I have three cats at the moment. Srećica, a very easygoing, 13-year-old female who’s been with me since she was born. The second is Ljubo, a neutered 7-year-old male that I adopted 3 years ago.
When I first picked him up, I did a lot of research on how to introduce them safely and I did everything by the book - put him in a separate “safe room”, scent exchange, took everything slowly, supervised introductions with food etc.
The procedure worked and the two of them got along just fine.
Two months ago I adopted cat no.3, Curica.
(we are Croatian so don’t even try to pronounce those names
)
Curica isn’t just any cat. She and Ljubo used to live together as semi-feral cats. They didn't have a real home or a real owner, but they had an outdoor shelter and were being fed by some people who worked nearby. They were tame, okay with being stroked, but not endlessly trusting. And they were “a couple”, very close to each other. Then they both mysteriously disappeared from there.
Long story short, I adopted Ljubo 3 years ago when he wandered into my garden. I found out who he was through a local feral cat organisation that once upon a time had neutered and spayed him and Curica.
And Curica was recently discovered in a photo shared in a local cat group on facebook. She needed a home and I thought I should be the one to adopt her, since I already had her old friend Ljubo with me. I had this romantic idea of a “family reunion”.
Rrrright.
When I first brought her home, I did almost everything by the book. I gave her a separate room with everything a cat needs in it, and tried to take things slowly. But I say *almost* because, in hindsight, I rushed her introduction to Ljubo. They both seemed really fine at first. The first time they met they approached each other without tension, touched noses, and then sat down and looked out of the window together. No hissing, no bushing up, no aggression. I honestly thought they had recognised each other! I thought we had instant cat-peace!
However, during one of those initial early supervised meetings, I made another mistake - I let Curica explore the house too soon and she got overwhelmed and panicked. She ran back to the window in her room and started scratching it. Ljubo was already sitting there and when he saw her panic he hissed at her and slapped her. She was in shock. As was I.
He continued to hiss at her for a few more days, at each encounter. And then he stopped. He figured out she wasn’t a threat and he started politely ignoring her. She ignored him too. I thought - yay! Mutual tolerance! I have succeeded! We have peace!
But I was wrong. The peace lasted a few weeks, and then something changed. Curica started stalking Ljubo. Not all the time, I must stress that they can still eat next to each other, and even wait for food without any tension. Or if she’s resting and he walks past, she doesn’t make a fuss.
But then I don’t know what triggers this, she gets into some kind of pesky mood a few times a day, and starts following him around the house, in that aggressive posture with her head below her shoulders and a flickering tail. Not playful, aggressive.
He ignores her at first. He would clearly rather avoid confrontation. But she stalks and stalks and then he snaps and starts posturing back. She doesn’t back down. She stares at him, he looks away, but postures.
If I don’t separate them, fur starts flying.
Over the last few days this behaviour has been increasing and escalating and I don’t think it’s going anywhere good.
I think I made a terrible mistake right from the start. I let her interact with Ljubo before she started feeling fully comfortable in her new environment. He snapped at her then because her fear triggered bully behaviour in him, and she has put him in her black books. She considers him an enemy because of the way he hissed at her a few times, over a month ago.
He has since lowered his guard, and she has started feeling more confident in her new environment, and more territorial. She interprets his lowered guard as her chance to “sort out the enemy”. That’s what I think is going on right now. She also might be challenging his position as alpha cat in the household.
So, what I know now for certain is that their friendly past means nothing. I was an idiot to think they had recognised each other at first and that this meant they could easily re-establish a positive relationship. I messed up the introduction and now I have enemy cats.
(Interestingly, Curica’s relationship with my other cat, Srećica, is completely neutral. They show zero interest in each other and I’m perfectly happy with that. But that’s probably because Srećica is perfectly happy being the submissive undercat in general.)
So now I am thinking about attempting a re-introduction of Ljubo and Curica. I have only read about this online and in cat behaviour books. I understand the cats need to be separated for an undefined period of time and then re-introduced slowly, with supervision and positive food distraction, to try and get them to re-associate each other’s presence with positive feelings.
I can lock Curica back into her safe room, that’s not a problem, she doesn't protest much. But I have no idea how long to keep her there, and at which point to attempt to re-introduce them.
So, getting to the point of why I’m posting this here - or if all this is TL;DR
- I wanted to ask, has anyone ever attempted a re-introduction? How long did it take? Did it work?
ps. other important info - all the cats have been neutered/spayed for many years and they currently don't go out at all.
