New Kitten And Resident Kitty...

[jen]

It really sounds like they are interacting well so far. Hissing is ok, they need to teach each other their limits and that is how its done. I am happy to hear its going well. Maybe try to get his attention off her when she is in the litterbox.

 

[Nature9000]

Heh, in his defense she went into HIS litterbox. Yeah, I'm just worried that he's stalking her like prey, but I'm not sure if that is the case. It is just hissing so far, but he is chasing her and pouncing as she runs, but they move around each other. I don't know if he's just checking her out or what, no actual aggression seems to be happening, so that may just be it.

 

[Nature9000]

Though another thing, Prince won't even let me touch him, at least not for more than a few seconds. I mean, that was normal before, but this time he meows like he's upset and scurries away. I'm kind of disheartened by it, because he probably isn't going to be sleeping on my bed with me anymore either...I enjoy waking up to see him curled up beside me.

 

[Nature9000]

Thought I'd give an update. I wound up going to bed last night, leaving Nikita out. Something big happened, a big step I think. I was worried about the bed thing, because Prince always likes to sleep on it with me after a while.

Well Nikita hopped up first, curled into a ball next to me. Prince got on the bed and started to pounce her, but she didn't budge, so he left. Eventually, she left the bed and then some time later Prince got on the bed, moved to around the same spot, and curled into a ball next to me.

Now, this morning, Nikita's walking almost all over the spot. I woke with Prince moving about the bedroom and greeting me on the bed and wondered where she was, she was on his castle in the living room (the biggest cat tree with four pedestals swirling around for a cat to walk up to the bed on top), and he seems to be the one shying away at this point.

Although she is now on the tree next to my desk and he's trying to hop up and bat at her with his paw. Not sure if he's trying to play again since there are no claws or teeth, but she is mewing at him. I think it's his hyperactivity coming out, and she's not hyperactive.

 

[Nature9000]

Apparently Prince is still wary of her and when I go to pick up he starts whining really badly and wants to get away from me. Seems he hisses at her when she approaches while he's above. Then he follows after her when she walks away. I hope this doesn't last much longer than a week.

 

[Nature9000]

oh my God Jen look at the progress, I called the Foster lady from the rescue and askes why Nikita wasn't eating the treats and she said she never fed the cats treat, but used wet food as treats, so I wound up getting some wet food and treating Nikita and Prince both to a can. As you can see, if the picture uploads, they'e eating inches apart with the plates touching! No hissing or groaning either

 

[rubysmama]

I just read through your thread, and came to the last post, with the pic of them eating together.
Hopefully, eating that close together is a good sign. I've never had 2 cats at the same time, so can't give any advice, but did want to post a link to an article that may be helpful, if you feel the introductions need tweaking:

How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction

Edit to add: Welcome to The Cat Site. We have a New Cats on the Block forum where you might want to introduce your cats and yourself.

 

[Nature9000]

I don't think the introduction was unsuccessful, mainly because they've been getting along pretty well as it is. I do notice one thing I'm not sure if it's normal or what, but the only time Prince hisses at her now is when I'm trying to play with him with the feather toy or something and she starts to chase it. He hisses. He doesn't hiss otherwise. Also the laser pointer, she started chasing it and he started chasing and pouncing her, so I'm not sure what that's about if not generally needing to individually play with cats separately.

 

[Nature9000]

Also my one worry is this: Nikita comes from a foster home filled with cats, she was and is a lap cat, very sweet and very lovable. I feel like trapping her in a small bathroom 24/7 will make her resentful and cause her to shy away, causing her to become the opposite of all that. I want a cat like her, I don't want a second cat that rarely comes to me unless they're relaxed or needing food. I feel like if I trap her in that bathroom she's going to become just like that.

Much as I love Prince, I wish he was cuddlier than he is, he only curls up next to me if I'm asleep, only lets me pet him for longer than a few strokes when I get home or when he's laying down. The reason I adopted Nikita was because she was as cuddly as she is, and I don't want to damage her personality that way.

 

[Nature9000]

But then, I don't feel like I need to separate them. They were fine when I slept last night, they were fine when I went to church this morning and then I felt okay leaving them open while I went to work. Again, they were fine. They're not fighting. However, Prnce, as hyperactive as he is, is trying to play rough with her I believe, and that's causing HER to hiss at him and tuck back her ears. So, does that call for separation and reintroduction all over again, or does that just mean I need to separate them and give Prince a thorough play session to tire him out so that she's not getting in the middle of the play session?

 

[LokiNApolloMami]

So in November I got a cat, whom I love very much. The rescue named him "Sweet Tea", but I talk fast and say Sweetie, so when that wasn't going to work I named him Prince due to the fact that my nickname as a kid was King. I've got a studio apartment in which the only door is the bathroom door, he's got his castle...his tower...his stand, his hut, his tree...He's probably the most spoiled cat ever, but he is hyperactive. He's cuddly when he wants to be, let's me pet him when he wants, but is otherwise aloof. He's been with other cats when he was at the store, even played with them because they could move freely between floors.

Prince is now eight months old, and has been an only pet for approximately three to four months. He's an orange tabby and looks like he has Siamese in him. My vet and a few friends even believe he could be part siamese

Now comes the present night. I recently found this adorable all black cat at the pet store I work at. She is my dream cat, (I'm a dog person and prefer black cats if I ever had a cat, Prince of course charmed my heart). She's small for her age just like Nikita II, a cat I had years back that I unfortunately had to leave behind with my ex because my grandparents-whom I stayed with at the time-did not want animals around. I've named this cat Nikita the third, she is one year old and has been in foster care with multiple kittens. She is confident, and has no problems exploring the apartment. She's so sweet and lovable, a lap cat who is very cuddly (perhaps opposite of Prince, who is aloof and hyper)

Now here's the problem. I'm in the process of doing the site swapping introduction. I didn't think Prince would be territorial as he is, and the foster lady said it seems he might be jealous, which could be expected; but he's hissing whenever he gets near her. He hissed at the kennel, and I moved him close to the bathroom door where she's at and he hissed at the door.

