Introducing New Cat to Old and Cranky One

[Benton Grey]

Howdy folks, I'm new to the forums here, but I came across this site recently and was impressed by it. My wife and I are looking for some advice about how to smooth out the introduction of our new cat to our current boy. So, here's where we are. We had two boys, Fatty Bolger and Flint, who we've had for somewhere around 12 years. Obviously, they're getting up there in years, and both were around 14. Flint died about two months ago, and we had a new cat sort of fall into our laps, but we have been trying to be very hard to do the introduction process right, as we had no idea what we were doing when we introduced Flint and Fatty, and we endured a month of Hell before they sorted each other out. We also don't want to stress Fatty out too much because he's a weird little guy, and although he's in very good health now, he had a pretty bad scare a year ago with his kidneys.

We tried to follow the playbook, separating them and doing scent swapping. We kept the new guy (who we haven't named yet) in our guest room and transferred blankets between spaces. Then we started letting him explore the rest of the house while Fatty was put up. That went okay, and Fatty, who has never been a fan of other cats, other than Flint (and not always him!), wasn't exactly thrilled with the new cat's smell, but seemed to be handling it pretty well. We had had one bad moment where Fatty escaped while the new guy was abroad in the house, ran into him, hissed, and ran away. I got him back into our bedroom, which is his sanctuary, but he was really freaked out for a while. It was so bad I couldn't get him into his Thunder Shirt.

Anyway, we've had that process going on for two weeks, and we've been trying to move things along, trying to feed Fatty near the other guy's space, etc., but the trouble is that Fatty is very high strung and, despite his name, not very food motivated at all these days. Fatty would just refuse to eat all day rather than eat anywhere remotely near the guest room. When the new guy would stick his paws under the door, Fatty would his and run away again.

We've started a new approach today, putting the new guy in our dining room, which closes with some big triple glass doors. The glass starts about two feet from the bottom, so they can't see each other unless one of them is popping up. Fatty ate from his bowl in the kitchen, which is around the corner from the dining room, but whenever he'd catch sight of the new guy when walking through the living room, which is directly adjacent to both, he's hiss and hurry along. We've done all of this with him in his Thunder Shirt. Tonight I gave him some fish next to the dining room, and he ate it, but once again, when he'd see the new guy, hissing, running away. Throughout all of this, the new guy has been super chill. He's been interested from time to time, but he's never hissed, and he IS super food motivated, so he's easy to distract.

So, do y'all have any advice on how we can help him get used to the new guy? I don't expect them to be best friends immediately, but I'd like to get them able to be out in the house together before too much longer. Should we just keep the exposure going? When should we move to no barrier? Is there anything we can do to encourage Fatty so that he's not so afraid? The Thunder Shirt is probably helping, but it isn't calming him down enough to accept the other cat's presence, even behind glass.

I appreciate any help y'all can offer, and thanks for the chance to join this community and ask my questions!

 

[Jcatbird]

Welcome! I found this site when looking for help too and have been so glad I found it. Hopefully we can assist you through this. You are off to a great star. It may seem that things need to move along but it is a process of time and patience. The glass doors were a very good idea. There are some calming products out there that might help Fatty. Feliway is one but there are lots out there. Jackson Galaxy has some on the market too. They might ease the tension a bit but you still need to give them time. One thing I use a lot is a large doggie cage. I put it in the main living area and put the newcomers there for visits. That keeps the newcomer in one place to be observed safely by resident cats. I put a cat carrier inside as a place for a scared cat to retreat to. The newcomer can have short visits or long ones as the need dictates. A light sheet is over it to start out which allows scent swapping without actually seeing each other. Maybe Fatty would feel safe and stick around if he can’t actually see the new kitty at first. Over time you can expose a little corner of the cage and move further as Fatty accepts it or even becomes curious. Some cats even begin to feel sorry for the caged kitty and want them to be released. They may still be cautious but they seem to feel sympathy. You may need to do this in increments and return the newcomer to his private retreat after a time. When the newcomer is not in the cage, Fatty may go inside to investigate. If you don’t want to do this with a cage you can try moving the newcomer in and out of the room with the glass doors to give Fatty a chance to privately sniff around some. I also use a brush sometimes to scent swap. I brush the resident cat and then transfer their scent to the new comer by brushing them. Fatty will pick up his own scent on the new kitty. You can do the reverse too. Give them time. Every cat adjusts at their own pace. Please do keep us updated though. I hope you will explode the site too. There are lots of great people and kitties here and lots of helpful information. Feel free to ask questions too. Again,

 

[Jcatbird]

Maybe this link will help too. How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide – TheCatSite Articles

 

[Benton Grey]

Hello Jcatbird, and thank you for a thoughtful and substantive response! So, we found this helpful, and we decided to try out some of your suggestions. We did the sheet-covered cage in the living room, and the first encounter went really well. We started with the brushing, and then put the new fellow in the cage and covered him up. Fatty came out and was really not too worried about it. After a while, he even came over and sniffed it! We were excited and felt like it was going well. So, that evening we tried to lift up a corner of the sheet. It actually started out really well too. Fatty came in, was a little freaked out, but he moved around the room exploring. Then, he actually walked up to the cage and sniffed at the new guy. Then, he hissed, the new guy sort of swatted at him in response, and Fatty was terrified and ran away. He eventually came back into the room and sat on the couch, very upset and uncomfortable. He growled and hissed, and he eventually stalked out of the room, hissing at the air. He sat in the other room for a while, calmed down, and finally, he came back and sat on the couch, uncomfortable, but not hissing. So, ha, a mixed success.

