Introducing two cats - help!

Hi all I'm new to the forum so please bare with me if this sort of thing is always asked!

My partner and I already have a lovely tortoiseshell cat who we've had for 3 and a half years now. Last year whilst on holiday in Turkey we rescued a stray young cat and had him sent to England in the hope that he would settle in with our existing resident. The newcomer is approximately 1 and a half years old and is very loving as well although got bullied on the streets quite a bit.

We have so far had 7 weeks of slowly introducing them letting them smell each other on towels, peep through the door, look through a baby gate (there was some hissing) and letting the newcomer put his smell all over the house. The resident cat accepts the smell of the newcomer and he's even used her litter box when roaming the house and she wasn't in the least bit fussed; no hissing no change in behaviour.

The last 2 days we have let them meet face to face the existing cat has come downstairs to find the newcomer the problem is now there is quite a bit of hissing from her she has even snorted at him a few times but neither has tried to swipe or attack. The newcomer hissed back a few times in retaliation but has now taken to chasing her in the brief periods we've put them together face to face. This ends in her running into our room and hiding from him. I'm obviously really worried that she feels bullied by him and the problem is I'm pregnant and due to have the baby in 6 weeks! We were hoping to get the male cat months ago but getting him out of turkey proved hard and there were several delays. I'm just panicking that it's taken 7 weeks to this point but now the chasing seems to worry me that they'll never get along.

What should I do? I don't want to have to rehome the newcomer as we love them both to bits but I don't want the resident cat getting distressed every time he chases her.


:doh3:

Wow--that was amazing of you to go to the trouble to get this cat to your home from another country.  

Of course, they might not learn to get along, there are no guarantees, but honestly, seven weeks isn't that long.  Sometimes it can take months for cats to get to know each other and get along.  The fact that there's been no contact fighting is a hopeful sign.  

Have you tried calming agents--collars, or treats, or diffusers?  

Hi

Yeah we've tried the fella way diffuser we had that for the first month but we've just been using the spray since. I think the resident cat was always going to be a bit dubious but it's heartbreaking seeing her be so scared. We've tried to take it really slow but I'm unsure whether we should go back a step and use the gate again? As the chasing was worse than yesterday.

I'm hoping it will all just sort out but ive hit a point where it's hard to stay positive about it now I've seen her behaviour change and seen her cower away from him

Welcome to the forums!!  To ease your mind, cat to cat introductions can take weeks, months and even a year for total peace.  It is a process that cannot be rushed.  I think you need to back up a bit.  Hissing is ok, but when it turns to chasing and one being frightened, you need to step back.  The chasing, hissing may quickly turn to full blown attacks.  The biggest mistake in introductions is rushing the process.  I know first hand as I too rushed the process.  Last year I brought a stray/feral into my home.  He had been living outside on his own for about 2 years.  I had neutered him and returned him to outdoor life.  He did not do well with my other ferals so I  brought him inside.  I had a resident cat of 5 years and a dog.  The new cat had his own room and stayed in it for about 2 months.  He needed to first adjust to indoor life.  When I started introductions, it seemed to go well.  We also ran into problems when it came time for face to face intros.  At first all seemed fine.  Then the occasional hiss started, then the chasing and then all out attacks.  I needed to slow down the intros.  I separated the cats and gave them a few days to recoop before starting again.  Here are a few things that were successful:

1.  Feliway diffusers.  I made sure to have them in many of the cat areas.  One is just not enough.  I found the spray to work well too. 

2.  Composure liquid Max calming supplement.  I gave to both cats to help reduce the stress.  I gave it 2x a day mixed into wet food. 

3.  I bought a cheap wooden screen door from Lowes ($20) and attached to to the existing door frame with tension rods.  This way I didn't deface the door.  I placed a baby gate in the door jam for extra protection.  This allowed the cats to see each other, but also be safe.  All visits were supervised.  It also was a great way to feed the cats with one on each side of the door.

4.  Play time through the baby gate.  DH on one side, me on the other.  A simple shoe string was lots of fun.  I then used plain cooked chicken as food rewards.  The cats began to associate each other with fun play time and yummy food. 

5.  I also used a large dog cat.  One cat inside and the cage covered on 3 sides with a large sheet.  The cats could safely sniff each other.  I also used chicken rewards then too. 

6.  Time and patience.  It took my two exactly one year for all chasing to completely stop and for their to be harmonious peace.  It was hard, but so worth it.  They now enjoy each others company and play together.  You just need to give it more time.

Here is a picture of my screen door set up.

I think you are doing extremely well, it took mine almost a year to come to the point you are at, and as long as there is no actual fighting and biting I think you are right on track. Your female needs a place to get away, for mine I placed her a bed on top of the fridge, she could defend that pretty well. I did (and still do) stop the chase, a very firm word now does it, at first I would give the 'bully' a short time out, 5 minutes or so. It's so ironic now that in the last 6 months or so, now my elder cat is being more aggressive towards the younger,and throws him down. I guess he finally had enough! By the way is the male neutered? That would make a big difference if he isn't. I've had very good luck with the 'calming' treats on Amazon, it might not be a bad idea to calm your boy down a little. Good luck and I hope your little girl gets a little more sure of herself or the boy calms down!

Thankyou that's a relief to hear! Yeah they're both neutered I think he's trying to run up and play with her but she's just a bit wary of him being near her. She's retreating to her bed but I might put a box in the room for her to hide in if you think that would help? I've been putting him on time out when he does it and keeping him in the sanctuary room overnight etc it's literally been 20 minutes yesterday face to face and 5 minutes today (as the resident was so freaked out!) do you think I should keep letting them have contact for short periods? I don't feel I could let them have face to face for hours yet as there's just a bit too much drama and I think my female would be far too scared. I'm hoping the more we keep doing it the more they get used to each other but I'm pleased there's been no physical contact! That's what I was so worried about.

Thanks for your help

Thanks shadows rescue, I honestly didn't feel like we were rushing at all as the hissing with the gates was minimal but I'll just try and keep it as slow as possible again. I just hate having him separated every night especially when he cries for company and attention. I'll definitely persevere I just think it's a hard thing to do and sometimes you can feel you're going backwards not forwards!

I used to do face to face interaction either with the cage, screen door or very supervised out and about, numerous times each day.  I would keep the interactions very short; sometimes just 5 minutes.  I wanted each interaction to be positive and end on a positive note.  Rewards were very important.  Make the reward something special too.  I gradually increased their interactions based on how they responded to each other.  I also rotated who got put away.  The cat I brought inside the house, had his own room and was shut in each night.  During the day I wanted him to have as much time out and about as possible.  This often meant putting our resident cat away and allowing the new cat to be out.  I also was able to section off our home so each cat had their own space.  Territory is very very important for cats.  The new cat needs to carve out a place of his own and the resident cat will not want that!!  Do you have a cat tree or two?  My resident cat is a tree dweller.  He loves to be up high and is very happy looking out the window from his cat tree.  The new cat is a bush dweller.  He hardly ever jumps!!  He loves being low to the ground.  This helps tremendously as my resident cat can jump high to get away.  It's all about creating creative safe places for the cats.