Cat Chat 2

[Folie]

Hi, ive posted in the dog and horse thread so far and now im gonna post here! i have a tabby and tuxedo cat, the tabby is named rocket and the tuxedo is named dj!

[non]

Honey is warming up well, as usual, and we let her outside on the front porch for the first time a while ago. I was scared she was going to jump off, but now I know she a thinking, cautious sort of person cat.

[~Wylla~]

Fema owned by Marerose678 is I got my cat in october 2013 , it's a male , it is a cross breed (Not sure what and what made it though , never saw his parents) , he is a blue eyed cat . My cat had gotten flees on this weekend we were dealing with them , but now he is fine !I was very surprised when I saw my cat wearing the anti-flee collar without even trying to rip it off !i love my cat !This is my cat -

[non]

Fema owned by Marerose678 is I got my cat in october 2013 , it's a male , it is a cross breed (Not sure what and what made it though , never saw his parents) , he is a blue eyed cat . My cat had gotten flees on this weekend we were dealing with them , but now he is fine !I was very surprised when I saw my cat wearing the anti-flee collar without even trying to rip it off !i love my cat !This is my cat -

He looks just like my kitty Honey! He has the mane

[msmoof]

yesterday i adopted two cats from a rescue center. originally, i was planning on adopting two scottish folds, but they were really expensive so i went to a rescue center instead. i was planning on adopting two kittens, a brother and sister named Zena and Spaulding, and i was going to change their names to Apollo and Athena, but when i walked out of the kitten room there was a beautiful six year old orange long-haired cat that i fell in love with, so i ended up adopting Apollo and the older cat, who i named Mufasa. he's so majestic, and Apollo is polydactyl which i find super cool!

[~Wylla~]

Fema owned by Marerose678 is I got my cat in october 2013 , it's a male , it is a cross breed (Not sure what and what made it though , never saw his parents) , he is a blue eyed cat . My cat had gotten flees on this weekend we were dealing with them , but now he is fine !I was very surprised when I saw my cat wearing the anti-flee collar without even trying to rip it off !i love my cat !This is my cat -

He looks just like my kitty Honey! He has the mane

XD Nice :3

[boodles]

Slate owned by boodles is an 8 year old female short hair cat. She was adopted from a farm as a kitten and is, you guessed it, (slate) grey in color. She is a very well behaved cat, and has been there with me through all my hard times but she is a bit of a grump when she wants to be.

Lucifer owned by boodles is the newest little member of the family. He is only 5 weeks old at this point, but his mother passed away in an accident as did several kittens from his litter due to a illness shortly after. He is the runt of the litter, bit still a little trouble maker at this point. He is black and white, but the black markings on his back are in the place of angel wings, thus he was deemed a baby Lucifer.

Edit: Wow, this is long, Sorry! If you like answering questions its a good read!

So, I've never posted here before, but I have a question that I could use some more opinions on as what I've tried previously has not worked. My new addition to the family, Lucifer, (is adorable as heck and definitely gets in enough trouble to earn his name) is fitting right into the house fine. He eats good, plays great, sleeps good, bugs me all day long, even sleeps with the dog, so no trouble there.

The problem, however, is that my older cat Slate doesn't like making new friends and the kitten being so young has very little knowledge of social cues. Slate has always lived in a house with more than one cat, be it when I lived with my mom and her 2 cats, a friend and her 2 cats and I had another cat before Lucifer that recently passed away. Slate got along great with the cats at my moms and friends house when I lived in those places. The other cat I introduced her to after moving to my own place was a bit of a rescue as well, but Slate despised that cat and did so for the entire nearly two years I had the cat before it got sick and passed away. Now, here I am trying to introduce her to another new family member and she is as grumpy as always about it. Usually she warms up after a couple weeks and gets attached to the other cats, but the last cat I had she did not. I am worried she will not warm up to Lucifer, especially if he does not understand to respect her space and that her hissing and growling is a warning and waltzes on up anyway.

