Hi, all!
We recently brought home a 9-week-old kitten, Soybean. We already have a 2-year-old neutered male, Toby, and I'm really hoping someone can shed light on what we've seen so far with the intros.
They met face to face on day 3 because there had been no hissing, growling, avoidance at the door or with any of the scent swaps we did. Toby was also happy to scoff treats at the door separating Soybean from the house, and because of the comings and goings with feeds, they'd glimpsed each other a few times anyway.
The initial meet had lots of sniffing and some chasing, but no noise. Now, we're letting them have supervised time together, and we're seeing:
— Soybean playing with toys and Toby loafing in the room watching him and slow blinking.
— Eating treats side by side.
— Sharing litter trays.
— Soybean suckling Toby's belly, with Toby licking and biting him; yesterday they fell asleep like that in the same bed.
But we're also seeing:
— Soybean pawing at Toby's face or tail to play, and Toby throwing him to the ground, lots of licking, biting. If Soybean fights back, Toby bunny-kicks him until the kitten squeals. Even if Soybean approaches him purring and rubs alongside him, he usually gets tackled. Most of the time, Soybean goes back for more, though he is more wary of Toby now, and he's never been injured that we can tell.
Does any of this sound normal? Are we seeing typical behaviour of an adult telling an infant off, a resident cat setting boundaries, rough play where the kitten is maybe just too small for it right now?
I just feel so stressed and wish I could skip the next six months too see if it works out or not!
We recently brought home a 9-week-old kitten, Soybean. We already have a 2-year-old neutered male, Toby, and I'm really hoping someone can shed light on what we've seen so far with the intros.
They met face to face on day 3 because there had been no hissing, growling, avoidance at the door or with any of the scent swaps we did. Toby was also happy to scoff treats at the door separating Soybean from the house, and because of the comings and goings with feeds, they'd glimpsed each other a few times anyway.
The initial meet had lots of sniffing and some chasing, but no noise. Now, we're letting them have supervised time together, and we're seeing:
— Soybean playing with toys and Toby loafing in the room watching him and slow blinking.
— Eating treats side by side.
— Sharing litter trays.
— Soybean suckling Toby's belly, with Toby licking and biting him; yesterday they fell asleep like that in the same bed.
But we're also seeing:
— Soybean pawing at Toby's face or tail to play, and Toby throwing him to the ground, lots of licking, biting. If Soybean fights back, Toby bunny-kicks him until the kitten squeals. Even if Soybean approaches him purring and rubs alongside him, he usually gets tackled. Most of the time, Soybean goes back for more, though he is more wary of Toby now, and he's never been injured that we can tell.
Does any of this sound normal? Are we seeing typical behaviour of an adult telling an infant off, a resident cat setting boundaries, rough play where the kitten is maybe just too small for it right now?
I just feel so stressed and wish I could skip the next six months too see if it works out or not!