New Cat Swatting Resident Cat

[LeesyD]

Hello everyone!

I adopted a new cat approximately exactly 3 weeks ago, he is a 1.5 yr old male named Jasper. I've had my resident female cat, Daisy, for 4 years now, and she's maybe 5 yrs old. They've each been neutered and spayed. I'm following the jackson galaxy method for introductions and things have been progressing well, but Jasper is having a swatting problem thats really hindering any progress

A bit of background on their personalities: Daisy is very calm and gentle, friendly to new people and enjoys playing every once and a while. Now, I for sure thought Daisy was a mojito cat, but Jasper has snatched that title from her. He's so playful and confident, loves meeting new people and loves to be held and cuddled. However, he is a ball of energy and it takes me playing with him for 40 mins minimum for him to be slightly worn down. I will also add that he was part of a bonded pair that unfortunately had his second half adopted separately

They are successfully eating on either side of a screen door with no problems. Daisy will often walk up when they're done eating and sniff at him. Jasper will chirrup and sniff her back for a few moments and start pawing at her in a way I'm assuming is him trying to play. The first few days he did this it really pissed her off and caused her to swat/hiss at him. After around the third day of that she stopped caring and would just stare at him lazily as he pawed at the screen, no flat ears or tail whipping.

On the 5th day of them doing this with no hissing, I decided it was time to try eat play love. I've done this twice so far, but the second time went horribly...

The first time I did as jackson said and had them meet right before dinner time. Jasper was on one side of the room distracted by his wand toy, and Daisy was led into the room with her own wand toy by my fiancé. Jasper noticed her but kept playing, Daisy would play a little but kept staring at him. Eventually they got close to eachother and Jasper got excited. He ran at her and Daisy seemed very tense, but they sniffed noses. Jasper immediately started rubbing on her, it was actually pretty adorable. Daisy still seemed a little tense but relaxed a bit. Her ears weren't flat, no puffed tail, just seemed a little unsure of what to do lol. After greeting her, Jasper started to paw at her which soured her mood and I noticed her ears go flat. After seeing her get stressed I decided to feed them and call it a session. (They both ate fairly well next to eachother without a screen, but Jasper did keep trying to run and eat from her bowl which we had to keep stopping )

Second time started off similar to the last, but Jasper was just not caring about his toy at all. He immediately ran at Daisy when she came into the room and they sniffed for a moment. We tried using the wand to distract them, but neither cared. After sniffing her for a few moments, he started pawing at her in the face. She hissed and swatted at him, but then he swatted back. Please keep in mind this happened so fast, like in the matter of 15 seconds. They swatted back and forth briefly, there was hissing but I have no clue from who, and then Daisy ran. Jasper chased after her and caught her in a corner. Daisy had flipped off the corner and was lying on her back like a bear trap. Jasper was just standing next to her staring. I grabbed Jasper without issue and immediately separated them. I kept thinking of what jackson galaxy said and to end things on a high note so I fed them. They both ate again without incident and then I immediately ended the session.

Since this happened, they are still doing great with the screen door feeding, I'm just scared to do eat play love again.

I'm unaure now how to proceed from here. How do I make him stop swatting at her? Did I introduce them too soon? Should I go back a step and continue with the screen door, or should I keep persisting with eat play love? Daisy seems very willing to be chill with him until he starts swatting at her face.

Thank you for anyone who read this far! Any tips are much appreciated

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi and welcome to TCS! 3 weeks isn't really a very long time, and so they both may need more time before moving on. It doesn't sound like Daisy is any less apprehensive at this point than Jasper, so both are still on guard with the other. There is no reason to rush through the process if you think they both could benefit from more time adjusting to each other with the gate separation.

However, since Jasper didn't attack Daisy after she rolled on her back, it could be that things might not have gone as badly as you were worried they would. Whether or not to try again and let their interaction go just a bit farther before intervening is a judgement call that only you can make. Trying to advance to another step is not always going to facilitate ending each session on a positive note, but you can always separate them again and do as you did before by feeding them.

I am not familiar with JG's introduction process, so I will offer TCS' in case there is anything different that you could add to your existing process.
How To Successfully Introduce Cats [The Ultimate Guide] - TheCatSite

 

[Hellenww]

I did as jackson said and had them meet right before dinner time.

They're doing great for only 3 weeks. Even my calmest cats have been excited/agitated before a meal. Maybe give them a little digestion time and then open the door.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

This is probably not as bad as you think it is. Rule of thumb...if there is no blood/pee on the floor, and no large hunks of fur in the air, it is not a cat fight. It is a heated discussion, and sometimes a cat's gotta say what a cat's gotta say. You don't want to let it go on TOO long, but at the same time, if you intervene too soon, those discussions will take much longer to resolve.

One of the most upsetting things about bringing a new cat in as a companion to a resident cat is that sometimes the resident cat is relegated to "second in command," just by force of New Cat's personality. And there is nothing that can be done about that. It does not, however, mean that Resident Cat will live a miserable life, only a different one.

