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- Aug 13, 2021
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Hi everyone, I have some questions about introducing kitten to my resident cat. Please excuse my poor English.
I have a resident cat that is about 3 years old and a new 13 weeks old kitten. Kitten has been with us for 2 weeks now. We followed all the initial introduction advise from Jackson Galaxy. However, I am now at a loss because my resident cat is quite unpredictable and I am not sure whether I need to go forward or backwards.
Good interaction examples:
• When the kitten would sit/sleep chill on the cat tower, the resident cat would leave her alone.
• - it's however difficult to keep the kitten on the tree when she doesn't want to be there
•
• Would let them eat next to each others, and they would both just eat without any aggression.
• No hissing when one is inside transparent. Backpack. Would observe from the outside with alertness.
• When kitten is sleeping on the floor, resident cat had moved forward to sniff her and move away. This has only happened 2 times.
Currently all the good interactions involved the kitten to have really limited movements. My concern is that even though its safe, it's difficult and unhealthy to keep her in that state for a prolonged period of time. In the long run, we really hope to leave them in the same space unsupervised.
Bad times: I tried to observe common scenarios when resident cat start attacking.
• One time the kitten ran pass the door to storm up to the stairs as she was scared of the resident cat and the resident cat just zoomed after her as if she was a prey. That was very scary for us, as they were too fast for us to catch. Since than, we always close the door and let them co exist in the same room with superivison.
• Resident cat attacked (paw slap)kitten today when kitten was just using the litterbox (without a hood). This was the 2nd time that this has happened.
• When kitten start hiding under sofa or behind something, resident cat becomes hyper alert and just stare at her. Could attack anytime.
• When they stare at each other from a distance, resident cat would be ready to attack anytime.
• When kitten runs around the room and not respecting resident cat personal space, would definitely get a slap in the face when too close.
My resident cat had been a stray cat in the past. Even though very sweet to my partner and I, she can be quite aggressive to strangers at times, she's also very predatory. She often storms up and down stairs after her toys like a leopard. Fast and with a lot of power.
My question is that are we being too cautious? Is it okay to let kitten test the resident cats boundary? Is it right to separate them after a paw slap? How long do we separate them for after a paw slap? I have read mixed advise on whether paw slap is a serious attack and requires separation. So far the fighting never gets to the point of injury, because we react very quickly to separate them after a paw slap. I don't want to helicopter their interaction too much and hinder the progress. Does anyone else also introduce cats successfully after a start like this? I'm starting to feel hopeless. I would be really grateful if anyone can give me any advise.
I have a resident cat that is about 3 years old and a new 13 weeks old kitten. Kitten has been with us for 2 weeks now. We followed all the initial introduction advise from Jackson Galaxy. However, I am now at a loss because my resident cat is quite unpredictable and I am not sure whether I need to go forward or backwards.
Good interaction examples:
• When the kitten would sit/sleep chill on the cat tower, the resident cat would leave her alone.
• - it's however difficult to keep the kitten on the tree when she doesn't want to be there
•
• Would let them eat next to each others, and they would both just eat without any aggression.
• No hissing when one is inside transparent. Backpack. Would observe from the outside with alertness.
• When kitten is sleeping on the floor, resident cat had moved forward to sniff her and move away. This has only happened 2 times.
Currently all the good interactions involved the kitten to have really limited movements. My concern is that even though its safe, it's difficult and unhealthy to keep her in that state for a prolonged period of time. In the long run, we really hope to leave them in the same space unsupervised.
Bad times: I tried to observe common scenarios when resident cat start attacking.
• One time the kitten ran pass the door to storm up to the stairs as she was scared of the resident cat and the resident cat just zoomed after her as if she was a prey. That was very scary for us, as they were too fast for us to catch. Since than, we always close the door and let them co exist in the same room with superivison.
• Resident cat attacked (paw slap)kitten today when kitten was just using the litterbox (without a hood). This was the 2nd time that this has happened.
• When kitten start hiding under sofa or behind something, resident cat becomes hyper alert and just stare at her. Could attack anytime.
• When they stare at each other from a distance, resident cat would be ready to attack anytime.
• When kitten runs around the room and not respecting resident cat personal space, would definitely get a slap in the face when too close.
My resident cat had been a stray cat in the past. Even though very sweet to my partner and I, she can be quite aggressive to strangers at times, she's also very predatory. She often storms up and down stairs after her toys like a leopard. Fast and with a lot of power.
My question is that are we being too cautious? Is it okay to let kitten test the resident cats boundary? Is it right to separate them after a paw slap? How long do we separate them for after a paw slap? I have read mixed advise on whether paw slap is a serious attack and requires separation. So far the fighting never gets to the point of injury, because we react very quickly to separate them after a paw slap. I don't want to helicopter their interaction too much and hinder the progress. Does anyone else also introduce cats successfully after a start like this? I'm starting to feel hopeless. I would be really grateful if anyone can give me any advise.
Although big cat still slapped kitten once this morning because small cat was running very fast out of the room into the stairs (yes, we forgot to close the door). But definitely making progress and I am feeling more hopeful!
