Introducing two cats - advice needed please

[lindac]

So nice to hear that Jasmine has been as good as gold today, Talli is obviously getting her confidence and they are working things out between them,    for you that all goes well for the future

[Guest]

I have similar with my cat Ella 3 and Archie 12 weeks. They go through this and it is from what I can see the older cat showing who is boss, especially to the younger cat that will still have a lot of playful traits.

They will assert where they both need to be, but it is a bit of a nightmare for us humans!

[Tempest]

Thanks  Would you believe that since I posted this morning Jasmine has been the model of good behaviour in true cat fashion 

She's been very tolerant of Talli today on their meetings and completely left her alone and went to sleep in the conservatory and Talli actually ran up to her to 'chase'  Jas just jumped back and then went back to sleep on her mat in the conservatory 

This evening has pretty much been the same - Jas has shown very little interest in Talli and it's Talli who keeps approaching her! Jasmine has just gone upstairs to sleep on my bed and Talli has followed her up to investigate!! I've popped her back downstairs and shut just in my room so she can have some peace and quiet as she was obviously trying to get away from Talli I think.

I can't quite believe the difference in her behaviour today compared to just yesterday!! It does give me hope though

[lindac]

Glad my reply gave  you some hope think it helps when you know other people have had problems too. I can understand you being upset for Talli, you want her to be happy and it must be awful to see her scared Hopefully the rescue can give you some advice as to how you can make life easier for both of them. You obviously care very much for their happiness, cats are complex creatures and sometimes its difficult to know why they are responding in a certain way, Ive often thought that Suki could do with a good psychiatrist because of her odd behaviour at times.

It does sound like Jasmine is being territorial with the chasing and hissing. If she shows this behavoir when just playing it could be jealousy, I tend not to play with my cats as a group because Ive found that it brings out that trait in them.

Im wondering if it might be worth trying a water spray bottle and when Jasmine begins to chase then you can give a quick squirt to stop her in her tracks. I think you might just need to do it a couple of times before she gets the message but you must try not to let her see that its you that is doing the squirting because you dont want to alienate her from you and make sure that Talli doesnt see it and think you are spraying her. I have used it with Flash to deter him from going on the kitchen work surfaces, after a couple of squirts he soon got the message. Its just a thought but it might just work. 



 

[Tempest]

Thanks for your reply - it's really reassuring to know that you've been through something similar and it worked out and the cats were able to tolerate each other 

I always said when we fostered that Talli would have to be happy here living with Jasmine and we knew Jasmine is quite a dominant girlie so I was worried that any newcomer may get bullied. I think last night it upset me that Talli looked so worried so it made me think that perhaps we weren't being fair to her but I can appreciate what you're saying about it being early days and perhaps we need to give things more of a chance. I think I just panicked last night/this morning when Jas really did go into manic chasing mode and it upset me to see Talli looking scared 

I'll have a chat to the rescue to let them know what's going on and they might have some ideas that we can try but I think you're right and we need to give things more time? I really do love Talli to pieces already and I want her to be really happy and I'm just hoping that can be here 

Edited to add: Yes when Jas chases we do shout 'no' and that can stop her and I also strategically place myself on the floor between them when we're doing intros to try and stop her chasing - or stick an arm or leg out to stop the chase and that has worked too. The tricky thing is when Talli gets 'cornered' behind the sofa or TV as they're harder to get to then.

[lindac]

I think its early days yet. From my experience it takes a lot of time and perseverence. Our first cat Winnie was a rescue cat. A few years ago we had to take my sons two cats Lulu and Suki [sisters]. I loved these two as much as Winnie so I felt I had no option even though I knew Winnie would not like it.
It did take a long time for them to get used to one another but eventually they did. For a long time Suki used to stalk Winnie, made her life hell, following her everywhere and ambushing her, poor Winnie had a rough time for quite a while especially as she had to get used to two new cats, thankfully Lulu was ok with her. Now, years later, sadly Lulu has passed away, we have acquired a status quo between Suki and Winnie. A few months ago we aquired Flash, a friendly neighbourhood cat who we had known of from a kitten. We grew to love him. When he showed up a few months ago he was suffering badly from a flea allergy, fur missing etc, it was obvious that he was being neglected. I was very reluctant to take in another cat because of the problems we had had with our other 3. To cut a long story short Flash has now settled down nicely and Winnie and Suki both tolerate him.

I think if you persevere you will get there, there were times when I thought it was going to be impossible but with patience Im sure it will work out. I think when Jasmine realises that Talli is a permanent fixture then she will eventually get her head around it and accept her. Jasmine is probably just telling her who is boss when she bops her on the head. She is probably a bit jealous too so you will have to make sure she gets the same amount of attention as Talli. They are both very young so will have lots of energy, I think its normal if one cat runs then the other will chase. I think when Talli realises that Jasmine is not going to harm her then she will start to stand up for herself and be less scared. It sounds like she is just needing to build up her confidence with Jasmine. When Jasmine chases do you reprimand her, I have found with ours that it helps because the inferior cat, Talli in this case will build confidence knowing that you are there to protect her and it will also give Jasmine a clear signal that her behaviour is not going to be tolerated by you. They are a bit like children really and need you to give them bounderies. At the end of the day you are the boss and you say what goes.

