Hi - I appreciate questions about introducing resident cats and kittens are asked a LOT in these forums, so I hope another can be forgiven. I have read whatever I could find on the forum and just had a clarifying questions around behaviour in my resident cat around the new kitten we have brought home.
Resident cat (Ghillie Dhu) is 18 months, male, and neutered. He's a sweet cat who is hugely playful and loves nothing better than chasing his toys/us around. New kitten (Arwen) is 3 months old, brought home one week ago, obviously not spayed yet.
We decided to follow the Jackson Galaxy method for introductions. She was very fearful when she first arrived, but around 3 days in was totally settled in her base camp, having lots of cuddles in bed, and eager to leave the bedroom. We have let her explore the whole house while resident cat is shut away, and similarly he has spent time in her base camp while she's not there. Initially he hated it and would not go near the room. Eventually he was able to freely enter her room without any hissing and seemed very curious.
We were not able to get him to eat his main meal in front of the door - he is very very sensitive to changes in his dietary routine, and would not think about going near his bowl when it was not in it's usual spot, even if it was moved only a few feet away and out of sight of the bedroom. Instead, we were able to get him to eat his favourite treats outside her door, after a few days of trying. After about 6 days, he was eating his treats without complaint outside her door, and would meow to come in. She similarly would meow and scratch at the door as soon as she heard him outside.
We decided to let them see each other. They have since had several short supervised play sessions, in which the same thing always happens. They are cautious, begin gently following each other, then begin chasing. Then resident cat seems to get more and more enthusiastic. He chases her relentlessly because she is constantly running, and that seems to trigger his response to catch her. He seems to get less gentle. She hisses a bit, but there's still no growling or blood drawn. I worry because she is so much smaller than him that he could really hurt her without meaning too. But I also worry by breaking them up every time this happens, I am not allowing them to 'work it out' between them. Similarly I am not sure what it should look like when they are getting along well, when I should stop intervening. Any advice would be very appreciatively received.
Resident cat (Ghillie Dhu) is 18 months, male, and neutered. He's a sweet cat who is hugely playful and loves nothing better than chasing his toys/us around. New kitten (Arwen) is 3 months old, brought home one week ago, obviously not spayed yet.
We decided to follow the Jackson Galaxy method for introductions. She was very fearful when she first arrived, but around 3 days in was totally settled in her base camp, having lots of cuddles in bed, and eager to leave the bedroom. We have let her explore the whole house while resident cat is shut away, and similarly he has spent time in her base camp while she's not there. Initially he hated it and would not go near the room. Eventually he was able to freely enter her room without any hissing and seemed very curious.
We were not able to get him to eat his main meal in front of the door - he is very very sensitive to changes in his dietary routine, and would not think about going near his bowl when it was not in it's usual spot, even if it was moved only a few feet away and out of sight of the bedroom. Instead, we were able to get him to eat his favourite treats outside her door, after a few days of trying. After about 6 days, he was eating his treats without complaint outside her door, and would meow to come in. She similarly would meow and scratch at the door as soon as she heard him outside.
We decided to let them see each other. They have since had several short supervised play sessions, in which the same thing always happens. They are cautious, begin gently following each other, then begin chasing. Then resident cat seems to get more and more enthusiastic. He chases her relentlessly because she is constantly running, and that seems to trigger his response to catch her. He seems to get less gentle. She hisses a bit, but there's still no growling or blood drawn. I worry because she is so much smaller than him that he could really hurt her without meaning too. But I also worry by breaking them up every time this happens, I am not allowing them to 'work it out' between them. Similarly I am not sure what it should look like when they are getting along well, when I should stop intervening. Any advice would be very appreciatively received.
