New Cat Aggressive to Resident Cat

[RachelF]

We have a 13 year old resident cat and adopted a 9 year old female rescue cat just over two weeks ago. We have been following all the advice on introductions and, when we give them treats, play with them in each other’s presence etc it’s fine. However, at the end of the introductory session tonight the resident cat wandered off, and we didn’t realise at first when we went to put the new cat back in her room that he was in there. As soon as she saw him she ran for him and started a fight. We immediately separated them but are worried how to progress their introductions so they can ultimately live together and at least tolerate each other. The resident cat is not aggressive at all to the new cat, it’s the other way round. Both have lived with other cats but we don’t have much history about the new cat. Is there any advice anyone can give us?

 

[susanm9006]

A couple of weeks is a short intro time. Your new cat is acting out of fear, not aggression. He was in her space and she still doesn’t feel comfortable with him. She just needs much longer before she feels comfortable with your resident cat so you need to go at the introduction as slow as she needs. Give her a couple days to relax and then start feeding or mealtime together to see how they both do.

 

[She's a witch]

And I’d triple check the new cat’s room before putting him back there, to make absolutely sure your resident is not there in her safe territory, that was the trigger for the “incident”. I second couple of days without any activity to calm things down before resuming any introduction. Best of luck!

 

[RachelF]

Thank you both of you for your comments. That’s really helpful. We will try what you’ve suggested. If anyone else has any suggestions it’d be great to hear them,

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. Thanks for giving an older cat a home. Hopefully in time she and your resident cat will be friends.

Meanwhile, after the altercation/fight, maybe something in this TCS article will be helpful:
How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction | TheCatSite

There's also these two articles, as well:
How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide | TheCatSite
Introducing Cats To Cats | TheCatSite

 

[ArtNJ]

Two older cats is often a high difficulty introduction, it may take a while. Making sure they don't fight is priority one since that can lead to backwards progress. So I totally agree about taking a break for a few days and seeing where you are at. Hopefully no one got hurt during the fight and it didn't make an overly lasting impression.

Being honest, I only attempted senior to senior cat once, when my mother in law passed away. And when the brother in law offered to take the cat, we jumped at the chance to bail out since . . . it wasn't going well. But from everything I've read and from lots of experience with senior to young cat intros, I believe you have a very good chance to get to at least toleration with lots of patience.

Good luck!

 

[RachelF]

Thank you for the additional responses. Neither cat was hurt as we stopped the fight immediately.

We will have a little break and see how we go