Hi there!
We have 2 main characters in this:
Seb - Male ragdoll, 6 months old. Was neutered 1.5 weeks ago. Have had him for about 2 months, previously lived as a kitten with another kitten and 1yo male before we adopted him. Seb has always been outgoing and playful. Seb's a big boy - easily twice the size and almost twice the weight of Blu.
Blu - Male ragdoll, 6 months old, neutered months ago. Previously lived solo from 8 weeks old. Previous owner described him as playful but reserved at times.
We brought Blu home on Friday night (it's now Wednesday). This is what's happened so far.
Friday night - set up Blu in our study room. Seb was none the wiser. Started scent swapping immediately. Seb was a bit shocked at Blu's bedding at first but never hissed or growled at it. Blu used Seb's scratching post as though it was his own almost immediately.
Saturday - More scent swapping, Seb still had no idea he had a friend in the house. Blu was happy in his room, starting to play with DaBird when we encouraged him to.
Sunday - Same as Saturday. Blue and Seb were starting to smell each other under the door. No negative reactions from either.
Monday morning - Decided to crack the door a bit to the study room as I work from home and didn't realise Seb would freak out if I was in there with the door shut, he normally would sit on my lap as I work. Both cats pawed at each other, sniffed one another and didn't seem stressed. Seb then broke into the room but interactions seemed positive. They pawed at each other whilst Blu was in the cave at the top of the scratching post but no stressed or aggressive body language.
Monday afternoon - I continued doing small supervised face to face (f2f) visits but these became more and more tense. Seb would almost stalk? Blu and just stare at him.
At this point, I swapped Blu to our spare room instead so I could work in peace.
Tuesday morning - More stalking during supervised visits. Seb is easily redirected away and will chase his favourite balls/wand toys most times. He would chirp, run at Blu but then jump over him as though he's excited or trying to play. He has however chased Blu a few times and pinned him down, resulting in growling and yowling from Blu. It is strange though as Blu doesn't seem to mind, he will often try and walk around whilst Seb is around but the chasing escalates whenever Seb stalks Blu and ends in running and fighting. I bought a soft playpen and popped Blu in it. Seb lunged at him in the playpen a few times, Blu lunged back - I think his confidence grew when he realised Seb couldn't get to him. Seb would then stalk Blu and scratch at the playpen as though frustrated that he can't get in. Seb's ears were forward, tail relatively relaxed (he's never walked around with his tail up) and he would chirp occasionally before lunging or whilst walking around the pen.
Tuesday evening - The dynamic escalated again and Seb would lunge at Blu constantly. They had a 5 min moment in the room together almost sharing play with a wand toy.
Wednesday morning (today) - Seb immediately just pins Blu down. I've noticed changes in Seb's body language. Ears pinned back whilst doing this, they weren't previously. I did pop some of Blu's scent swap items upstairs as we focused the scents downstairs because Seb spent more time down than upstairs before Blu arrived.
Other things to know:
I guess my question is - my gut instinct is that I rushed this but also that Seb's territoriality is linked to his desex only being recent? Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? My heart is telling me to go back to no f2f visits and begin with scent swaps only again...
We have 2 main characters in this:
Seb - Male ragdoll, 6 months old. Was neutered 1.5 weeks ago. Have had him for about 2 months, previously lived as a kitten with another kitten and 1yo male before we adopted him. Seb has always been outgoing and playful. Seb's a big boy - easily twice the size and almost twice the weight of Blu.
Blu - Male ragdoll, 6 months old, neutered months ago. Previously lived solo from 8 weeks old. Previous owner described him as playful but reserved at times.
We brought Blu home on Friday night (it's now Wednesday). This is what's happened so far.
Friday night - set up Blu in our study room. Seb was none the wiser. Started scent swapping immediately. Seb was a bit shocked at Blu's bedding at first but never hissed or growled at it. Blu used Seb's scratching post as though it was his own almost immediately.
Saturday - More scent swapping, Seb still had no idea he had a friend in the house. Blu was happy in his room, starting to play with DaBird when we encouraged him to.
Sunday - Same as Saturday. Blue and Seb were starting to smell each other under the door. No negative reactions from either.
Monday morning - Decided to crack the door a bit to the study room as I work from home and didn't realise Seb would freak out if I was in there with the door shut, he normally would sit on my lap as I work. Both cats pawed at each other, sniffed one another and didn't seem stressed. Seb then broke into the room but interactions seemed positive. They pawed at each other whilst Blu was in the cave at the top of the scratching post but no stressed or aggressive body language.
Monday afternoon - I continued doing small supervised face to face (f2f) visits but these became more and more tense. Seb would almost stalk? Blu and just stare at him.
At this point, I swapped Blu to our spare room instead so I could work in peace.
Tuesday morning - More stalking during supervised visits. Seb is easily redirected away and will chase his favourite balls/wand toys most times. He would chirp, run at Blu but then jump over him as though he's excited or trying to play. He has however chased Blu a few times and pinned him down, resulting in growling and yowling from Blu. It is strange though as Blu doesn't seem to mind, he will often try and walk around whilst Seb is around but the chasing escalates whenever Seb stalks Blu and ends in running and fighting. I bought a soft playpen and popped Blu in it. Seb lunged at him in the playpen a few times, Blu lunged back - I think his confidence grew when he realised Seb couldn't get to him. Seb would then stalk Blu and scratch at the playpen as though frustrated that he can't get in. Seb's ears were forward, tail relatively relaxed (he's never walked around with his tail up) and he would chirp occasionally before lunging or whilst walking around the pen.
Tuesday evening - The dynamic escalated again and Seb would lunge at Blu constantly. They had a 5 min moment in the room together almost sharing play with a wand toy.
Wednesday morning (today) - Seb immediately just pins Blu down. I've noticed changes in Seb's body language. Ears pinned back whilst doing this, they weren't previously. I did pop some of Blu's scent swap items upstairs as we focused the scents downstairs because Seb spent more time down than upstairs before Blu arrived.
Other things to know:
- Like I said, scent swap was focused downstairs. Seb now spends almost no time downstairs. I recently started my wfh job, so it's been an adjustment for Seb to have me home all day. He's not a huge fan of my partner, so he's quite clingy to me when I wfh now. Seb used to sleep on my pillow at night but the last two nights has either slept at my feet (he can see the spare room/study from here) or on the study chair (once I moved Blu to the spare room)
- Blu and Seb will happily eat side by side in the base camp room. Blu did initially grumble at this but not anymore.
- We are letting Blu explore upstairs with Seb locked away. He is definitely getting more confident.
- Seb has wee-d and pooped in Blu's litter tray in the safe room. Blu has also done both in Seb's litter tray in the bathroom down the corridor from his safe room whilst I was engaging Seb in some active play.
I guess my question is - my gut instinct is that I rushed this but also that Seb's territoriality is linked to his desex only being recent? Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? My heart is telling me to go back to no f2f visits and begin with scent swaps only again...
