So I have mentioned in a few posts about my long cat introduction, having Olive join Trin and Gohan. Trin's intro to her seemed standard: hissing, swatting and chasing from Trin that gradually decreased and will occasionally flare up now and again. Gohan was different. It was about a month of staring and avoidance, 6 months of intense chasing from him, and about a month of truce and staring again. We never had a true cat fight (thankfully), only some tackles and one or two accidental scratches.
Where we are now is Olive freely goes anywhere in the house except upstairs. Upstairs is still new territory and she is nervous, and based on all the chasing she is wary of Gohan. She will creep around and explore a little, and run to the bathroom which is safest. She is always on the lookout for Gohan, and will either run away from him if she has access, or hunker down and tensely watch (and sometimes growl). He basically ignores her for the most part or watches.
Yesterday, my BF and I were watching tv in the basement, which has been her safe room. Gohan was avoiding this room for months, and now he feels confident walking around and jumping on the couch next to the BF. She was on the coffee table chilling, and Gohan came in and jumped at her. She ran and was chased for a little bit, and then they were cool. Later there was another incident where Gohan was walking past her upstairs and she was on a step. He ignored her completely and gave him a nice swat to his leg.
I'm not concerned about any of these "fights". I can tell they are definitely not play, but rather a way to establish a pecking order and finding out boundaries. From what I can tell there have not been any claws, neither cat is very stressed (beyond a slight hypervigilance) and no one is being bullied.
My question is: Has anyone had this type of long introduction and continued antagonism and the cats were actually friends and not just neutral? I feel like we are headed for neutral, but of course I am hoping for some level of friendship. Gohan gets groomed by Trin, and they are fairly chummy. Olive used to have another kitty she would hang out with before we adopted, so I know neither are "only cats". Just wanted to know if there are success stories out there ...
Where we are now is Olive freely goes anywhere in the house except upstairs. Upstairs is still new territory and she is nervous, and based on all the chasing she is wary of Gohan. She will creep around and explore a little, and run to the bathroom which is safest. She is always on the lookout for Gohan, and will either run away from him if she has access, or hunker down and tensely watch (and sometimes growl). He basically ignores her for the most part or watches.
Yesterday, my BF and I were watching tv in the basement, which has been her safe room. Gohan was avoiding this room for months, and now he feels confident walking around and jumping on the couch next to the BF. She was on the coffee table chilling, and Gohan came in and jumped at her. She ran and was chased for a little bit, and then they were cool. Later there was another incident where Gohan was walking past her upstairs and she was on a step. He ignored her completely and gave him a nice swat to his leg.
I'm not concerned about any of these "fights". I can tell they are definitely not play, but rather a way to establish a pecking order and finding out boundaries. From what I can tell there have not been any claws, neither cat is very stressed (beyond a slight hypervigilance) and no one is being bullied.
My question is: Has anyone had this type of long introduction and continued antagonism and the cats were actually friends and not just neutral? I feel like we are headed for neutral, but of course I am hoping for some level of friendship. Gohan gets groomed by Trin, and they are fairly chummy. Olive used to have another kitty she would hang out with before we adopted, so I know neither are "only cats". Just wanted to know if there are success stories out there ...