I can hear her crying in the bathroom as Prince moves about the living room and bedroom freely (again, only door is the bathroom door. I have a litter pan, food and water in there for her right now).

I don't know how long I'm supposed to keep one cat in one room and one cat out before swapping them around. If it's an hour each, or god forbid 24 hours like someone else told me, and I don't really want them to be cooped up in that room. (Especially Prince, who I've put in timeout in there before), and I know Nikita hasn't hissed at him since she's been here-not even with the method of rubbing one cat with a sock and rubbing the other. She's perfectly fine. Prince, on the other hand, hisses even with the sock method-though not at me but at the sock.

After holding Nikita, he meows and doesn't want to be held against my shirt which has her scent. So I'm not sure if I let them in the same room together, if I even should. He hasn't yowled or anything, only hissed....but I don't want to leave them in that room, especially Nikita, who I just brought home! Like I said, I didn't expect Prince to have been here long enough to become territorial, but maybe I underestimated how long he's been an only pet for.

Any advice? Any tips? It's funny, this is my first time actually deciding to post anything here, though I've been scouring the site numerously over the last few months, haha. How do I even do this introduction thing? While she's in there, Prince sits at the intersection point of the hallway and bedroom, staring at the bathroom door.

OK, so I have three cats, two males both about two years old, about 10 weeks apart, when I got my 2ND one I had no problems at all with them because they were both so young!...


I have recently saved a female calico kitten, someone dropped a litter of 3 week old kittens at my work and I just had to have her, my coworkers took in her brothers and sister's, well my one male, he took to her as soon as he seen her!.. daddy instinct kicked right in, always cleaning her, watching her, freaking out if she was not in his sight... the other one.. he did not want her near him, if she would get as close as a foot away he would hiss and growl.. he did this for so long I was starting to accept he was just never going to like her, but this is her home too, and I pretty much just ignore the situation, with supervision of course, he was just vocal, he never went after her or anything like that, so I just treated everyone the same, and about 2 weeks ago, I noticed they were playing and chasing and jumping around, then i started to see him licking on her, cuddling and everything, it took a lot of time, but I think he realized that she was a part of the family and she was not going anywhere and just made the best of it!.. so I think it just takes some getting used to, you just got to be patient with it, I'm sure it will eventually all work out!, especially if you show both of the cats love so the other one sees it so they KNOW they are part of your family!

 

[Minxrat]

This is all so familiar, Nature9000 except I did straight introductions with no separation. I took Poppy to meet Milo twice at his house and then brought him to mine for an hour. First day home there was hissing, second day swiping (him) and third day running around like loonies. He is bouncier than Poppy (there is six months between them and she is a year old next Sunday) but he know when to back off her. She full on growled at him last night as he did his stranglehold thing when she didn't want it but I just left them to it (with an eye out, of course). Your posts just ring so many bells. Poppy sleeps on my bed with me and fantastically she did the first night he was home. He sleeps where he likes and she's pretty much relaxed if he comes and curls up with me. You're doing really well

Wear Prince out until she adjusts to him. Poppy just watches Milo going full on loony tunes but I just wish she would join in.

 

[Nature9000]

I'll have to. I think I need to keep them separated during play sessions, since that's when Prince hisses at her now if she starts to hijack his play session, so to speak. When he starts to get rough with her, she'll hiss at him. I'm just going to have to keep an eye on them and keep them separate during playtime. For the most part, I want her to be more confident. Even this morning, they had their food bowls together and everything was fine until Prince started to try and take food out of her bowl, that's when she swatted him (no claws) and then he decided that meant playtime, I think, because he started to go after her without the aggression signs...but he did get her pinned down and one of them yowled a bit, so I put him in the bedroom because he was getting far too rough.

 

[Minxrat]

But hissing is okay, it's just watching out for full on violence. I feel sorry for Poppy sometimes but other times she full on instigates it, so they can sort themselves out. Milo does start some playtime with swatting so it sounds like universal language!!! When I see pinning down and hear yowling, I just separate and they walk off. Try not to put them in separate rooms too much as they have to "intro" all over again.

 

[Nature9000]

Well what about play sessions. I know it's been a day or two since I've had them in the same area during play, but do I need to separate them for individual play, because I know Prince hisses at her if she runs and interrupts his play session. Then he starts to chase her when she's in hers.

 

[Nature9000]

Even then, I can't get him to focus on a play session when I have her in the bathroom! Still constantly pouncing on her until she starts hissing and using her claws on him to get him off her. I'm seriously getting frustrated, and most of the frustration is with Prince...

 

[Minxrat]

Just let them play and hiss? They need to get used to each other. And to you playing with the other - maybe a bit of jealousy in there? I feel I can't always play with Milo in case Poppy is jealous but then she's not a great player herself. However, when she DOES play, he's very good and just sits and watches and waits. And he gets a cuddle.

Are there definitely claws when she hisses?

What about rewards whilst playing well with each other?

 

[Nature9000]

So uh, this happened...Prince crawled up and sat next to Nikita on the castle the other day, and today....I look over and they are laying down together

 

[Nature9000]

Anyone else think they look like yin and yang in that second picture?

 

[rubysmama]

Purr-fectly contented kitty pals. Looks like things have worked themselves out.
And, yes, yin and yang, for sure.