluffy then trying to defend himself realising she wasn't playing with him.
I went back to the beginning of the introduction process immediately after that and up until this point everything seemed to be progressing fairly smoothly again. They have now been separated for about 10 weeks. Fluffy comes out for a few hours each day while Sapphire is closed in her room. And they are fed together every day directly opposite baby gates with no issues and Sapphire will sometimes sit a few feet away and watch but never comes closer than that unless it's dinner time. Every now and then she will walk up to his closed safe room door, hiss and then walk away.
About two weeks ago I decided to try and let Fluffy out from behind the baby gates as both cats were calm and immediately as soon as he can without Sapphire even moving he would try and lunge at her/chase her (no aggressive sounds or posturing so I still believe he is trying to play) and she takes off upstairs (I caught Fluffy before he could get to her).
Within about an hour Sapphire would come out of hiding and back to her normal self. I returned to simply feeding for a few days and still no issues so I began to bring Fluffy out again, only holding him and about half the time Sapphire would hiss/growl and run away, the other half, she'll sit and stare for a minute or two then walk away casually. Fluffy will start to squirm in my arms as soon as he sees Sapphire. I then tried to bring Fluffy out on a leash to prevent him from chasing sapphire but she is still running away almost immediately.
Neither cat responds to treats or play or attention when they see the other. Sapphire continues to run away and Fluffy continues to try and chase her as soon as the baby gates aren't there. When they are up both cats are calm with minimal issues.
I'm looking for any advice or tips to try and help both these behaviors as I feel like nothing is working and I haven't been able to get through to the behavior department at my local humane society yet.
On a side note, I have two feliway diffusers going at all times. One near fluffy's room and one near Sapphire's. I have also tried leaving baby gates stacked in Fluffy's doorway for more visual exposure but he always try to climb over them if I'm not with him and in one test case he climbed to the second gate and pulled it down (Sapphire was away upstairs at the time).
Thank you in advance for any advice/tips/encouragement anyone can offer and I do apologize for the long post
My resident cat, Sapphire, I adopted about ayear and a half ago. She is a 2 y.o. spayed female. Typically very calm and laid back and can be playful at times.
This February I adopted a 2 y.o neutered male cat named Fluffy. He was very calm at the Humane society and was with several other cats with no issues. Once home he became very playful with seemingly never-ending energy.
I followed slow introduction steps as Sapphire was very upset knowing there was another cat in the house and would hiss at the smell of Fluffy on my hand for about a week and after that progressively got better to the point where they could see eachother through baby gates without any issues after about a month of being seperate. At that point I tried to do a face to face introduction and Sapphire immediately ran away and Fluffy chased after her (I believe he thought she was playing) and one thing led to another and they had a small fight, Sapphire trying to defend herself and Fluffy then trying to defend himself realising she wasn't playing with him.
I went back to the beginning of the introduction process immediately after that and up until this point everything seemed to be progressing fairly smoothly again. They have now been separated for about 10 weeks. Fluffy comes out for a few hours each day while Sapphire is closed in her room. And they are fed together every day directly opposite baby gates with no issues and Sapphire will sometimes sit a few feet away and watch but never comes closer than that unless it's dinner time. Every now and then she will walk up to his closed safe room door, hiss and then walk away.
About two weeks ago I decided to try and let Fluffy out from behind the baby gates as both cats were calm and immediately as soon as he can without Sapphire even moving he would try and lunge at her/chase her (no aggressive sounds or posturing so I still believe he is trying to play) and she takes off upstairs (I caught Fluffy before he could get to her).
Within about an hour Sapphire would come out of hiding and back to her normal self. I returned to simply feeding for a few days and still no issues so I began to bring Fluffy out again, only holding him and about half the time Sapphire would hiss/growl and run away, the other half, she'll sit and stare for a minute or two then walk away casually. Fluffy will start to squirm in my arms as soon as he sees Sapphire. I then tried to bring Fluffy out on a leash to prevent him from chasing sapphire but she is still running away almost immediately.
Neither cat responds to treats or play or attention when they see the other. Sapphire continues to run away and Fluffy continues to try and chase her as soon as the baby gates aren't there. When they are up both cats are calm with minimal issues.
I'm looking for any advice or tips to try and help both these behaviors as I feel like nothing is working and I haven't been able to get through to the behavior department at my local humane society yet.
On a side note, I have two feliway diffusers going at all times. One near fluffy's room and one near Sapphire's. I have also tried leaving baby gates stacked in Fluffy's doorway for more visual exposure but he always try to climb over them if I'm not with him and in one test case he climbed to the second gate and pulled it down (Sapphire was away upstairs at the time).
Thank you in advance for any advice/tips/encouragement anyone can offer and I do apologize for the long post