New Cat Introduction is... slow-going

[stephanie junca]

Hi everyone,

I have been posting on here pretty regularly the past few months as we had lost our cat Spock in early-June and his sister Luna has been struggling a bit to adjust. A month ago, I had been talking to a local rescue about fostering. Then, I came upon one of their long time resident cats who I essentially fell for. He is a 2 year old buff cat named Bela who we now just call Mr. Lugosi haha. He is very sweet and affectionate but also still has that young kitty energy and loves to play with all of the toys. He gets along great with our dogs already and even plays with one of them. It's been two weeks now since we brought him home so we are really happy with how he has adapted.

However, our resident cat Luna has not taken to him as well as we had hoped. She growls at him every time he comes within a few feet of her, but he really wants to be friends with her so he follows her around the house. The first week we did keep him separate and did intros through the door and through a gate and because Luna seemed to be fine we decided to let him roam for short periods of time. Well, she growls at him a lot now which I kind of expected to happen but wonder how long this will take to pass. He clearly has a crush on her haha as like I said he follows her around and watches her. He lays on her beds and waits for her almost to show up in hopes of a snuggle.

I have introduced dogs to cats but never cats to cats, so I am a bit new with this whole process and wonder if anyone has any tips and timeframes on things like these. It has only been two weeks, so I hope that a month from now things will be better.

Thanks for any advice!

Pic of Mr. Lugosi is attached... He decided he wanted to be swaddled in a burrito blanket

 

[Furballsmom]

My goodness what a l-o-n-g nose

Just in case you haven't seen these, there might be some tips that help. She might benefit from a calming product or two - Bachs rescue remedy comes to mind, or Cat Music.

Since I don't know how old Luna is--
How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat – TheCatSite Articles

How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide – TheCatSite Articles

 

[stephanie junca]

Thanks for all the info Furballsmom ! Luna is 12 almost 13. She is a pretty playful and energetic kitty still. Mr. Lugosi is a little more energetic than her but he gives me the impression that once he gets past his early adult years he will mellow out more. It's interesting he has not shown any signs of aggression at all towards Luna but is just very curious about her. He also came from a foster home that had 20 plus cats and 6 plus dogs that were all being fostered together. I think he may be more used to having several cats and dogs to hang out with and is very passive. Luckily there has been no swatting or fighting between Lugosi and Luna. They have come nose to nose a few times and sniff each other for a bit and then Luna will hiss and slink away. We have Feliway diffusers going in the main area they interact. I also have a high perch for her which she uses often to get away from him and he will just watch her from the floor in wonder. We have been letting him out from his room for a few hours at a time, but if Luna gets too growly or hissy, we put him back. We also haven't been leaving him out at night while we're asleep.

Earlier he was running all over the house with crazy kitty energy and she was just watching him with this look of disapproval haha. At least she didn't growl unless he would get too close.

He really is a great cat. I was surprised when they told me he had been in foster for a year. Apparently he was overgrooming a few spots to the point of bleeding which he has stopped doing since living with us luckily. They were giving him anti-anxiety meds as it seemed the house was too much for him with all the critters running around. They were having him wear shirts to stop the overgrooming, but he just needed his forever home

Him with his shirt he came with haha..

 

[Furballsmom]

he just needed his forever home

Absolutely, I'm so happy for him and for you!! .. .. and I think Luna will come around, at least to a degree.

She may not fall in love with him, but eventually she should become more accepting, and the Cat Music (There's Relax My Cat, Music For Cats, and Spotify et al has harp music for cats) can do wonders

 

[stephanie junca]

Absolutely, I'm so happy for him and for you!! .. .. and I think Luna will come around, at least to a degree.

She may not fall in love with him, but eventually she should become more accepting, and the Cat Music (There's Relax My Cat, Music For Cats, and Spotify et al has harp music for cats) can do wonders

Yeah, I hope that because Mr. Lugosi's personality is so passive, she will realize that he isn't a threat at all. I will have to try the music. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[stephanie junca]

Resurfacing this post from last year...

