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- Nov 26, 2017
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Hi all,
About a week and a half ago I adopted a second kitty. My resident cat (Smog) is 8 years old, but still very active for his age - he likes to cuddle and sleep, but has maintained a mischievous kittenish streak as well. The new cat (I'm not settled on a name yet) is about 2 years old and has quite a playful side, but also really likes affection and cuddling. She is used to being around other cats, whereas Smog has been used to having the place to himself since I adopted him.
I have been trying to go through the recommended steps for introductions and just trying to move along based on how the cats were behaving. I kept them separated the first couple days, then started opening the door a crack so they could see each other and sniff noses. There was no hissing or aggression in that whole process (just some paws sticking through the crack to bop at each other curiously). I also did some site swapping during that time. So after a few days of that, when the new kitty snuck out as I was trying to get myself out of her safe room, I figured that I would give it a few seconds to see what happened since they had both been acting fairly comfortable and non-aggressive up to this point. She wasn't scared of my resident cat at all, and went right up to him to sniff noses. He was much more suspicious and backed away in fear, so I separated them to avoid overwhelming him.
I have slowly progressed the monitored interactions so that they are around each other for longer periods of time, though always with me watching. Smog is much less scared now - he will allow the nose sniffing and rubbing against when they first greet each other. But he's definitely still more suspicious of her than she is of him.
What I am unsure about is whether I should see certain patterns in their interactions as playful or aggressive/negative. The new kitty is much more keen to interact with Smog, and often it results in him running away and her chasing him a bit. Still no hissing or yowling though. She'll also try to wrestle him when he's laying somewhere, and he will wrestle back for a couple seconds but usually leaves quite soon. The vast majority of the time it is the new kitty initiating these encounters, and if one runs away it is nearly always Smog. However, yesterday he did playfully approach her a bit - as she rounded the corner he crouched down and did the butt wiggle, then ran towards her (but didn't go after her when he got there). And if he is on a higher level than her, he will sometimes give her a little bop with his paw. Oh, and earlier, Smaug was cuddled in his favourite spot (between my legs) and new kitty was curled up by my shoulder. When she saw Smaug laying/grooming, she went and tried to wrestle him, so he left the spot on my legs.
Once they get to chasing or wrestling or batting each other, I don't let it escalate and will distract them from each other and/or separate them depending on if it seems Smog is stressed. But I am having a really hard time judging whether this pattern is just them starting to figure out how to play with each other, or whether they are negative interactions for Smog since he is usually on the receiving end? I know they aren't full-on fighting because there's no hissing/yowling/injuring, but is it maybe still aggressive (at least from Smog's perspective)? Or does it sound like normal play? Or like the new kitty staking out the dominant role (and if so, is this okay or something I should intervene in by separating them)?
Any input would be appreciated, because I don't want to rush the introduction process just because I'm misinterpreting their behaviour. One last note - this behaviour isn't constant when they are together, but is happening intermittently.
About a week and a half ago I adopted a second kitty. My resident cat (Smog) is 8 years old, but still very active for his age - he likes to cuddle and sleep, but has maintained a mischievous kittenish streak as well. The new cat (I'm not settled on a name yet) is about 2 years old and has quite a playful side, but also really likes affection and cuddling. She is used to being around other cats, whereas Smog has been used to having the place to himself since I adopted him.
I have been trying to go through the recommended steps for introductions and just trying to move along based on how the cats were behaving. I kept them separated the first couple days, then started opening the door a crack so they could see each other and sniff noses. There was no hissing or aggression in that whole process (just some paws sticking through the crack to bop at each other curiously). I also did some site swapping during that time. So after a few days of that, when the new kitty snuck out as I was trying to get myself out of her safe room, I figured that I would give it a few seconds to see what happened since they had both been acting fairly comfortable and non-aggressive up to this point. She wasn't scared of my resident cat at all, and went right up to him to sniff noses. He was much more suspicious and backed away in fear, so I separated them to avoid overwhelming him.
I have slowly progressed the monitored interactions so that they are around each other for longer periods of time, though always with me watching. Smog is much less scared now - he will allow the nose sniffing and rubbing against when they first greet each other. But he's definitely still more suspicious of her than she is of him.
What I am unsure about is whether I should see certain patterns in their interactions as playful or aggressive/negative. The new kitty is much more keen to interact with Smog, and often it results in him running away and her chasing him a bit. Still no hissing or yowling though. She'll also try to wrestle him when he's laying somewhere, and he will wrestle back for a couple seconds but usually leaves quite soon. The vast majority of the time it is the new kitty initiating these encounters, and if one runs away it is nearly always Smog. However, yesterday he did playfully approach her a bit - as she rounded the corner he crouched down and did the butt wiggle, then ran towards her (but didn't go after her when he got there). And if he is on a higher level than her, he will sometimes give her a little bop with his paw. Oh, and earlier, Smaug was cuddled in his favourite spot (between my legs) and new kitty was curled up by my shoulder. When she saw Smaug laying/grooming, she went and tried to wrestle him, so he left the spot on my legs.
Once they get to chasing or wrestling or batting each other, I don't let it escalate and will distract them from each other and/or separate them depending on if it seems Smog is stressed. But I am having a really hard time judging whether this pattern is just them starting to figure out how to play with each other, or whether they are negative interactions for Smog since he is usually on the receiving end? I know they aren't full-on fighting because there's no hissing/yowling/injuring, but is it maybe still aggressive (at least from Smog's perspective)? Or does it sound like normal play? Or like the new kitty staking out the dominant role (and if so, is this okay or something I should intervene in by separating them)?
Any input would be appreciated, because I don't want to rush the introduction process just because I'm misinterpreting their behaviour. One last note - this behaviour isn't constant when they are together, but is happening intermittently.
lol). Having never done this before, I just was really worried that maybe I was rushing things or allowing negative associations to develop.
