I think I need some reassurance on reintroduction process….

[Klause]

Hello! It’s been a minute since I’ve posted here.
I have two cats. One male and one female and are littermates. They are 5 years old. They’ve lived harmoniously for 5 years.
Last week something occurred in my bedroom and a fight ensued. Like full on hissing and cornering. My male cat peed almost like he was scared.
I gave some decompression time and I thought things were ok. The next day I came home after being out and saw the remnants of another situation but this time on my couch with pee.
It was a holiday weekend so I had no vet options. I took my male cat to the emergency vet in case his pee was something more than just fighting. All tests came back normal.
I then went to the regular vet to ensure ALL tests came back normal and they were.
I took my female cat as well to ensure she was ok too. She was fine as well.
So now we are dealing with small moments of hissing and swatting. Nothing like before. No major fights.
I’m not comfortable leaving them unattended yet and am very anxious with them being together even at night.
I’ve also done food together and site swapping and they do have a majority of their time together is calm. But with the occasional hiss and screech. I’ve plugged in feliway diffusers as well.
I guess my question is…am I being TOO cautious? Am I being too paranoid that a hiss is going to erupt into something more? I guess I just need reassurance that all hope is not lost between my cats and that they can soon be left alone for small stretches without wanting to kill each other or have pee on my stuff.

 

[Kris107]

Sorry to hear that all happened but you did what I would do. Calm, incremental, positive... You seem like you're going the right direction. No idea what started it at all? Are they wary of your room?

 

[Klause]

Sorry to hear that all happened but you did what I would do. Calm, incremental, positive... You seem like you're going the right direction. No idea what started it at all? Are they wary of your room?

I don’t know what started it. It was completely unusual for them. They aren’t scared of my bedroom. I have cut off access when they are out because I don’t want them claiming territory or anything. But they have been in there unsupervised since the incident with no issues.
I THINK we are moving in the right direction. I did small increments of time that were positive and involved treats yesterday. This morning I’m feeding close to the door. I think I’ll do this for one more day, then try longer supervised times. Maybe still separate at night? I don’t want to rush this process. But I don’t want to live like this forever.
Is there something else I should be doing?

 

[Alldara]

I don’t know what started it. It was completely unusual for them. They aren’t scared of my bedroom. I have cut off access when they are out because I don’t want them claiming territory or anything. But they have been in there unsupervised since the incident with no issues.
I THINK we are moving in the right direction. I did small increments of time that were positive and involved treats yesterday. This morning I’m feeding close to the door. I think I’ll do this for one more day, then try longer supervised times. Maybe still separate at night? I don’t want to rush this process. But I don’t want to live like this forever.
Is there something else I should be doing?

Some people on the reintroduction thread had good results by taken a human-worn shirt and wiping each cat with it and then wiping the baseboards of the home.

Another poster also recommended taking some dry cloths or blankies and sleeping with them and then wiping each cat and leaving them around the home to establish, "this is shared family territory." Territory is fine, as long as its shared family territory and not single cat territory.

Also just ensuring that you're playing with each of them daily to wind any stress down.

 

[Klause]

Some people on the reintroduction thread had good results by taken a human-worn shirt and wiping each cat with it and then wiping the baseboards of the home.

Another poster also recommended taking some dry cloths or blankies and sleeping with them and then wiping each cat and leaving them around the home to establish, "this is shared family territory." Territory is fine, as long as its shared family territory and not single cat territory.

Also just ensuring that you're playing with each of them daily to wind any stress down.

I haven’t tried this! But it’s definitely going on my list. At this point my male cat is only in his own room at night and while I’m at work. There have been no other instances and I do not allow them to have access to my bedroom unless I’m in there. So we hang out in the living room (plenty of shared areas for them to hang) together. I’ve started doing scheduled play time followed by a meal. Last night there was one hissing moment, but it didn’t escalate and I think that is how cats establish boundaries. Correct me if I’m wrong though.
I think we are moving in the right direction. I have another litter box on the way to add a third and it’s open. I’m taking the top off of the other one as well so they will have no covered boxes.
I’m probably being WAY too cautious, but I want to make sure I’m going slow to ensure no steps backwards.
I truly appreciate this site as it’s so reassuring to find people to help and read about others dealing with similar issues.

 

[Alldara]

I haven’t tried this! But it’s definitely going on my list. At this point my male cat is only in his own room at night and while I’m at work. There have been no other instances and I do not allow them to have access to my bedroom unless I’m in there. So we hang out in the living room (plenty of shared areas for them to hang) together. I’ve started doing scheduled play time followed by a meal. Last night there was one hissing moment, but it didn’t escalate and I think that is how cats establish boundaries. Correct me if I’m wrong though.
I think we are moving in the right direction. I have another litter box on the way to add a third and it’s open. I’m taking the top off of the other one as well so they will have no covered boxes.
I’m probably being WAY too cautious, but I want to make sure I’m going slow to ensure no steps backwards.
I truly appreciate this site as it’s so reassuring to find people to help and read about others dealing with similar issues.

100% correct re hissing. It's communication, not aggression. If the cats back off from one another afterwards, then that's exactly what you want.

 

[Klause]

100% correct re hissing. It's communication, not aggression. If the cats back off from one another afterwards, then that's exactly what you want.

yay! Then we are definitely going in the right direction! I think tomorrow I’ll leave him out overnight and then try out during work next week.

 

[Klause]

Just a quick update….

We are almost back to “normal.” My boy cat stayed out all night and during my work day and there were no remnants of anything when I got home.
There have maybe 3 instances of hissing and one swat that I’ve seen. But they don’t attack and just stare after that, but soon they decompress and move on.

They’ve touched noses, butt heads, eat by each other, pass each other with no issues. There is a small territory thing with the one perch on the cat tree. I’m considering getting another small tree for my female as she doesn’t like to be as high, but I think would like to lounge as well.

But we are slowly moving forward…I hope!