We adopted Mr. Lugosi almost 8 months ago now. He did have some overgrooming issues (that he has resolved) and then was really biting hard on our hands drawing blood a few times. He came with transdermal fluoxetine from his foster home that they never used, but we used it up with him. He seemed fine for a little bit afterwards and then he started up with attacking us again, so we consulted with our vet who prescribed him the pill form of fluoxetine. He took that again for about a month or so and we slowly weened him off as we thought he had adjusted and maybe it was just him being new.

Everything seemed to be ok. He would sometimes antagonize my other cat, Luna, so we would separate him when he would in order to give him and her a time out. That seemed to work at managing his behavior. Most recently in the past 2-3 weeks, he started really going after Luna to the point of pulling out her fur and leaving her scratched up on her head mainly. We separated him again but day and night instead of just a few hours. I called my vet and consulted with her what we should do. She said it sounded like play aggression which I can totally see that. He is about 10 years younger than Luna and we were playing with them at Luna's pace not his. The vet said we could try playing with him more and do a slow re-introducton between him and Luna again. She also prescribed him Fluoxetine again in liquid form for ease of giving it to him. She said to give it a month or so and if it didn't help with his behavior then we might need to discuss other avenues.

Since then, we have ramped up his play times to 4 times a day 10 minutes each. We also would still let him outside to visit the back garden for 15-20 minutes each day. And did the slow reintroduction between him and Luna. We have been giving him the fluoxetine as prescribed. We let him see Luna again this week after not seeing each other for almost 10 days and now he yowls in his room when we close the door. Then when we do make the mistake of leaving them out together in the house or in the backyard he goes back to really pouncing on her hard and biting her head. This is after playing and exploring.

My husband is really concerned that he is not a good match for Luna and now I'm starting to wonder if he is right. I don't like the idea of rehoming as he was at his foster home for over a year and was not doing well there. Perhaps he is just meant to be an only cat? It's funny because I know Luna is more accepting of him now and reading back it looks as though she wasn't at all. I kind of forgot about that.

I want to give Mr. Lugosi the benefit of the doubt and will continue to give him the Fluoxetine as prescribed with the play sessions, but I feel bad having him completely separated from the rest of the household. Even though the room we have him in has a bunch of windows that he can watch the birds and squirrels in our yard, all the fun toys and comfy spots to nap... That's not a happy life for a kitty being constantly separated . Any words of advice are really appreciated here!

Also of note: both Lugosi and Luna are neutered and spayed. They have been for full vet work-ups. Luna went at the end of January and Lugosi went in September. I asked the vet if Lugosi should get a hands-on physical for this issue to see if maybe he is in pain or discomfort to which she came to the conclusion it wasn't necessary after asking me some screening queestoins.

 

[Furballsmom]

Luna is more accepting of him now

What does she do nowadays? Is she running and hiding, or is she hanging in there and maybe/hopefully even swatting him back? I realize your husband won't agree with this, but constantly intervening isn't giving her a chance to learn how to stand up for herself.

Have you played with them both together, distracting him if he pounces on her? Playing with her while he watches, and loving on them both? She needs her confidence built.

Have you tried clicker training with him? Would a cat wheel help to work of his overabundance of energy?

 

[stephanie junca]

What does she do nowadays? Is she running and hiding, or is she hanging in there and maybe/hopefully even swatting him back? I realize your husband won't agree with this, but constantly intervening isn't giving her a chance to learn how to stand up for herself.

Have you played with them both together, distracting him if he pounces on her? Playing with her while he watches, and loving on them both? She needs her confidence built.

Have you tried clicker training with him? Would a cat wheel help to work of his overabundance of energy?

Thanks for your response!

Luna usually approaches him with nose boops and sniffs but Lugosi quickly gets overly excited and tackles here and if she resists play he will bite her head or neck. At that point, she will growl and hiss at him to get off and if he doesn't she will run away and hide. Before these latest incidents, they would snuggle on our bed and she would go over to him for grooming sessions. It was very amicable.

But, yes, every night before bed we made sure they had a play session with us ending with snuggles and treats. Since we have had him separated, we play with them through the baby gate at the door and give treats.

I have not tried clicker training with him but might be something. We actually did discuss getting him a wheel haha. We bought him some interactive toys recently that he enjoys playing with aside from the feather wand and the kicker catnip toys that we toss around for him.

The one positive thing that we have noticed is that he hasn't bitten us or scratched us out of the blue. So he is getting his play worked out efficiently with us it seems.