Tell Me About Your Cat To Cat Introductions!

[Erin80]

We are on day 3 of Tea being home. Until now he has been in a room of his own and Binx has paid little to no attention, pretty much ignored the fact that there is a new guy behind the closed door. Kaia goes outside all day so I don’t even think she realizes. Today I gated off the hallway and opened the door to Tea’s room so he and Binx could see each other through the gate. I think I’ve always been blessed with easy introductions, and I feel this may be my first challenging one. Binx was in 100% fight mode. Growling and hissing, ready to swat if the gate wasn’t there. If I engaged him in play through the gate, he’d play...but any time Tea looked at him or even towards him, he’d growl and hiss. Tea seemed indifferent towards Binx, if not a little put off and sad! He kept doing a little meow and then walking away and laying down in the hall.

I intend to keep the gate up until there is no more hissing or growling, and I’m really hoping we get to that point. Tea is such a sweetie and I’d hate for it to not work out. I really thought Binx would love a playmate since Kaia is never around and when she is, wants nothing to do with him!

 

[SirenSong]

Well ... I'm on month 10 and reintroduction 2 ... trying to integrate two fixed, female bengal cats (similar ages). So, my completely unqualified advice is to give them more time ... 3 days is nothing. Keep them separated with the gate until the hissing/aggression dies down. With some cats, introductions take a few days ... others you can be months down the road without having them integrated.

I believe my "resident" female became hyper territorial after coming from an overcrowded "cattery". I have had to run the whole gambit with her ... anti-anxiety meds, sedatives, calming supplements, feliway diffusers and sprays, behavioural assessments, vet visits to rule out health issues (turns out she had urinary crystals and needed a teeth cleaning ... so those issues are fixed now) ... you name it, I've tried it. All that, just to get her to tolerate the new cats presence.

Now, 10 months later, I just moved so I'm doing a full, proper reintroduction complete with scent sharing, territory swapping etc all like they're brand new to each other. After a week and a half, *knocks on wood*, it's going okay.

Hang in there!

 

[Erin80]

So a few hours later, Binx will still hiss if Tea comes too close...but now Binx is trying to engage him in play through the gate too. It’s like he’s conflicted, lol. Wants to hate but wants to love.

 

[Erin80]

One hour after the gates came up. I’d say it’s going well!