When I first picked him up, I did a lot of research on how to introduce them safely and I did everything by the book - put him in a separate “safe room”, scent exchange, took everything slowly, supervised introductions with food etc.
The procedure worked and the two of them got along just fine.
Two months ago I adopted cat no.3, Curica.
(we are Croatian so don’t even try to pronounce those names
)Curica isn’t just any cat. She and Ljubo used to live together as semi-feral cats. They didn't have a real home or a real owner, but they had an outdoor shelter and were being fed by some people who worked nearby. They were tame, okay with being stroked, but not endlessly trusting. And they were “a couple”, very close to each other. Then they both mysteriously disappeared from there.
Long story short, I adopted Ljubo 3 years ago when he wandered into my garden. I found out who he was through a local feral cat organisation that once upon a time had neutered and spayed him and Curica.
And Curica was recently discovered in a photo shared in a local cat group on facebook. She needed a home and I thought I should be the one to adopt her, since I already had her old friend Ljubo with me. I had this romantic idea of a “family reunion”.
Rrrright.
When I first brought her home, I did almost everything by the book. I gave her a separate room with everything a cat needs in it, and tried to take things slowly. But I say *almost* because, in hindsight, I rushed her introduction to Ljubo. They both seemed really fine at first. The first time they met they approached each other without tension, touched noses, and then sat down and looked out of the window together. No hissing, no bushing up, no aggression. I honestly thought they had recognised each other! I thought we had instant cat-peace!
However, during one of those initial early supervised meetings, I made another mistake - I let Curica explore the house too soon and she got overwhelmed and panicked. She ran back to the window in her room and started scratching it. Ljubo was already sitting there and when he saw her panic he hissed at her and slapped her. She was in shock. As was I.
He continued to hiss at her for a few more days, at each encounter. And then he stopped. He figured out she wasn’t a threat and he started politely ignoring her. She ignored him too. I thought - yay! Mutual tolerance! I have succeeded! We have peace!
But I was wrong. The peace lasted a few weeks, and then something changed. Curica started stalking Ljubo. Not all the time, I must stress that they can still eat next to each other, and even wait for food without any tension. Or if she’s resting and he walks past, she doesn’t make a fuss.
But then I don’t know what triggers this, she gets into some kind of pesky mood a few times a day, and starts following him around the house, in that aggressive posture with her head below her shoulders and a flickering tail. Not playful, aggressive.
He ignores her at first. He would clearly rather avoid confrontation. But she stalks and stalks and then he snaps and starts posturing back. She doesn’t back down. She stares at him, he looks away, but postures.
If I don’t separate them, fur starts flying.
Over the last few days this behaviour has been increasing and escalating and I don’t think it’s going anywhere good.
I think I made a terrible mistake right from the start. I let her interact with Ljubo before she started feeling fully comfortable in her new environment. He snapped at her then because her fear triggered bully behaviour in him, and she has put him in her black books. She considers him an enemy because of the way he hissed at her a few times, over a month ago.
He has since lowered his guard, and she has started feeling more confident in her new environment, and more territorial. She interprets his lowered guard as her chance to “sort out the enemy”. That’s what I think is going on right now. She also might be challenging his position as alpha cat in the household.
So, what I know now for certain is that their friendly past means nothing. I was an idiot to think they had recognised each other at first and that this meant they could easily re-establish a positive relationship. I messed up the introduction and now I have enemy cats.
(Interestingly, Curica’s relationship with my other cat, Srećica, is completely neutral. They show zero interest in each other and I’m perfectly happy with that. But that’s probably because Srećica is perfectly happy being the submissive undercat in general.)
So now I am thinking about attempting a re-introduction of Ljubo and Curica. I have only read about this online and in cat behaviour books. I understand the cats need to be separated for an undefined period of time and then re-introduced slowly, with supervision and positive food distraction, to try and get them to re-associate each other’s presence with positive feelings.
I can lock Curica back into her safe room, that’s not a problem, she doesn't protest much. But I have no idea how long to keep her there, and at which point to attempt to re-introduce them.
So, getting to the point of why I’m posting this here - or if all this is TL;DR
- I wanted to ask, has anyone ever attempted a re-introduction? How long did it take? Did it work?ps. other important info - all the cats have been neutered/spayed for many years and they currently don't go out at all.
.
). But I've been considering Feliway, although I'm skeptical about its efficacy. I might have a look at what else might be available.
