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If anyone would like to watch these and tell me what they’re seeing in Clove’s body language especially, I’d really appreciate it. I feel stuck and I’m hoping for some insight on how to move forward with these cat introductions.
Sophie, the colorpoint girl, is 13 years old and it’s her house, so she’s taken some time to adjust herself. But to me she is quite relaxed and fairly open/ignoring at this point (and gets along great with my other cat). Clove, the calico, is my cat (5 years old) and is the newcomer to this house—it’s been a little over 2 months.
The cats can eat on each side of the gate with no issues, and can usually be distracted away from the gate. But Clove’s intense behavior makes me nervous to let them meet face-to-face - even though I suspect the gate itself is a major cause for her frustration and then misdirected energy/aggression.
As you can see in the videos, sometimes Clove slow blinks at Sophie and averts her gaze, which is supposed to be a good thing, right?? But then she stalks/pounces at the gate, and wildly sticks her paws through. To me her body still seems very tense, and I don’t know if it’s fear or aggression (or both). Or perhaps playfulness/energy that’s getting directed at being frustrated with the barrier. When I go back over to her side, she tends to follow me around and leave it alone—so she also might be jealous of my attention or want to be with me, idk.
Here are four videos as they each show something a bit different. The videos don’t have sound, sorry. Hopefully you get the idea.
In the last video I was very interested to see that Sophie rolled over—was she being friendly/playful to Clove? After the video Sophie proceeded to play with her toy unbothered by herself, haha. And as soon as I went on Clove’s side of the gate, she was purring and rubbing on me and playing by herself too. Who knows… haha.
Sophie, the colorpoint girl, is 13 years old and it’s her house, so she’s taken some time to adjust herself. But to me she is quite relaxed and fairly open/ignoring at this point (and gets along great with my other cat). Clove, the calico, is my cat (5 years old) and is the newcomer to this house—it’s been a little over 2 months.
The cats can eat on each side of the gate with no issues, and can usually be distracted away from the gate. But Clove’s intense behavior makes me nervous to let them meet face-to-face - even though I suspect the gate itself is a major cause for her frustration and then misdirected energy/aggression.
As you can see in the videos, sometimes Clove slow blinks at Sophie and averts her gaze, which is supposed to be a good thing, right?? But then she stalks/pounces at the gate, and wildly sticks her paws through. To me her body still seems very tense, and I don’t know if it’s fear or aggression (or both). Or perhaps playfulness/energy that’s getting directed at being frustrated with the barrier. When I go back over to her side, she tends to follow me around and leave it alone—so she also might be jealous of my attention or want to be with me, idk.
Here are four videos as they each show something a bit different. The videos don’t have sound, sorry. Hopefully you get the idea.
In the last video I was very interested to see that Sophie rolled over—was she being friendly/playful to Clove? After the video Sophie proceeded to play with her toy unbothered by herself, haha. And as soon as I went on Clove’s side of the gate, she was purring and rubbing on me and playing by herself too. Who knows… haha.