Hi everyone,
I'm just curious if anyone has any experience with very long introduction periods for cats? How long can it be necessary to keep them separated?
I've posted a couple of times with my introduction woes...I actually completely botched the first attempt at introduction and had to start over. (For the record we are introducing a new 4-year old spayed female to a 6-year old neutered male who has never lived with another cat his entire life.) After the failed first attempt, we isolated the two cats from each other completely for about 2 weeks. Then we began the reintroduction.
The lady we got the cat from had a friend who runs a cat rescue, and that friend uses an introduction method where the new cat is put in a dog crate (bigger and more open than a cat carrier) for an hour or so at a time and the other cats can come up and look/sniff/whatever. We are using that method (along with scent swapping and getting them to eat near each other), but the process is very slow. The cats get to see each other for about 1-2 hours day. The rest of the time our new cat lives in our spare bedroom. However, even after a month of this, our resident cat has never gotten any closer than 2-3 feet from the crate, and the new cat can completely intimidate him into running away even in though she is in the crate!
I guess I just wonder if this is going to work. I love our new kitty, but I learned during the first attempt at introduction that she is quite aggressive--and our resident cat is anything but. How long should I keep trying? How long might it take?
I'm just curious if anyone has any experience with very long introduction periods for cats? How long can it be necessary to keep them separated?
I've posted a couple of times with my introduction woes...I actually completely botched the first attempt at introduction and had to start over. (For the record we are introducing a new 4-year old spayed female to a 6-year old neutered male who has never lived with another cat his entire life.) After the failed first attempt, we isolated the two cats from each other completely for about 2 weeks. Then we began the reintroduction.
The lady we got the cat from had a friend who runs a cat rescue, and that friend uses an introduction method where the new cat is put in a dog crate (bigger and more open than a cat carrier) for an hour or so at a time and the other cats can come up and look/sniff/whatever. We are using that method (along with scent swapping and getting them to eat near each other), but the process is very slow. The cats get to see each other for about 1-2 hours day. The rest of the time our new cat lives in our spare bedroom. However, even after a month of this, our resident cat has never gotten any closer than 2-3 feet from the crate, and the new cat can completely intimidate him into running away even in though she is in the crate!
I guess I just wonder if this is going to work. I love our new kitty, but I learned during the first attempt at introduction that she is quite aggressive--and our resident cat is anything but. How long should I keep trying? How long might it take?