Need Advice On How To Progress Cat Introduction! New Cat, 2 Resident Cats

[LittleShadow]

It sounds like you're making progress! Seems like most of the advice has already been given, and the cats are getting more tolerant of each other. I have one more suggestion. This is totally anecdotal, but...well, I once had one VERY territorial gal. There was NO amount of trying to slowly introduce cats that worked with her. The other cat was an interloper, and would be punished, no matter how long it had managed to convince her humans to hide in a stolen part of HER territory before she met it.

But if we rubbed the new cat in a dirty sock first, she'd accept the new cat. We'd use an athletic sock, worn for a good workout and really sweaty, and we'd rub it all over the new cat, really get our scent all over them. No clue if this would help with your cats at all, but it probably wouldn't hurt? For best results, I'd suggest using the sock of whoever the grumpiest cat likes best.

 

[radarlove413]

It sounds like you're making progress! Seems like most of the advice has already been given, and the cats are getting more tolerant of each other. I have one more suggestion. This is totally anecdotal, but...well, I once had one VERY territorial gal. There was NO amount of trying to slowly introduce cats that worked with her. The other cat was an interloper, and would be punished, no matter how long it had managed to convince her humans to hide in a stolen part of HER territory before she met it.

But if we rubbed the new cat in a dirty sock first, she'd accept the new cat. We'd use an athletic sock, worn for a good workout and really sweaty, and we'd rub it all over the new cat, really get our scent all over them. No clue if this would help with your cats at all, but it probably wouldn't hurt? For best results, I'd suggest using the sock of whoever the grumpiest cat likes best.

Thank you, I’ll definitely try this!

I had some help from my mom for a supervised session between them today. (With the jacket on) Donatello was fine/a bit wary of cocoa in the carrier. But, when we put him on a chair and petted him, he relaxed and almost fell asleep in his presence.

We tried some eat play love, myself in the hallway by the door with Don, cocoa in the other room, no carrier. It went fine with a few wary stares. Until... cocoa decided the other toy was better and ran for it. We closed the door enough so he couldn’t go through, but it still scared Don and got a few wet hisses. He started coming towards the door with tiny death eyes, so I gave him 30 seconds and distracted him with the toy again. Then we put Cocoa back in the carrier and they hung out a few minutes before we ended the session.

My mom thinks it may be “safer” for Don just to let Cocoa out and explore a few rooms and have Don follow him, since he’ll just get scared if Cocoa goes for his toy again. She thinks the hisses are partially because he doesn’t know if Cocoa respects him as alpha. What do you guys think?

 

[rubysmama]

Hisses and growls are a form of cat communication. It's fighting with fur flying or blood that want to avoid. Or, of course, if one cat seems really stressed or scared.

 

[radarlove413]

Fair enough! So after a few more days of scent swapping Don continues to be more relaxed. I use the Thundershirt with him in the morning when he gets anxious about Cocoa's meowing, and he eats most of his food by the door now. After the past few site swaps, he's actually gone up to Cocoa's carrier and sniffed it with no bad body language or hisses! I put it on the chair in the hallway, less threatening. It seems like putting him in the room with Cocoa's scent/Feliway diffuser helps him lots. They've also stared at each other through the cracked door a bit, and Don hasn't hissed, just a bit of defensive body language. Cocoa seems to be getting that he's alpha and doesn't try to approach the door crack anymore.

We think we may be ready to try another meeting soon, if all goes well!

 

[rubysmama]

Crossing fingers for you.

 

[radarlove413]

Thank you! We are hoping to try it Saturday since we are both off work in the afternoon.

My husband took a video of our boys during a site swap. Any input about the body language coming from them? Don, the difficult one, is the black cat.

(Side note: Cocoa isn’t stressed in the carrier, I watch him carefully. He’s not in it for more than a few mins at a time around the boys. If I say "Carrier!" he actually runs in.)


A bit after this, I just let the door be open a crack with a jam under it. Dunlop was fine. Don felt like it would be great to go up and hiss/slightly spit at Cocoa. Cocoa respected this and walked away, I shut the door slowly to let Don cool it a bit, then opened it again. When he came up to the crack to look for Cocoa and didn't hiss, I gave him a treat and ended it. He hasn't hissed or challenged the residents ONCE, which is hopefully a good sign.

 

[LittleShadow]

Well, I'm not an expert, but most of that body language seemed pretty good. I'm noticing relaxed question mark tails and relaxed forward pointing ears, and their stance is neutral, not slinking low to the ground or arching or angling sideways. To me, that's looking like good body language. Others with more kitty-ese skills will probably have more to say.

 

[rubysmama]

I don't have any personal experience with multi-cat households, but things looked ok in that video.

 

[radarlove413]

Thank you! We’ll be trying another face-to-face tomorrow afternoon, so I’ll post an update. We feel like Donatello is never going to just come up and want to be BFFs with Cocoa, so it’s time to see if he can set the hierarchy in a healthy way.

We did the same thing when we introduced Don, and mostly let them work it out and broke up bad fights/stalking. More caution this time, since Dunlop is usually his target with misdirection and we want them to stay friends

 

[LittleShadow]

My Tiger and Kilana never really got along, even after Tiger accepted Kilana in the house. Kilana wanted to be friends, Tiger wanted the obnoxious kitten to leave her the heck alone. Kilana got hissed at, growled at, and occasionally she got a good wallop from Tiger, but they didn't actually fight. If it were humans, it would have been more one shouting at the other to "Go AWAY!" and shoving the pestering person away so they could stalk off. No actual harm done. And they did eventually get to where they'd sleep on the same person sometimes, or be one on either side of a lap for pets, even if they didn't like each other. Best wishes for your next face to face with them!

 

[radarlove413]

So, update!

