How do I react to hissing/swiping during introductions?

My cat Jack is nearly 18 years old with CKD, hyperT, heart issues, and high blood pressure. I mention his health here because while he is stable overall, I am constantly worried about his health and triggering issues due to stress.

We've tried introducing Jack to two of our foster cats, Oliver and DC. DC is a big cat and about 8-10 years old, while Oliver is about 10-14 years old and has been with us now for about a year. During that time, we have tried introducing Oliver to Jack three times, and DC once, but keep getting stuck at the same exact step.

We always take our time with introductions (each attempt has taken 2-3 months) and we follow procedure with site and scent swapping, pet gates, etc.. Jack goes to visit Ollie and DC at their (closed) doors countless times each day, seemingly wanting to see them. Until this roadblock we keep hitting, none of the cats have any negative reactions whatsoever throughout the process.

Once we're at the gate stage, Jack will trill at Ollie/DC and sit as close to the gate as he can. When Ollie/DC come within 1-2 feet of Jack he will slowly start poking his paw through the gate at them. But if they get within one foot, Jack will swipe with more speed and force and also hiss.

Currently, we're in the middle of our first attempt introducing Jack to DC and reached our typical roadblock tonight. The good news is that, like Ollie, DC didn't really react much. Then again, I don't really allow for much time for them to react when this happens, and this is where I need help.

I try my absolute hardest to not react negatively. I slowly and calmly create space between the cats and give the "victim cat" a treat. I then offer Jack a treat and slowly close the door while praising them to end the session.

I really don't know what would happen if I didn't move Ollie/DC and allowed them more time to actually react to Jack's swiping. I do give them about 2 seconds before I create space, but it really seems to only give them time to cower a bit in confusion. While it's good to at least know their automatic instinct is not to attack Jack I still ultimately do not know what any of them would do if I left it alone.

I know at a certain point cats really do need to "work it out". My primary concern is Jack's disadvantage, and this is where I'm unsure if I'm overreacting.

Due to Jack's age and poor health, I am incredibly concerned about things going too far. He may think he's still the tough young street cat he once was, but he most certainly is not! These cats are 5-10 years younger than him, healthier, and one of them is much bigger, stronger, faster and more agile. While Ollie and DC don't seem to have an issue with Jack, I worry that Jack will end up provoking them.

Am I being too much of a helicopter mom here? How do I/we get past this?

Please explain like I'm five - how do I react when Jack swipes and hisses when Ollie or DC come up to the gate? Do I even allow them to get that close if Jack is still pawing at 2 feet? How long do I let this swiping/hissing thing go on and what if Jack doesn't stop? What if they start becoming more fearful/nervous of Jack?


Anyway, I would appreciate any advice here, as I am pretty desperate to integrate some of these guys into the house. Thank you!

I think you just need to take more time.  It took me 7 months to intro my two boys, and what you are describing went on for months...and months..and months.

I was introducing a 2 year old to a 12 year old very territorial male.  Both neutered, of course, but my 12 year old was extremely territorial.

We wanted to give up so many times, but just hung with it.

Our steps were like this, and sorry to be long winded.

Brought new cat in, freshly neutered, straight to a "Safe" room spare bedroom fixed up just for him, closed door.  That didn't work for any length of time, because he was trying to claw the door down. 

So we went straight to the stacked baby gates stage.  It took 3 stacked on top of each other to completely occlude the doorway, because my old guy suddenly decided he was superkitty and scaled 2 in seconds. 

We site swapped daily, multiple times, throughout the day.  Put one up, let one out for full house roaming.  Put that one up, let the other out for full house roaming.

They would "visit" at the gate quite often.  Usually lots of paw slapping, yowling, sometimes a hiss (neither of mine are really hissers)

Every month or so we would attempt them in the same room together, hubby holding one, me holding another.  Just to let them see that we were okay with the other cat...both of them...trying to let them know we are all one family in this household.  My old guy was quite the actor--he would be purring, then if you loosened your hold on him he would bolt after the younger with the intent to kill.  And he meant business.  Purring one minute acting all friendly, homicidal the next.

We were resolved to just living with cats separated forever if need be, because we were not about to let the younger one go.  He was a feral that I spent a long time trying to gain trust from, and he was (and still is) such a huge scaredy-cat that we would never let him go, we love him so much.

We got to where they would eat in the same room with each other.  Then after eating, my old guy would chase/attack the younger one.  And, Mr. 18 pound scaredy-cat would run, further provoking the chase by the old dude.  He even chased him into our fireplace behind the logs where he peed all over everything once out of fear.

Lo and behold--one day the younger guy apparently got tired of it all and smacked the crap out of the older guy.  We watched in awe as the big old meanie just huffed and turned and walked off.  From that day forward, they have shared the house. 

I really think I delayed their relationship being so overprotective, running to grab one and put them up whenever a stare down began, a yowl happened, or anything.  When I stepped back and let them work it out, it all became clear.

I'm not saying it's all peaches and cream now.  They have their slapping sessions, mainly because old guy doesn't like the younger one following him around nonstop or trying to lick him all the time (he is the younger one's hero now apparently) and gets aggravated and wants to be left alone.  Or the younger one pushes the older one out of the food bowl.  But they sleep together, and are rarely seen not together in the same room.  I began to live by the rule of thumb that the only time I would intervene was if they literally jumped on top of each other and were truly fighting.  Yowls, hisses, etc I let go.  If I saw there was about to be a beat down, I would indeed grab one up, but I just know my old guy well enough that I could tell from his posture and the look on his face when he was about to just jump on the other and go for it.  If you know their personalities, follow your gut instinct!

