Reintroduction with cats - moving forward

[Alldara]

To be honest, I cant see the aggressor cat's body language at all from the video.

I think the most important thing, however, is that the two of you built some confidence in your ability to refocus the cat. You guys did great keeping some separation and having a treat and you should be proud.

 

[Alldara]

My first advice would be to stop calling tabby "aggressor". Redirected aggression happens due to fear. Feel free to intro them by name (to us I mean) or lets call them by colour.

Will Tabby watch some cat tv? Throw some birds up on a big tv and you and white cat can wander past a few times?

That Churu is obviously very high reward, so thats excellent.

How is tabby about playing wand when its not introduction time? Whats his fav wand attachment?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

All I can tell you from that video, being unable to see Tabby's body language at all, is that White is alert, which is to be expected, but totally unafraid or nervous about it all, which does say quite a bit.

 

[Jessica_Merlin_Meep]

Update for anyone still here:

We have been doing in-room feeding/treat/play sessions for about two weeks now. We got them up to nearly 5 minutes together! Today, after treats and sniffs, we were playing. Tabby cat (aggressor) went to white cat to sniff him (this was a goal this time - a little bit more free roam, not too much, but enough for some sniffs and redirections) and tabby immediately attacked. No warning. No changes in body language. Chased him around the room and pulled white cat's hair out. We threw blankets over them and in the process tabby lunged at me and put claws in my back. We separated them. Shortly after session, white cat is going about his business like nothing happened and tabby remains agitated, puffed up, and meowing loudly.

Absolutely, completely unprovoked. In fact, I was in the middle of giving a treat to tabby as he sniffed white cat to reward him for a good interaction. They have had almost nothing but good interactions since we re-started and really committed to this process in January. We don't know how to proceed.

 

[Alldara]

It might be time to consider having a behaviouralist come to your home if it's possible.
Its really hard because we can't see everything just from a forum post to help assess.

 

[Jessica_Merlin_Meep]

We have been working with a behaviorist for several years supposed to be the best in the area. I don’t think they come out to the home though.

sucks, I told my husband we should record this session and he said nah, we didn’t need to. Now I’m kicking myself for not doing it.

 

[Alldara]

Maybe theres one in the area who can? Even if they are the "best" they can still not be a good fit for what you need.