Supervised visits went decently. We put Donatello in his thunder shirt and on top of the cat tower (heights=safety), then let Cocoa come out. He didn’t move, but some heavy breathing and one growl. We ended if after 10 mins. I think that’s a good thing? Like if this wasn't going to work out, he would have tried to attack him right away?

Dunlop’s went pretty good! They touched noses. Then, he chased him under my canvas storage cabinet, but no hisses, just some clawless paw slaps from Dunlop to let him know that he'd like him to stay under there. Then sat there and stared at Cocoa for a bit from all angles. Cocoa had his paws loafed so he was cool, and not freaked out. Cocoa is definitely submissive. Dunlop's only ever been introduced to alpha cats before, so I don't think he knew what to do lmao. I brought Dunlop upstairs after the butt wash to let Cocoa come out, and they stared at each other a bit upstairs, and Cocoa stayed on a chair. I think it’s dominant posturing more than anything?

Any advice about how to help Don feel more comfortable? We're going to try another short, supervised visit tonight. Right now, I'm just letting the residents walk around and settle again.

 

[radarlove413]

Round two with Don... so far if he’s in the shirt and in his spot, he’s cool. We have yet to see how it’s gonna go whenever he decides to get off the tower, but hey!

 

[radarlove413]

Last question: when Cocoa has been out with Dunlop, Dunlop’s been stalking him a bit and giving no-claw slaps and a bit of a stare down. Is this normal while cats figure out the pecking order? Here’s an example: they were both on the cabinets, and Dunlop kinda stared at him a bit before “cat loading”.
Of course, when cocoa moved again, Dunlop felt the need to follow him and repeat the same stuff. Props to Cocoa for just napping while this is happening.

 

[rubysmama]

I wish I had experience with more than one cat in the same household, so I could advise you better. But, alas, with my Ruby only, I know only what I read and learn about cat interactions here on the forums.

I'm going to tag another forum helper, Kieka , who has a couple videos of her cats "playing" that may help to figure out whether your cats are play fighting, or not.

 

[Kieka]

Hello! I read through the thread and it looks like things are going overall good, just really slow. My only suggestions would be give a meal when they are all together. Something Don and Dunlop really enjoy to reinforce the good of Cocoa. Not treats, but an actual meal that Cocoa gets too at the same time. You might need to do it the first time with Cocoa in the carrier so they don't get too territorial about it but it could help further the Cocoa is good.

The other thing would be that cabinet is a dead end from what I can see. Dead ends are anywhere one cat can get trapped by another. Dunlop has the advantage and that photo looks like he knows it. He might not be aggressive but he is definitely trapping Cocoa and that's not good. If there isn't already, you need to either make another way down from there or block it off for the time being. You don't want Cocoa trapped somewhere.

On to the videos. This one shows a play session between my boy (black legs) and girl (smaller white legs). The noise is my girl because she is a loud little one during play time. It took me a long time to learn that she's just loud. After my boy left the room she jumped up, looked at me with a "Mom! He left!" Look and went chasing after him to keep playing. Knowing her, she probably jumped on his back as he was eating. Good thing he is a mellow child and she is literally half his size.
View media item 420658
This one is my boy (pointed) and my Mom's (black) typical playing. There is a lot of forehead taping by my Mom's cat in their play. It's much quieter play and with a lot more pauses. But notice that my boy just walks away with no chasing by the other. He was just done and they separated. Play between these two is almost always started by my Mom's cat.
View media item 421929
Biggest thing is there was no fur or blood in either and no one was hurt.

 

[rubysmama]

Thanks Kieka . Good point about the dead end cabinet. I wouldn't have thought of that.

 

[Kieka]

Thanks Kieka . Good point about the dead end cabinet. I wouldn't have thought of that.

We had the dead end problem in the Catio right after we built it. Had to widen a walkway and add a stairway. Even in my household with three cats who have been together three years, a dead end is asking for someone to press the advantage and cause a problem.

 

[radarlove413]

We had the dead end problem in the Catio right after we built it. Had to widen a walkway and add a stairway. Even in my household with three cats who have been together three years, a dead end is asking for someone to press the advantage and cause a problem.

Thank you for all the great advice! I will definitely try and do that with them more. We do meals with all 3 with the door cracked but I haven’t tried it with no door yet.

If Dunlop consistently goes to trap Cocoa, is there something I can use to try and stop this behavior? My husband thinks that Dunlop will eventually get bored and not see Cocoa as a threat, which I am not sure I agree with.

 

[Kieka]

Thank you for all the great advice! I will definitely try and do that with them more. We do meals with all 3 with the door cracked but I haven’t tried it with no door yet.

If Dunlop consistently goes to trap Cocoa, is there something I can use to try and stop this behavior? My husband thinks that Dunlop will eventually get bored and not see Cocoa as a threat, which I am not sure I agree with.

I tell my guys no and put the offender in a different area. But the better solution is to stop the behavior by elimentaing the opportunity. I'd agree with you that Dunlop is unlikely to get bored. It's his way of asserting authority in the household and his place. While that is not a bad thing in and of itself you don't want to allow it to the point that Cocoa feels he can't exist in the home. They will figure out a mode that works for them but the dead ends are a stalemate and don't help towards that goal.

 

[radarlove413]

I tell my guys no and put the offender in a different area. But the better solution is to stop the behavior by elimentaing the opportunity. I'd agree with you that Dunlop is unlikely to get bored. It's his way of asserting authority in the household and his place. While that is not a bad thing in and of itself you don't want to allow it to the point that Cocoa feels he can't exist in the home. They will figure out a mode that works for them but the dead ends are a stalemate and don't help towards that goal.

Thanks for the input! I’ll try and get a video of them meeting today to post here. What about if they go up high, like the kitchen cabinets again?