I know I'm not that helpful, but maybe my experience you can relate to your own a little.

And--wanted to add---I was concerned about my 12 year old.  He is a mean old kitty, and tough, but I was worried about whether or not the younger (who is much larger, heavier, and young and fast) might actually hurt him.  But the younger one was very submissive, and almost never ever even pawed back at him.  He would just run.  But I do understand the concern of the fragile older folks!!

@hbunny, thank you so much for such a thorough reply, that was exactly what I was looking for! I'm sorry for getting back to you so late, you know how the holiday season can be

Please forgive all of the questions:

1. Do you know if the age difference should require any adjustments in the normal process? I know you said you had worries about your guy, but Jack is almost 18, and certainly a bit frail I'm just not sure whether my concern is warranted or not or if I should let them work it out as you eventually did (in due time, of course).

2. We've considered doing the stacked gate thing - having taken so long with your introductions how much of a pain were the gates as far as getting in and out of the room day in and day out? (We've also considered doing a screen door but haven't been able to find one within our price range yet.)

3. So when the hissing and/or swiping happened, what was your immediate response to that or what would you do differently now that you've been through it?

4. The next time you brought them together would you take a step back in the process and build up again? For instance, if Jack does the hissing/swiping when the other cat comes to the gate, how should I proceed the next time I bring them together? Go back a step back and make sure the other cat stays at least a foot away from the gate or allow the other cat to keep coming up to the gate and just let it play out until Jack's behavior eventually stops?

5. I was wondering what sort of pet gates you were using, as well. We currently have these -


The cats have very easy access to one another as far as swiping and such goes, and it is part of what makes me nervous (even though both cats have the ability to run away, I worry about the possibility that they both try to fight each other through the gate, haha). Should we look for something without such wide openings? I ask because I think (if we could tough out all of the cat yelling that would certainly commence ), it would probably be best if they had more opportunity to safely interact each other throughout the day by using gates or a screen door rather than with having the door shut like we do now.

I've only been around cats for about 2 and a half years and other than the ferals I care for I don't have experience with multiple cats being together or introductions or cat fights, so I really have no idea what to expect and what's normal. And again, the main concern boils down to Jack's age and old man body and his vulnerability stemming from that.

I really, truly appreciate your input here!

I think you are very realistic being concerned with an older, frail baby. And, I think age does make a difference in the process. I have read of an old, resident cat being unseated as king of the household by newcomers, and I had a great fear of that, luckily it was unfounded. I was lucky that my younger boy is a very submissive cat. However--I do know my old guy was much more accepting of others when he was younger. So it's a toss up as to which way it can go.

Either way, whatever personalities are involved, I believe you can reach the point of them cohabitating with patience. I would go very, very slow. Let them swat through the gate--mine did all the time. They eventually got to where they would sleep next to each other through the gate!
We used the wooden kind with the criss-cross lattice type of "fence" built into it. 3 of them, on top of each other. It was a pain, no lie!! But we used a spare bedroom that we didn't require frequent access to.

Oh--we decided against a screen door, mainly because we were afraid of the screen being ripped. My younger guy is 18 pounds, and old dude is 13 pounds! We were also afraid of the gate you put a picture of, mainly worried over one of them possibly getting their head stuck between the bars. I have one of those, but we found the other 3 more effective. Only a paw fits through those little diamond holes.

Again, thank you.

Your comment gives me hope because the younger/bigger boy (DC), is a very submissive cat, even toward people. He's is a former feral who we tamed over the summer, but when he joined our tiny colony, he was very submissive to our three ferals. It was surprising because in the year we'd been taking care of them, they had been extremely territorial and aggressively ran off other cats even if they were 50 feet away from the property (we had to save two cats from a tree because of them). We couldn't believe they were allowing DC to stick around, and within a month or so they allowed him to actually eat and sleep with them. He also befriended a neighboring stray, so I know he has the capacity to get on with other cats. And all of this was well before we were even able to neuter him.

DC came out of his room and into the house for the first time today (various health issues have greatly delayed this). He did so incredibly well, better than any of our others and made us even more determined to integrate him. So we're going to make a very concentrated effort with him and Jack now.

Based on what you've said, we were thinking of perhaps leaving our tall gate but also placing one of those smaller lattice wooden ones at least at the bottom to prevent any overly aggressive swiping or possible heads getting stuck (which we hadn't even thought of!).

I know Jack cannot get over the gate whatsoever, but I'm not sure about DC. I've only been around older cats and am unsure how high cats can usually jump, I only know that DC can jump higher than any cat we've had. I think the gate is 41 inches tall, which I know is a height he can technically jump to but will a cat jump something without a "platform" to land on? I hope I'm making sense, there is still a lot I  don't know about cats/younger cats and I obviously want to ensure everyone is safe. I go into his room at least three times a day, but almost always more than that, so I am really, really trying to avoid the stacked gate thing, haha.

I understand trying to avoid the stacked gates. It's a huge pain! But, it was a necessity for us.

Wurp is 13...he jumped close to 4 feet up and climbed the rest of the way, and bailed off the top at about 5 feet. It shocked me. It was like watching Yoda!!!