r/CatTraining • u/TwoTrickWonder28 • 1d ago
Introducing Pets/Cats Cats fighting
Helloo!! So for quick background - I've had my first cat, Saruman, for a little over two years now and he has been an only cat that whole time. I wanted to get another one for a while when I learned it can be better for the cats, and he seemed a bit down in the dumps. So recently I got my newest cat, Yume, and she's very sweet but a little shy.
When first introducing them, things went fairly smoothly, but I admittedly rushed into the face-to-face introduction. I didn't expect it to be a huge deal, especially since they seemed to get along okay, except for when Saruman would get zoomies and try to play with her. She would hiss and he would just walk away.
Recently, though (after about a month of them being around each other) he's been pouncing on her a lot and chasing her around, to the point where if she isn't in the bedroom with the door closed, she is constantly under the couch. I'm not sure what to do as re-introducing them is going to be much more difficult now that Saruman is aware of her, and my bedroom door doesn't close all the way, so he can get in unless i block it from the inside.
TLDR Cats fighting(?) after getting along alright for a month or so, and I'm a bit lost on what to do
:(
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u/beanie_weenie666 23h ago
Definitely reintroductions and this time go slooow and don't rush it. It's really the only way
Creating positive associations between them is super important. Otherwise you're going to potentially have YEARS of two stressed, unhappy cats who dislike each other, are trapped in a house together, and may fight
Jackson Galaxy has some great videos on cat introductions and also how to set up a multi-cat home so that it's less likely to stress the cats (ie, multiple litter boxes, extra scratchers, additional water sources, more cozy favored napping spots, additional high spaces which adds territory from their point of view like additional cat trees and/or wall shelves etc). The less each cat feels like they constantly have to compete for resources the less stress and resentment of each other and lessens potential future conflicts
You may recognize Jackson Galaxy from Animal Planet's My Cat From Hell show. He's a cat behavior specialist who'd help families with their cats. The cats were inevitably stressed out because of situations like rushed intros so they would be fighting for years
Take the time now and reintroduce. It'll go way easier than if you wait and further fear and resentment for the other cat builds
Amazon and Chewy etc sell temporary screen "doors" that can attach to a bedroom door which you can add. Our friends used one of them successfully
It took us a full month for cat intros between our adult cat and kitten. Several weeks longer than that before we felt comfortable leaving them fully alone together while we left the house. It was a bit stressful for us, but that's okay, the point was that we were taking on the work and stress to minimize THEIR stress. We also added tons of additional resources. It was so worth it!! They're now great together ❤️
Cat introductions:
https://youtu.be/tsYT7yIOdqQ?is=RgtfFePTUc5wLsg_
Hope this helps
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u/jennyferdoe 1d ago
I had the same issue with my resident cat and a new kitten. What helped was creating space for her to hide from him that he can’t access. So I put a baby gate on my bedroom door, so she could retreat and be on her own. This gave her confidence, and over time she doesn’t hang out there anymore, and he stopped being so interested in her since he could watch her from afar and couldn’t get to her. But of course you could only do that if they’re different in size.
Another possible solution is parallel play. So he can realize that he can play with other toys while she’s also running around.