 

[LeesyD]

Thank you so much everyone for the words of advice/encouragement! I've tried putting them in the same room again and daisy is still upset with him I think from their last "fight" while Jasper still wants to play (i think?). When they first got close to eachother like I described above, they'd just sniff. Now when they're close, Daisy immediately tries to fight him. I hope I didn't lose progress :/

To make matters worse, due to unexpected circumstances I have to move in 3 weeks... is this going to make the introduction process even harder now, or will it be better because they'll be exploring a new home together? Has anyone else been in a position like this?

 

[Hellenww]

All of you are under stress right now. Don't worry about face to face, they're young and have time for that later. Continue with sight and scent swapping. To get ready for the move wipe each of them down with some cloth (washclothes, t-shirt...) and put them in a zippy bag to spread their scent around the new home. Take their used litter boxes with them.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

You can cut up an old sheet into squares, wipe each cat down with the squares, and place BOTH cats' scent-soakers in every room. Cats are very smell-oriented, and it will smell like shared territory. Now, it may not make them instant buds, but it WILL let them know that they BOTH are at home in this new space.

 

[LeesyD]

Thank you both for the info! I never thought of the idea with the Baggies

So far, things are still a bit heated. Jasper isn't as excited to be around Daisy anymore like before, (I think he finally caught the hint that she's a grouch )when they get too close, he'll now hiss back at her, but they're able to eat next to eachother even without the screen door (jasper will sometimes run over to her bowl and eat from it while shes eating even when his bowl is full, so i have to stop him). trying to keep it slow and steady though, I need to work on the positive associations more but I've been really busy with life with this move that all I've been able to do is the feedings plus a little bit of play

 

[Mamanyt1953]

He's learning. And things are going VERY well!

 

[LeesyD]

I'm beginning to realize that the new cat is definitely the aggressor in this situation. If we're playing with both of them using wands, as soon as he sees her playing he'll run over and want to play with her toy instead. With food if they're eating next to eachother (the same exact food) he'll run over and want to eat hers instead.

Daisy obviously gets upset in these situations and will his and hit at him, but he will either just ignore or hiss and continue to do the things thats annoying her or or hit back with a light hiss, even if the there is the screen up.

I know they're new and things like this will happen, but is there anything I can do to curb some of this behavior he's showing?

 

[FeebysOwner]

I know they're new and things like this will happen, but is there anything I can do to curb some of this behavior he's showing?

Short of feeding them separately and making sure Daisy gets 'private' play time, the answer is pretty much 'No'.

If you are willing to be diligent in monitoring them, then you can repeatedly remove Jasper from Daisy's bowl and place him back at his own, but that requires consistency, repetitiveness, and patience on your part to break him of this.

As far as group play sessions, you almost need a second person to distract Jasper with a toy to encourage him to leave Daisy's alone. You could swap out the toys to see if Jasper just wants the toy Daisy has, but his behavior is more likely just wanting to be involved in group play, and he likely doesn't realize he is taking it over instead. Ideally, as he matures, his toy 'hoarding' play behavior will diminish.

 

[VAMama]

Did Jasper come from a shelter? In shelter life, cats must compete for attention and sometimes even resources. He's not hurting Daisy. He's trying to assert himself. Time you spend on her is time he thinks he needs for himself. Shelter cats don't always know a forever home vs foster house. He's acting like he needs to be included. I would give him playtime/attention first so he feels seen, then focus on Daisy when he's tired.

 

[LeesyD]

Short of feeding them separately and making sure Daisy gets 'private' play time, the answer is pretty much 'No'.

If you are willing to be diligent in monitoring them, then you can repeatedly remove Jasper from Daisy's bowl and place him back at his own, but that requires consistency, repetitiveness, and patience on your part to break him of this.

As far as group play sessions, you almost need a second person to distract Jasper with a toy to encourage him to leave Daisy's alone. You could swap out the toys to see if Jasper just wants the toy Daisy has, but his behavior is more likely just wanting to be involved in group play, and he likely doesn't realize he is taking it over instead. Ideally, as he matures, his toy 'hoarding' play behavior will diminish.

Thank you so much, I will keep this in mind! I like your pov that he just wants to be part of the group because to me he's not being aggressive in a rude way but just more of an excited to make friends way, but I honestly have no clue.

I'm learning that the hardest part about introducing cats is decoding their body language and what their reactions to things mean. When I had one cat, it was easier for me to put my human emotions on to her and pretend I knew what she was thinking.

With two cats it's a whole other ball game. They're over here speaking fluent cat to eachother and my human emotions can't make sense of any of it lol

 

[LeesyD]

Did Jasper come from a shelter? In shelter life, cats must compete for attention and sometimes even resources. He's not hurting Daisy. He's trying to assert himself. Time you spend on her is time he thinks he needs for himself. Shelter cats don't always know a forever home vs foster house. He's acting like he needs to be included. I would give him playtime/attention first so he feels seen, then focus on Daisy when he's tired.

