Botched introduction.. Can it be fixed?

Question

I left my boyfriend to the task of introducing our 3-yr-old neutered male to his new home, to be shared with a 5/6-yr-old spayed female. Unfortunately, he just plunked him down in the living room of the new place, and, of course, the resident cat is pissed. We are house sitting there for the next five days, so the house will be empty all day except for the cats. Mr Meow is being very good and submissive, not growling or hissing back, and backing away when Maestra comes near [not like him at all] but I'm afraid that won't last. What can I do to get these kitties back on the right track to friendship?

Answer 1

I take it the female didn't do violence to your cat.  Since that is the case, just make sure there are at least 3 litter boxes.  

Your boyfriend should give his cat a lot of attention and treats to make her feel happier about the newcomer.

You can also buy a spray called Feliway at the pet store.  It is a calming pheromone which you can spray around the place to make both of them feel more comfortable.  

It is best not to separate them unless there is dangerous bloodshed.  They will come to terms with one another.  

Of course you should have introduced the male's scent to the female before bringing him in, but it's too late for that now, and I think they will be okay.  Your cat realizes the house belongs to her, which is why he is submissive; but they should get used to each other.  

Answer 2

My opinion would be to keep them seperate and introduce them slowly a hour a day etc... they have to get used to eachother smells and not feel threatened.  In the end they will be fine but I suggest taking it slow.  I had to do the same thing about 2 weeks ago and there was a lot of hissing, growling and swatting, but now they are fine! Email me if you have any questions!

Answer 3

It sounds like they are doing fine. Just pet them both, giving equal attention.  It shouldn't be a problem. I never worried when introducing a new cat. It has worked out fine for me. I give attention, keep an eye on things and they learn to accept each other.

Answer 4

From what you're telling us, your boyfriend did not botched the job...although he was lucky. They are doing just fine. The 3 yrs old one seems to know the Cat Etiquette and respect the female so far. Look at him when the female hiss at him. Does he look away? Does he sit,  does he begin to clean himself? These are all calming signs design to tell another cat that they don't want to challenge them. If so then you're OK.

Sure they might come to hiss at each other for a certain territory access and they might even fight. If so, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO LET THEM FIGHT. Do not interveen. Let them sort things out. They need to establish the dominant cat for each corner of the house and the only way to do this is by hissing, growling and fighting. If you interveen you will only cause more trouble because the dominant cat knows he can win but your constant intervention does not allow him to do so. So the next chance he will have he will raise the level of violence of his message to be sure the message gets through. This is way a lot of people sees things getting worst between two cat as they try to seperate them when they fight.

Ignore them when the growl or hiss and even fight. If they fight to often you could keep them in seperate room for the night to be sure they get a good night rest but otherwise let them be.

Be sure to have at least 2 litter box if not 3 dispose at different area of the house (therefore allowing them to avoid territorial wars over the litter box)

Also provide them with place to go in height. Different level in heights helps cats establishing territorial dominance more easily.

Play with them togheter so that they associate fun things with being together. Feed them at the same time, at the same place is also a good thing. When they get near each other without incident, give them treats.

IF you do this you should see things settling down in 5 days and in 2 weeks, the hissing and growling should be considerable less. Although it could take months before you see everything getting normal.

Good luck

Answer 5

It sounds like they are working it out in spite of the sudden introduction.  

However, it is better to introduce them slowly over a longer period of time using scent-mixing and supervised meetings.  There is information on a regime for introducing cats to each other at http://www.messybeast.com/first-impressi...

(too long to post it all here)

You may be lucky and have cats that are mellow enough to work it out without coming to blows or hving behavioural problems (e.g. house-soiling).  If your cats start becoming aggressive towards each other then you need to start them off with the newcomer in a separate room and the cat whose house it was having the run of most of the house.  The fact you didn't immediately have lots of fur flying means there's a good chance of them settling down together, maybe not as best friends, but certainly tolerating each other.

When I've had cats from different sources they often divided up the house into territories, had rights of way or time-shared areas and shared certain areas such as my bed and the kitchen.  

Answer 6

I wouldn't say the introduction was botched in the first place.  There's not much you can do other than keep an eye on things and step in if there's a problem.  The cats will work it out over time.  They may never be best friends, but that wouldn't have anything to do with their introduction.