So, to the point, I suppose what I am asking is if anyone has some suggestions as to how I can help them get to know each other in a safe way so I don't have to lock them in different parts of the house when I'm not home? What usually works, or what I've been doing anyways is trying to convince Slate to come to me when the kitten is nearby sleeping (so he can't approach her) and offering her affection and treats. I just don't know what to do next, as usually with another adult cat after a few days of that I let them sort it out themselves as they are both big enough to defend themselves if it goes sideways. Lucifer, on the other hand, if Slate doesn't just learn to get over her aggression will have to suffer being the weak guy that needs my supervision for another 3-4 months at least.

[Nyxeva]

I would start all over again with introducing them, as if you were bringing Lucifer in for the first time.

So first, you'll want to isolate Lucifer away from Slate. A room that she isn't allowed in for a week or so will work well for this! While Lucifer is in this room, you'll want to do some scent swapping. What this means is letting each cat get used to the other one's scent. Swapping their bedding is a good way to do this, as well as petting each cat with a towel, then leaving the towels in the area of the other cat. You'll want to do this for a least a few days, I personally do it for a week.

Next, you'll start site swapping. This is switching the cats' places for a while every day, with no physical contact between them to allow even more scent familiarization. So putting Slate in Lucifer's room and letting him out for a few hours (at least) a day. Don't let them actually come into physical contact with each other yet though! Save that for later!

After site swapping for a while, I start doing visual contact. I'll let the cats see each other through a cracked door or through a carrier door for a few minutes. During this time, I also shower treats down on them so that they start associating each other with good things. At the first sign of trouble (anything more than hissing), end the interaction and try again in a few hours. Do this for a few more days before moving on to the next step.

For the next step, you'll start building more positive associations with the cats. I like to feed them on either side of the closed door at first, so that they associate each other's scent with food. After a few days, I'll crack the door and continue feeding them close to each other. Do this for a few days at least until you feel comfortable moving to the next step.

Once you've been feeding on either side of the door, you can do brief, highly supervised visits. Open the door and give both cats treats while they're together. Or play with them both! This seems to work really well with my cats because it helps them get used to the body language of the new cat. These photos were taken during one of those visits:


If you see any signs of hostility beyond hissing, separate them to prevent undoing all of the work you've done up to this point! One bad interaction at this point can ruin your chances of smoothly integrating Lucifer!

Once the highly supervised visits have gone off without a hitch for at least a week, you're ready for limited free mingling. This is basically letting them out together whenever someone is home to watch them. When everyone goes to bed, or leaves, you'll still want to separate them. Do this for a least two days before moving on to the next step.

Finally, you'll be able to let them free mingle full time as long as the previous steps went well. If problems arise, take a step back to limited mingling to see if that helps.

Yes, this process is a long one, but it will go a long way to preventing issues down the road. I wish I'd introduced Koda and Naya this way, because they still have minor issues even though I've had Koda for over a year now.

[Thalassic]

So I have an older cat (12 years) and a little kitten (around 3-4 months).
Usually they don't really mind eachother, and sometimes the big one even speaks to the little one (he doesn't respond verbally as his voice is barely even there), but sometimes the big one starts to follow the little one around? And as much as I know both of their body language by now, the big one has never lived with another cat, so I do worry a bit that this "game" of theirs would escalate to actual fights. The small one bites the big ones tail often, and the big one has no problem smacking him or biting him when he doesn't like something (no actual injuries, just kinda "go away"), but his only previous interactions with other large cats have been terrible. Is there anything I can do to ensure they won't kill eachother while I'm not home? So far we've been locking the little one in my room, but since he's extremely active, he usually ends up knocking something over when he's not allowed to run all over the apartment. I'd like to let them live together eventually (so far they are together while humans are home to watch them), especially when someone can't be home all day, like when school starts.

[boodles]

@ Transkitty; that's really good advice and some of it I've already been working at, like associating them with good things (the shower of treats) and swapping things like blankets and litter boxes. The main problem, however, is that my apartment is quite small to separate them completely for a long period of time, to do that, one would have to be permanently locked in the bathroom, which I don't really think is a fair experience, especially for the new kitten. Also, it's just me, so trying to move them about the house by myself without allowing them to see each other would be a problem. Also, Slate is good aggressive like a dog, my feline canine lol. I think those would be great steps if I had more space/help, but I just don't.