New Cat Introduction

[garadas21]

Hello everyone! New user here.
First of all, sorry if i make some mistakes, english is not my first language.

Anyway, let's get straight to the point: two months ago i adopted a second cat, female two years, sweet and quiet but scared a lot by everything.
I already had a cat that i adopted last november, male, neutered, 7 year-ish (i don't know the exact age because he's a rescued cat as well).
I started putting her inside a safe room, with her own food, litter box, and shelter. I tried giving her food near the door with the resident cat on the other side, but she never wanted to go that close.
To be honest, at first she didn't even want to eat with us (me and my girlfriend) nearby, she used to eat at night, but after some days she was more quiet, it's perfectly normal.
Since our resident cat didn't show any sign of aggressive behaviour, but instead was curious towards the new cat (i know, it's an exception), we tried to put a plexiglass wall between him and the safe room to let them see each other, but as soon as he went too close to her, she started hissing and growling at him.
So why am i writing here? It's been 6 weeks and the new cat didn't show any sign of improvement. The door of her safe room is open when we're at home, but she still doesn't want to eat if the other cat is nearby, she's sweet with us but mostly scared, but for the most time is hiding inside her shelters. She rarely leaves her safe room and if she does, she moves to a different hiding spot in another room and stays there. I've never been able to interact with her outside one of those spots. The resident cat tries to play with her but she always hisses and growls (the resident cat never hissed at her, or growled) and runs away hiding.
What should i do to make her less scared and more comfortable? I was told just to let her go, patiently wait and she will eventually find out there's nothing to be scared of and will start getting along with us and stop hissing at the new cat.
My biggest fear is that our home is not a good environment for her, and she's not a cat to have with another cat.
Any tips?

Tnx everyone!

 

[JemVic]

I can't add anything useful, but I'm keeping an eye as I'm less than a week in with similar problems.

Hopefully your two will work it out!

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. Thanks for adopting rescue cats.

So you've only had the new cat 2 months, right. That's not that long to a cat.

And you did mention that "at first she didn't even want to eat with us (me and my girlfriend) nearby, she used to eat at night, but after some days she was more quiet, it's perfectly normal." So there has been some improvement, right.

It sounds like she's just really nervous of everything, and that she will need more time to get comfortable in her new home, with her new family.

The fact that there's only been hissing/growling is good. That's just her telling your other cat to "stay back". It would be much more concerning if she were actually attacking your resident cat.

Who knows what happened in her history, so I would focus first on trying to make her more comfortable in her new home. If you can, try to spend more time with her. Just in her room, talking softly to her.

Here's the link from another member, @rosegold, who documented her cat's journey from being scared, to becoming best buds with her human mom, and feline sibling. I will warn you that the journey has a sad ending, but nothing to do with the steps taken to help her become happy in her new home.
Socializing My New Semi-feral

Also, here are some TCS articles that might be helpful:

How To Help A New Cat Adjust To Your Home | TheCatSite
16 Top Cat Experts Share Tips For Dealing With Timid Cats | TheCatSite
10 Must-know Tips For Happy Living With A Shy Cat | TheCatSite
How To Get A Cat To Come Out Of Hiding? | TheCatSite

Hopefully she was never abused, but there could still be tips in this article that could be helpful: How To Help An Abused Cat Recover | TheCatSite

Plus:
How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide | TheCatSite

Good luck with her. Keep us posted on her progress. And post pics, if you can. How To Add A Picture To Your Forum Post | TheCatSite

Oh, btw, your English is purr-fect.

 

[garadas21]

I figured she would just need some time, but i wanted to make sure i wasn't doing anything bad. Anyway, thank you very much for your answer!

 

[garadas21]

And here's a picture of them.
This Is Oscar, the Resident cat

..and this Is Polly, the new One:

Tnx agaib

 

[rubysmama]

Awww.... both are beautiful. Hopefully in time they'll be best friends.

 

[cheeseburger]

Hi there! What gorgeous kitties. We went through a similar introduction process with a very fearful cat last year. It sounds like you're doing everything right.

The only additional things I can think of:
1. Make sure you're doing a ton of 'hunting' play with the new cat. Allowing her to hunt builds confidence. Get a tiger tail and a da bird if you don't already have them and spend a lot of time mimicking prey for her. The more she hunts the better she will feel about her ability to defend herself in this new environment.

