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I'm after some advice regarding introducing my 4 month old kitten called Luna to my 10 month tortie Pumpkin. When we brought Luna home we set up a safe space in our spare bedroom. We played with her for a while and she fell asleep on us but as soon as we left the room she started meowing, this went on for most of the night and she would only stop if one of us went in. We have tried scent swapping and opened the door slightly so they could see each other a few times.
This morning Luna managed to escape her safe room when we were taking her food in. Pumpkin would not leave her alone and chased her around trying to smell her from behind while Luna hissed most of the time, tonight both have fallen to sleep in the same room on floor about 5 feet apart.
Is this a good sign or should we separate them and try start again introducing them?
They'll most likely be OK. Cats are cats, they sniff, they body language, but all of the strangers we've brought in over the years adjusted, everyone adjusted. Don't make it complicated.
They are both young kitties and should do just fine in a short amount of time. Before you know it, they'll be playing and chasing each other around. It will be so much fun to watch!
Today, our older kitten now stalks Luna, charges, pounces and really gets in her face then paws her with claws out while trying to bite her back, Luna just growls and hisses and tries to hide in corners but Pumpkin follows her and tries to block her in. Should I try and reintroduce them again from scratch? Ive bought a feliway plugin and ordered a pet screen for the door to keep pumpkin out. Luna has just been neutered a couple of days ago and I don't want pumpkin to hurt her.
Give them time to work it out. It sounds like Pumpkin is trying to establish herself as the "alpha" cat. The feliway should help cut down on the aggressive behavior.
But definitely wait until Luna is completely healed from her spay surgery before letting the two interact again. She needs to be in a calm environment to help with her recovery.
Today, our older kitten now stalks Luna, charges, pounces and really gets in her face then paws her with claws out while trying to bite her back, Luna just growls and hisses and tries to hide in corners but Pumpkin follows her and tries to block her in. Should I try and reintroduce them again from scratch? Ive bought a feliway plugin and ordered a pet screen for the door to keep pumpkin out. Luna has just been neutered a couple of days ago and I don't want pumpkin to hurt her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by loz64
Give them time to work it out. It sounds like Pumpkin is trying to establish herself as the "alpha" cat. The feliway should help cut down on the aggressive behavior.
But definitely wait until Luna is completely healed from her spay surgery before letting the two interact again. She needs to be in a calm environment to help with her recovery.
Definitely agree with this. Luna just had surgery, she needs some chill time. I'd consider giving her some weeks, actually, sounds like she needs some more weight behind her to even things up a little. You don't want one bullied cat.
We adopted two 13 year old cats in 2016. One was very shy and hid all the time. It took me 4-8 weeks of getting on the floor about six times a day calling her and trying to play with her with a mousey, before she came out. Then she and Molly became buds. They'd wander around the house together, I have lots of photos of them. One night we were in bed with Molly, River came to the door, Molly tore out and gave chase. For whatever reason. Establishing her alpha credentials I suppose. That worked, Molly remained alpha even when we brought two others in. She adopted one, barely out of kittenhood, Molly became Inky's surrogate mother.
Two others we adopted long ago, Bizzie the hyper cat and Shelly the withdrawn maybe PTSD cat. Similar in many ways to Molly and River. Bizzie was absolutely wired for sound. she'd run into walls etc. Shelly was scared of her. Eventually after many months of being pushed around we got to witness a Come to Jesus moment, Shelly gave Bizzie a good bop upside the head. No claws, just a good slap saying "enough!" and that was that. They became fast friends, we used to hear them in the middle of the night tearing around upstairs playing cat n cat chase for half the night.
Another time after maybe six months with us, Shelly got on the couch and just got into my lap. "This is where I want to be!" That was quite a moment. Big Girl! I felt quite honored.
edit: In fact, with them separated by a solid door until Luna grows some, I'd expose Pumpkin to the Feliway but not Luna. Luna sounds like she doesn't need any chilling out, she just needs a more level playing field. More size and weight. Hopefully Pumpkin will mellow out with time and Feliway. If not, picking on someone her own size might help chill things.
Last edited by Dwatted Wabbit; 03-02-2023 at 02:55 PM..
Today, our older kitten now stalks Luna, charges, pounces and really gets in her face then paws her with claws out while trying to bite her back, Luna just growls and hisses and tries to hide in corners but Pumpkin follows her and tries to block her in. Should I try and reintroduce them again from scratch? Ive bought a feliway plugin and ordered a pet screen for the door to keep pumpkin out. Luna has just been neutered a couple of days ago and I don't want pumpkin to hurt her.
Given the behaviors you described (as well as Luna’s recent surgery), I would keep them separated for at least 2 weeks. Put a baby gate up so that they can see and smell one another. Once Pumpkin is acting disinterested in Luna, then start to let her roam the house a bit with Pumpkin.
Leave clothing items with your scent with Luna when you can’t be with her but spend as much time as you can with both cats while they adjust.
We have decided to let Luna rest and recover in her safe room and let Pumpkin only see her through the door screen when one of us are in the same room as Luna, she scales it right to the top about 7 feet and we are afraid she will fall and hurt herself if we leave her unsupervised.
Pumpkin slow blinks at Luna sometimes and they have a no issues eating 1 foot apart in front of the screen at the same time and they both play with each others toys and bedding.
Also pumpkin and Luna roll around on the floor looking cute in front of each other and sniff noses. It's just a shame Pumpkin is so rough and treats Luna like one of her toys and hunts her down.
I'd say Pumpkin is aggressive not friendly. Some cats are smoother than others regarding a new cat on their turf. Clearly Pumpkin doesn't approve of this interloper. Very aggressive look on her face, in her eyes. Good for Luna for defending, she doesn't seem intimidated. I wonder if Pumpkin will ever accept Luna. Once Luna gets to equal or greater body weight, or gets sick of getting screwed with, things might change.
In our Bizzie/Shelly case, they were about equal in size but Bizzie was the aggressor and Shelly was just chill. Shelly was just mellow, coming out of her shell. One day apparently she'd reached her limit, she said "Enough!" Hopefully Luna will have that magic moment.
To state the obvious, right now Pumpkin is not exactly Mr. Rogers. As I said before, I'd make sure Pumpkin gets all the Feliway exposure. Luna doesn't need any.
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