I never thought of it that way! He did in fact come from a shelter and based off his papers I believe he was there for about 2 months. He was bonded with another cat, but it seems that cat was adopted without him

 

[LeesyD]

Hello everyone, nothings changed at all since my first post, I'm feeling very disheartened. We are in week six right now. The biggest problem is I live with my family, and I keep Jasper locked in a guest room most of the time, but he's a door dasher so whenever one of them opens the door he runs out. Due to this, multiple times he has dashed out of the room directly at Daisy, scaring the crap out of her. This has happened at least 10 times I'm guessing and I'm so worried this is just deteriorating any progress they have

When he runs at her, he doesn't attack her so I'm guessing it's more playful, but she immediately hisses and runs away

When I have them in the same room together, since this has been happening, Daisy stays far away from him, and if Jasper gets close to her she will run away. If we have Jasper distracted with treats, she will approach him and sniff his butt/tail, but as soon as his attention turns to her she freaks out and runs away. If he sees her from across the room he will run at her unless we distract him with food.

Do you think if I harness him during their interactions this will help anything?

 

[FeebysOwner]

It sounds like the process has just been a bit too rushed for Daisy's liking. And, it doesn't help that people in your house are opening the screen door and letting Jasper run out. That allows for unsupervised encounters between the two, and Daisy is not ready for that at all. All encounters should be controlled and planned.

Distraction techniques like getting Jasper to play with a toy rather than allowing him to chase Daisy is something to institute. Check out other suggestions that may be in the Introduction article I shared with you earlier. Harnessing him is not a distraction technique, and could likely frustrate him because the whole intent of doing that is to pull him back and that really teaches him nothing - other than possibly to dislike and even avoid the harness.

I don't know what JG's philosophy is about how long to stick with a specific step in the introduction process, but ours is to only move as quickly through the steps as the slowest adapting cat can handle. We also suggest site swapping to give Jasper time to explore the rest of the house without Daisy being there as a distraction.

And, don't forget - 6 weeks is nothing to some cats. There are ones that can take months to adapt, so find your patience.

 

[VAMama]

I agree with FeebysOwner. Six weeks is nothing to a cat. Jasper is in alpha mode to try to assert himself in a new place, Daisy doesn't understand why he's gotta be so extra, and they're talking past each other. A harness would probably make Jasper feel like he's being punished. Jasper needs time and attention to see that he's equal to Daisy. Daisy needs time to see that Jasper isn't actually hurting her. Time, affection, repetition, and experience are the answer.

 

[LeesyD]

It sounds like the process has just been a bit too rushed for Daisy's liking. And, it doesn't help that people in your house are opening the screen door and letting Jasper run out. That allows for unsupervised encounters between the two, and Daisy is not ready for that at all. All encounters should be controlled and planned.

Distraction techniques like getting Jasper to play with a toy rather than allowing him to chase Daisy is something to institute. Check out other suggestions that may be in the Introduction article I shared with you earlier. Harnessing him is not a distraction technique, and could likely frustrate him because the whole intent of doing that is to pull him back and that really teaches him nothing - other than possibly to dislike and even avoid the harness.

I don't know what JG's philosophy is about how long to stick with a specific step in the introduction process, but ours is to only move as quickly through the steps as the slowest adapting cat can handle. We also suggest site swapping to give Jasper time to explore the rest of the house without Daisy being there as a distraction.

And, don't forget - 6 weeks is nothing to some cats. There are ones that can take months to adapt, so find your patience.

Jackson galaxys method is nearly identical to the link you posted. They eat perfectly fine next to eachother through a screen door and have been good on this step for a few weeks. Daisy will approach the screen and sniff him with zero hissing and they will both lay around casually next to eachother with the screen door up.

It's just the playtime session I'm struggling with right now. Due to the door dashing incidents, Daisy is scared when Jasper approaches. Ive stopped using the wand toy to distract him during these sessions because he gets too riled up and tries to play with her which shes not ready for, so treats are what I'm sticking to for distractions. Another part I'm confused on with this is I could distract him for hours with treats, he's highly food motivated, but I dont want him to become overweight so when do I stop distracting him and let him be? During these times daisy will approach him and sniff him without issue, but as soon as Jasper notices her, she gets scared and books it. I don't know if this means all progress has been ruined and I should start back from square one, or if I should keep pushing through with the playtime sessions until Daisy gets used to him approaching her :/

 

[VAMama]

Just so you know, the timelines suggested by JG and others are highly optimistic under perfect conditions. It's best-case scenario. We see many people here who work for months.

I would experiment with different activities for Jasper. Maybe try to watch bird/squirrel videos with him and see if he likes it. Or see if he likes long massages with a brush. You want him to feel secure with your undivided attention.