2. Put your other cat away for a while, and take her to new rooms in your home. You can put her in a carrier, cage, tent or pick her up - whatever is easiest to move her. Physically place her in those new rooms and let her explore. Give her access to run back to her safe room if she chooses. Do this regularly and she will start realize that other parts of the house are interesting and also safe.

In fact, you could consider starting to feed her outside of her safe room, and only when she is in your main living space, for example. With time, she may come to realize that this room is where food is and start to be more okay with it.

3. Make sure you are scent swapping. She might be afraid of your other cat's smell. Exchange their bedding. Do the sock rub exchange. Allow your cat into her room to explore (without her there in it) and leave scents.

4. Hissing is a good thing. Don't be afraid of it. She is clearly communicating with your other cat.

Hopefully some of this stuff will slowly build her confidence. There are cats out there who have been abused or are more fearful than others so don't beat yourself up about this.

 

[garadas21]

UPDATE:
so, now she's finally free to roam around. Here's an example of the current interaction between Oscar and Polly

As you can see my resident cat tries to approach her (maybe he's a little "rude"), and she just hisses and growls like "back off" please. I think i can just wait till she's more comfortable (even with us).

 

[cheeseburger]

Not bad, honestly! We were here about a week ago. Now our new cat is doing the same thing to our resident cat and they take turns launching their 'assaults' and it seems mostly playful (we still have 1-2 hissing incidents with claws a day). Do your best to gauge your new cat's comfort level. If she's really fearful, perhaps keep them separated a bit longer. If she's holding her ground and asserting herself, maybe up the time they spend together (as long as there isn't bad violence).

 

[garadas21]

Yeah she seems just to say "back off". There is not violence, he sometimes tries to chase her, but she runs away. It's two months since we adopted her and basically we had to keep them separated all this time because unfortunately she arrived with a ringworm on her head and it takes a lot to cure it (also it's very contagious).
Now she's ok so we used those two months to make her comfortable at least with her safe room. I don't know what happened to her when she was on the streets, but she's very scared, and i was told that where she comes from was a really bad neighborhood, so it will probably take a little more, but eventually she will be ok both with us and Oscar.
Tnx as usual!

 

[pearl99]

It doesn't look too bad to me either; Polly is communicating and actually is not running to hide under the couch or something, she's staying by the wall there in a ready-to-pounce position. And Oscar is certainly listening to her and backing off and is not all fuzzed up. Likely over time and once she gains more confidence (patience needed) she will realize Oscar is okay.
One thing I did with my scared shy kitty (not sure where she is approaching you guys or lap sitting) was once he was out and about in the house is feed him twice per day only with the food near me and me sitting on the floor, gradually moving the food closer till it was sitting on the top of my legs so he would approach me more often and learn I'm OK.

 

[garadas21]

UPDATE N°2 (tell if this becomes annoying of course )

Inside her safe room Polly is the sweetest cat ever:

In the evening and in the morning especially she started exploring the house like this:

She looks at us, at Oscar but doesn't want to be touched or doesn't want to get too close to the other cat. She prefers interacting like the video above in her safe room.

Inside that room she also tolerates Oscar a lot more, they ate some treats really close to each other, Polly from my left hand and Oscar from my right hand. That's good. She even started eating with Oscar really close to her, she used to refuse any food if Oscar was around.

Also i found them like this:

Polly is the one on the left.

Then Oscar realized her shelter was more comfortable:

She accepted this decision :

Anyway, i guess things are getting better?
Next steps are making her enough comfortable to accept cuddles and Oscar outside her room as well. But i guess it will just take time.

What do you think?

And again, tell me if i'm too annoying with these updates.

 

[rubysmama]

Sounds, and looks, like things are coming along well. She's a sweetie, for sure. And I bet one day you'll find them both squeezed in the cat bed sleeping together.

And, yes, keep the updates coming.

 

[garadas21]

Thanks.

I was just wondering: why is she so sweet in her safe room and doesn't want to be touched anywhere else? i know it will eventually be ok, it just takes time, but is it just an environment that she considers "unexplored"?

 

[duncanmac]

She's sweet there because it is her space and she owns it. She will probably play more there as well.

 

[mandmcats]

UPDATE:
so, now she's finally free to roam around. Here's an example of the current interaction between Oscar and Polly

As you can see my resident cat tries to approach her (maybe he's a little "rude"), and she just hisses and growls like "back off" please. I think i can just wait till she's more comfortable (even with us).

This is exactly like our cats right now! Resident cat will "charge" up at the new cat while the new cat hisses/hides. Then resident cat will back off and sit or lay a little ways away watching.