This morning we repeated the same process, and Fatty only hissed once, but was clearly frightened and uncomfortable, avoiding the living room as he paced back and forth. Finally, he started coming back into the room more and settled down on the couch, turning his back to the new cat.

What can we do to help him gain greater comfort? How can we help build his confidence and help him not be afraid of the new fellow?

 

[Benton Grey]

I forgot to add that we got some Feliway and some calming treats. They seemed to help, but Fatty is still very upset and very anxious when the new guy is in the cage. He's still hissing any time he stops and really studies the cage, and because he's not really food motivated these days, we can't really distract him with treats.

 

[Benton Grey]

We're keeping at it, but Fatty just doesn't seem to be getting used to the guy. In fact, he seems to be getting worse, with him now hissing every time he sees him and just sitting in the other rooms and hiding for the duration of the visit. We've tried to stick it out until he calms down and comes around, but we don't want to keep the poor new fellow in the cage too long. Fatty seems to ignore everything but sight of the cat, as scent and sounds don't seem to bother him.

 

[Benton Grey]

Okay, we've been working on introductions for around two months, and things are still pretty rough. We started doing encounters with the new cat caged, but doing them in a smaller space where Fatty, our original cat, couldn't simply avoid and ignore him. This actually started producing some results. Fatty kept hissing and growling some, but he got braver and eventually was willing to eat a bit when in the same room with the cage. At the end of last week, he even braved a close approach to the cage so he could leave the room.

We decided to try to put them both together in the same room and see how it went. The face-to-face meeting actually went better than we expected. Fatty was up in his favorite chair, and we think he felt somewhat confident. He hissed and yowled some, but Percy, the new cat, sat calmly under the table about 5 or 6 feet away, laying down, alternately calmly curious and ignoring Fatty. Eventually, Fatty settled down some. After an hour or two without incident, we called it a good beginning and split them up. The next day, we tried it again, but Fatty was on the ground and acted scared. Percy locked eyes with him from across the room and charged at him. Fatty bowed up, and after a brief standoff, Percy attacked him. A really nasty fight followed before I could separate them, with Fatty getting chased into the back of the house and cornered under the bed. I finally grabbed Percy and put him away. Fatty recovered surprisingly quickly, and seemed relatively okay, but the sudden turn and viciousness of the fight has us shaken.

We're trying to decide whether we can bring it back from this or whether we just need to rehome Percy. Any advice?

 

[FeebysOwner]

I take it that you've only had Percy for a month or so? Getting an older cat like Fatty to get acclimated to a new cat could take months. And, so re-homing is not yet really where you need to be headed, IMO. But, given the little skirmish between them, I would let them both 'lay low' for a day or so, just to let things settle down.

I may have missed it, coming to this thread late, but is Percy's new space in the dining room with the glass door panels? And, how do you set it up so that can see each other, besides caging Percy or just letting them both be loose in the same room? I think having Percy only able to be nearby Fatty via a cage is probably frustrating Percy and builds up tension which might explain why he tried to attack Fatty when you put them in the same room together. Since you can't get Fatty to eat near the guest room that Percy was in, but have been able to accomplish something close to that with Percy in the dining room, I would suggest you set up a blockade in one or more of the 3 glass panels that separates Percy's space from Fatty's, so that they can easily see and smell each other for a while. There is a DIY blockade you can make from wire shelving that might be something for you to consider. See below for an example pic. It is shelving that can be cut to your desired height at most home improvement stores, and two or more panels can be fit together with zip ties to create a makeshift folding door for easy opening/closing when needed. Then, let Percy and Fatty see each other through the blockade for a while instead of a cage or placing them in the same room together with both of them loose. I think Fatty just needs more time to acclimate to Percy without having Percy able to get to him in an open room. If Fatty feels he doesn't have to fear an attack from Percy, it might help him rebuild his confidence.

I assume Percy is much younger? If so, maybe some additional thoughts/tips in this TCS article will help. How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat – TheCatSite Articles

 

[coneja]

FeebysOwner That shelving idea is brilliant. Could be a very good tool for acclimating two kitties and I'll probably look into it myself!

B Benton Grey I am also working on acclimating a younger cat to my older resident. Don't have a lot of advice to offer on my own but everyone's been really helpful and I've gotten some good ideas from other threads as well. Just wanted to drop by and say you're not alone! After having two cats take to each other very well (in retrospect) several years ago, I was surprised at learning how long it can take just for the kitties to get comfortable and tolerate each other. I think I wanted it to happen quickly so I could breathe a sigh of relief and finally put my fear of needing to rehome the newcomer to bed, but it hasn't been that simple for me, unfortunately! Trying to stay positive and like another member on here (Furmama22) said, trying to look at integration as a WHEN, not an IF and that helped my mental space quite a bit. Anyway, keep up the good work! Rooting for y'all!