Chasing behavior

[JAL57]

Hey fellow cat servants. I’m exasperated because I’m approaching the two-year mark of the introduction process for my nearly 4-year-old cat and my 2-year-old cat. And yesterday, my older cat busted out from behind the gate and chased her younger sis around the house.

This is only the third or fourth time that’s happened because I’ve generally been careful, and neither cat was harmed. But I am so frustrated with my elder baby. She was making steady progress toward calmly tolerating her sister’s presence. (When the little one arrived, she was NOT a happy camper. Which surprised me because she’d been friendly to my sib’s adult cat.)

I would like to adopt a third (final) cat someday because I have room, but I can’t contemplate that until my current two are tolerating each other. Any advice? What to make of chases where both cats are hissing but neither cat has ever suffered a scratch (even the one time when my older cat caught up with my younger one)?

 

[Caspers Human]

Cats chase each other. It's normal cat behavior.

Sometimes it's because one cat has some kind of beef with another. Sometimes it's just playing. Sometimes cats chase each other just because they're cats and cats like to chase things.

As long as one cat isn't bullying the other, I wouldn't worry about it.
If it's always one cat chasing the other.
If one cat is beating up on the other.
If one cat corners the other so she can't get away.
That's something to put a stop to.

But, if both cats have equal opportunity to get their licks in, let them do their thing.

In fact, it's probably best to let cats chase each other. That's one way cats communicate. If you stop cats from chasing, you interrupt the cats communicating.

Set some limits. Make some "House Rules."
You don't want the cats messing up the house or knocking over furniture.
You don't want cats or people to get hurt.
You don't want one cat getting the upper hand too often.

Set your limits. Enforce the rules. But, if they aren't breaking House Rules, let them be.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Two-year mark? What the heck has gone on that you are still in introduction mode, besides some chasing?

 

[JAL57]

Two-year mark? What the heck has gone on that you are still in introduction mode, besides some chasing?

My older cat tries to jump my younger cat every time the gates are down. We have had a few successful supervised, minutes-long meetings where they shared a room briefly, but more often than not that ends in a chase with hissing and growling.

 

[Caspers Human]

We had some concerns with Casper, the older cat, and Elliot, the younger.

Elliot's a little upstart while Casper can be an old stick in the mud. Elliot would jump Casper then there would be some hissing and swatting. We were worried until, one day, we heard galloping in the upstairs bedroom. Two cats came flying down the stairs, Elliot in the lead and Casper chasing Elliot. That's when we knew that the play field was even.

Now, when Casper has had enough of Elliot's shenanigans, he puts his paw up and gives Elliot a warning like he's saying, "I'm gonna' bop you!" When he sees that, Elliot usually backs off. In fact, when Elliot starts getting full of it, we tell him, "Settle down or else Casper's going to bop you!" We even tell Casper, "Go ahead and bop him one!"

Ninety percent of the time, things stay at that level. When the cats get out of hand, all I have to do is walk into the room and say, "Settle down!" The cats almost always listen when I scold them... I use my "Dad Voice" on them.

There's only been a couple of times when I had to separate the cats and put them in their own rooms for a time-out. It probably hasn't happened for over a half a year.

Sometimes, cats just argue. They chase. They jump each other. They hiss and growl. They swat at each other. This is all just normal "Cat Politics" and you have to let a certain amount of it slide.

Now, if one cat is always the aggressor or if one cat gets the upper hand on the other and won't back down, that's a time to step in.

Treat them like three-year old kids. Set the rules. When they get out of hand, give them a warning... "Settle down! Play nice!"
If they don't listen, separate them and put them into their own rooms.

Otherwise, just let them alone. Cats need to work out their differences between themselves. They need to set boundaries and learn how to respect them. If the human is always jumping in whenever there is a little bit of a scuffle, the cats will never have a chance to work things out.

Set your "House Rules." Decide on the level of roughness that's allowed. If the cats get out of hand, scold them and give them a time out. Otherwise, just let them be and keep an eye out in case they break House Rules.

 

[IzzysfureverMom]

I am a little confused. Chasing each other as in I'm going to rip your throat out or just running like crazy after each other (playing). I had cats where one jump on the other all the time, they were playing.Chasing each other was their favorite thing to.Two years seems like a long long time to introduce cats to me. How often are they together or have sight of one another?

 

[Alldara]

Chasing and pouncing are normal play behaviour in cats. They wrestle like little boys...all roughhousing.

Is there something making you think its malicious?

 

[Caspers Human]

Chasing each other as in I'm going to rip your throat out or just running like crazy after each other

As long as one cat doesn't get the other down and not let up, it's okay. One cat cornering the other but not letting them out is another bad thing. Of course, if one cat is always doing the jumping and chasing, that's a problem.

Sometimes it looks like they're trying to kill each other when they're really just rasslin.' It's hard to know the difference.

If each gets their fair share of being the chaser as well as the chasee, you're probably okay.

