Seeking Cat Introduction Advice/Encouragement

actuallylaine

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Hi everyone,

We’ve been working on introducing our two cats for almost 3 months and they are still not able to be in a room together for longer than 15 minutes without getting into a tussle.

For some background: We adopted our first cat Fizzy in February of this year. She‘s about 3 years old and was abandoned by her previous owners before coming into the care of the rescue we worked with. We assumed she would be sociable with other cats since we met her at our local cat cafe (where she was living with about 20 other kitties). Fizzy is extremely food motivated and this has been a major factor in our introduction process. We grabbed our 2nd cat Mulberry off the streets near the end of June with the assumption that she had a home to return to. The cat distribution system works in mysterious ways and we have now taken her in as our own. We believe she is just under a year old but we have no information on her background since she had no microchip or other form of ID. She is extremely friendly and cuddly towards people but was initially very wary and fearful of our older cat.

Our introduction process so far:
We did a lot of research and have been going VERY slowly with this process. Since we have two floors in our apartment with a door in between we have been keeping them completely separate with plenty of space for each of them. We’ve also put pheromone diffusers in each of their spaces. We have done recommended introduction steps in this order: scent swapping, site swapping, contact through doors, visual contact through a baby gate, small sessions with one cat in a play tent, and very small play sessions loose in the same room with separate treats afterwards. Mealtimes near each other has not been an option due to the older cat’s food obsession.

We have moved on to a stage where they can be in the same room together for small amounts of time and even share a tube treat without any fuss. The problem now is that any time Mulberry moves out of sight, uses the scratching posts, or receives play time on her own Fizzy will get defensive and pounce. She will grab Mulberry by the neck, swat at her from above, or bite at her tail/butt area. This behavior has not been received well by Mulberry, who tends to fight back or retreat and end up getting chased. During these sessions we do our best to reward them with treats when they ignore each other but after a while it seems like all they can focus on is each other and cannot be redirected. We try to separate them whenever there’s any sign of an oncoming tussle but sometimes we can’t react fast enough and they end up in a wrestling sesh. Separating them when this happens has been pretty easy and they both calm down very quickly after these fights. We feel hopeful they can coexist since neither cat seems distressed or fearful until the moments when these fights occur.

We have made a lot of progress but we’re starting to feel a bit downtrodden and are unsure of where to go from here. The right answer may just be more patience, but I would love any encouragement or further tips that anyone has for us! Thanks so much.
 

FeebysOwner

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Hi and welcome to TCS. I take it that Mulberry is spayed (sorry, have to ask), as if she were not, that could be part of the issue, and spaying would be an attempt at clearing up any impact that is having. Otherwise, you have two choices - 1.) since there is no blood drawn or fur being pulled out in these encounters, you can continue to let them happen, and separate them as needed, or 2.) take a step back to the gate exposure and let that go on a while longer.

I don't know what is going on with these 'one cat in a play tent' sessions, but most cats do not appreciate being confined into a small space with another cat lurking freely about, as they tend to find it intimidating and it can decrease their trust level. This is probably even more so with Fizzy, as your resident cat is not yet appreciative of this 'newcomer'.

I am not sure I am clear on this food obsession and not being able to use mealtimes on each side of the gate. What has Fizzy done when you did try it that made you stop? Has there been gate exposure on one floor, or always with each having a floor of their own? I mean, how much gate exposure time have they had?
 
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actuallylaine

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Hi! Great questions.

Yes, both cats are spayed.

The issue with shared mealtimes is that Fizzy will do ANYTHING to get her paws on more food (including human food) and we did not want to risk her either eating all of Mulberry’s food and/or getting nasty if Mulberry tried to get hers. We tried it once early on and she spent the entire session scratching and yelling at the door trying to get to the other side. She is fine with each of them getting equal amounts of treats in the same room but has swatted at Mulberry for getting too close for comfort a few times.

We did about two weeks of baby gate sessions always on the first floor and with my partner and I on each side of the gate. Fizzy was clearly very curious and attempted to get to the other side a few times. This did not seem aggressive to us at the time based on her body language. We slowly worked up the length of time until we decided there was enough curiosity and chill body language from Mulberry to move forward.

The goal with the tent sessions was to let Mulberry explore on her own terms without Fizzy getting all up in her space. We realized this wasn’t an ideal option for the reasons you mentioned, so we moved on to very short sessions in the same room. And now we’re here!
 

FeebysOwner

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The issue with shared mealtimes is that Fizzy will do ANYTHING to get her paws on more food (including human food) and we did not want to risk her either eating all of Mulberry’s food and/or getting nasty if Mulberry tried to get hers. We tried it once early on and she spent the entire session scratching and yelling at the door trying to get to the other side. She is fine with each of them getting equal amounts of treats in the same room but has swatted at Mulberry for getting too close for comfort a few times.
Funny - but not, I know. So, Fizzy eats her food before Mulberry does and then wants to get at Mulberry's, or Fizzy is more interested in getting to Mulberry's food and lets her just sit? If the former, maybe start distraction techniques with Fizzy since she has eaten all of hers? If she is letting hers sit, then perhaps start 'reminding' her she has her own food to eat, by gently redirecting her to her own dish. How close or far away are they to the gate? If not far, maybe move the food farther away for one or both of them. with the intent to gradually move them closer. You kind of have to try to get her over the food possessiveness, or it will be hard to have them ever eat by one another.
The goal with the tent sessions was to let Mulberry explore on her own terms without Fizzy getting all up in her space.
This is another thing I am unclear on. With site swapping, this stage is to allow them to explore each other's space without visual sight of the other.

And, whose floor is whose? You mentioned the first floor has been used for the gate exchange. Maybe gate exchanges need to happen on both floors?
 
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actuallylaine

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Fizzy eats extremely quickly and tries to go for seconds. We have opted out of any further mealtime experiments (as suggested by a few articles we read) so I don’t have any more input on our experiences with that. We decided to use play and treats as our main sources of positive reinforcement. Our plan is to always feed them separately now and in the future.

The tent was being used as a buffer during sessions in the same room to keep Fizzy from coming on too strong. Regardless, we aren’t using it anymore so it’s not super relevant. We have continued to do site swaps without visual contact as well as the sessions where they are in the same room. Any gate exchanges were done on Fizzy’s floor since there wasn’t a great area to set it up on the second floor (which is currently Mulberry’s space).
 

Mamanyt1953

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For Fizzy, you might try one of the special bows/mats that slow down eating. There are a BUNCH of them out there. These two are just quick-finds on Amazon, and I searched "puzzle feeder cat."

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The second one is for wet foods. Hopefully, that would slow Fizzy down enough for Mulberry to finish eating! And you can start with the feeders on opposite sides of the gates. Neither feeder is very expensive, so may be worth a try!
 
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