I think you are maybe giving up too soon, I think most cats given the choice would prefer to be the only cat in the household, I know thats true of mine. They will never love each other but they tolerate each other. I think your Jasmine and Talli will eventually but it may take some time. Like Gill said slowly slowly!

It would be sad if Talli had to go and be deprived of a loving home.

Good Luck and I really hope that you are able to keep Talli.

[Tempest]

Well things are not going at all well really  There's no let up in Jasmine's stalking/staring/chasing behaviour. Every time Talli tries to walk around the room she's chased into a corner (behind the TV/under the coffee table) and bopped on the head and not allowed to move  She didn't seem too worried about it initially but now I think she seems quite scared of Jasmine

She doesn't stand up for herself at all and I just think Jasmine's a really dominant character (perhaps dare I say it a bit of a bully?) and I'm not sure that's going to make for a receipe that will allow Talli to ever be relaxed and happy 

Am thinking of calling the rescue today to let them know that Talli can only be a fosterling after all  I would love her to stay but I don't want her to be somewhere where's she's going to be bullied and can't relax and I'm not sure that place will ever be here unfortunately 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Sounds good 

[Tempest]

Thanks all - it's reassuring to hear that hopefully we're doing things along the right lines  I did another 'intro' with them this afternoon and they ate next to each other without a problem and then I played with a fishing rod toy with Talli and Jas actually fell asleep on the carpet which I thought was progress!!!

Once Talli tried to walk across the lounge though Jas did chase her but they both stopped in the conservatory and then Talli actually approached Jas so I don't think she's scared of the chasing which is hopefully good?

I carried on playing with them both with the same fishing rod toy so they were lying next to each other about 30cms apart with the toy flicking between them which so they both seemed fairly relaxed which was good. I think Jas just needs to get used to Talli moving about the house without wanting to 'chase' her. Will keep you all posted with updates 

Edited to add: There's no hissing anymore from Jasmine which I'm hoping is a move in the right direction!

[Tiggy's Mum]

I've never had to introduce cats but from what I've read on here you seem to be doing everything right 

There's a guide here which might be useful - http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,4789.0.html

[Dawn F]

I'd say the same really, time is the best thing! 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

It sounds like its going OK but you have to remember that Jessie probably still sees Talli as an intruder and its very early days yet.

The key to this is time and slowly, very slowly,

It can take months and months for some cats to tollerate each other so just keep on what you are doing and be patient.

[Tempest]

We're fostering a little 10 month old girlie and are hoping to keep her if our existing cat (Jasmine who is 18 months) can get along with her.

Talli (our foster) has been here for 2.5 weeks now and after a week in the 'bonding room' and exchanging smells etc they met for the first time after Talli had been here a week. I've been feeding them together a couple of times a day which is fine and Jasmine is outside for most of the day in this lovely weather with Talli having the run of the house and we've mainly been doing the intros in the evenings when we're both here. 

We've been limiting contact time to short sessions in the evenings when we feed them together and have a play with each of them with fishing rod toys at the other end of the room. It's been going 'okay-ish' but Jasmine stares at Talli like a hawk looking like she's ready to pounce and a few times she's made to we've managed to body block and divert her and there's still the odd bit of hissing from Jasmine 

A couple of nights back they seemed to be doing better so we let them have more of a free reign and Jas decided that she wanted to 'chase' Talli off which resulted in her chasing her behind the sofa and round a couple of times (we couldn't catch them at this point) and cornering her behind the TV at which point we managed to pick Jas up and pop her out of the room. Then Jas had been okay for the last couple of days and tonight all she's really wanted to do is chase Talli about so we've had to seperate them again.

Is this kind of 'chasing' behaviour normal? It's definately not play as Jas did have a hiss when Talli ran behind the sofa. Jas seems fairly relaxed as long as Talli is still but if she tries to walk around the room that's when Jas wants to chase her off. Just not really sure of the best way to handle things really? I've got a Feliway and had that plugged in for a few days too  Also Talli doesn't react at all when Jas hisses at her - she just looks a bit worried and moves away. Talli doesn't seem bothered by Jasmine's presence in the slightest but Jas definately needs to keep a constant eye on her when she's in the same room and doesn't seem that relaxed at all - however she will eat near her and groom herself etc while I'm playing with Talli so am hoping that's a good sign?

We'd just really love for things to work out and for Talli to stay so we want to make sure we're doing everything right so that they have the best chance.