 

[IzzysfureverMom]

Mine one use to flop down,reach up for her to jump on him, which she was more then happy to do. Then it was off to the races. You see one behind the other then in reverse....... Kokaberry chaos. But they loved it. They were each other favorite toy. But if they are going to the throat, belly and it is one side that is different.

 

[Hellenww]

The 2yrs reaction afterwards will tell you if you need to worry. Does she hide and cower? Does she peek out curiosly? Does she walk around confidently?

 

[Biomehanika]

My older cat tries to jump my younger cat every time the gates are down. We have had a few successful supervised, minutes-long meetings where they shared a room briefly, but more often than not that ends in a chase with hissing and growling.

Incase it helps….

I have a 12 year old and an (almost) one year old who have been together for just over 4 months now. The youngin’ is super rude sometimes and does sneak attacks on her/chases her, pounces on her, tries to pin her down and bite her neck… she hisses and growls at him, they get in swatting matches, sometimes she chases him back and is just super ticked off with him. When he’s taking it too far I correct the behaviour and distract him with something else. But any time in the past post introductions that I’ve tried to separate them/give her a break from him, she’d go look for him and wait by the door to the room he was in or desperately try to get in to the room. Despite their scuffles, she wants to be around him, they sleep together often, groom each other, lick each others buttholes, and enjoy each others company. When I took the young one to the vet by himself recently my older girl was very upset and shut down when we got home because she had been alone without her buddy. Even if he drives her crazy sometimes she does love him in her own funny little way.

 

[JAL57]

The 2yrs reaction afterwards will tell you if you need to worry. Does she hide and cower? Does she peek out curiosly? Does she walk around confidently?

Yes, the younger one’s reaction is what worries me. She hides and then follows me around hissing and growling for about an hour or more afterwards.

 

[JAL57]

Chasing and pouncing are normal play behaviour in cats. They wrestle like little boys...all roughhousing.

Is there something making you think its malicious?

It’s mostly the hissing, spitting and growling from both parties, as well as the younger one’s reaction, that make me feel it’s maybe not exactly harmless play. Every time a chase happens, it takes my younger one more than an hour to calm down and stop hissing and growling.

 

[Alldara]

It’s mostly the hissing, spitting and growling from both parties, as well as the younger one’s reaction, that make me feel it’s maybe not exactly harmless play. Every time a chase happens, it takes my younger one more than an hour to calm down and stop hissing and growling.

Yes so definitely causing upset! Sorry to ask but there are many posters who conflate play with aggression (and easily so since they can be similar!).

It's hard, but its likely that they arent ready for that step yet.

How do their gated interactions go? What activities do you have them "do" together for gated interactions?

 

[JAL57]

Yes so definitely causing upset! Sorry to ask but there are many posters who conflate play with aggression (and easily so since they can be similar!).

It's hard, but its likely that they arent ready for that step yet.

How do their gated interactions go? What activities do you have them "do" together for gated interactions?

They like to bat at each other with their paws through the gate — that I think is more harmless playing behavior. I’ve tried feeding them treats together at the gate and playing with two separate toys at the gate. Taking turns with the same toy doesn’t work too well.

I know it sounds like I’ve been at this practically forever, but my older cat really has made huge strides and has calmed down a lot from how she used to be. She is the problem child, though, frankly. It’s only she who is not ready yet, I think.

 

[Alldara]

Well.with intros you can only go at the pace of the slowest cat.

 

[Caspers Human]

They like to bat at each other with their paws through the gate.

If they tussle like that and don't try to attack each other, even through a gate, they probably aren't going to fight. Eating together is also a good sign.

Taking turns with the same toy doesn’t work too well.

Our cats don't share toys well. I suspect it's a scent issue. When a cat plays with a toy, it's scent gets transferred. The cat, essentially, marks the toy as "mine." Two cats, playing with the same toy, might have jealousy or possession issues, much in the same way as young children do when they share toys.

Remember, cats have a similar mental state as a two-year old child. It's often easier to understand a cat's behavior when you look at it that way.

 

[IzzysfureverMom]

If they tussle like that and don't try to attack each other, even through a gate, they probably aren't going to fight. Eating together is also a good sign.



Our cats don't share toys well. I suspect it's a scent issue. When a cat plays with a toy, it's scent gets transferred. The cat, essentially, marks the toy as "mine." Two cats, playing with the same toy, might have jealousy or possession issues, much in the same way as young children do when they share toys.

Remember, cats have a similar mental state as a two-year old child. It's often easier to understand a cat's behavior when you look at it that way.

Buying two of same toy is not worth either (tried that many years ago) ,they seem want the same one Like Caspers Humane said perpetual two year olds.

 

[Caspers Human]

We ended up with three of the exact, same toy, too.

Casper had it first. Then, Elliot came along so and he liked to play with it. That made Casper jealous so we bought two more, one for each cat, thinking they'd have "yours," "mine" and "ours" but that didn't work. Elliot plays with all three and Casper has decided to take possession of other toys.

 

[Caspers Human]

Hey, it works with toddlers! We thought it would work with cats, too!
You know, give each kid the exact, same toy or, maybe, similar toys that are different colors. Right?

We thought it was a grand idea!

NOT!