Dear Boo:

Meow! My name is Eddie, and up until about 3 weeks ago, I was an only cat. I’m about 2 or 3 years old, and I’ve had my humans for about a year and a half. They’ve brought me by your place a few times, so we may have met. The only problem is that I don’t seem to like other cats very much, though I loooove people!

About three weeks ago, my humans brought home another cat. He seems very shy, even around people (not like me!), and I think he’s about 5 years old. He likes to be petted (but not held) by people he knows. His name is Max, and I don’t think he likes me! When he first moved in, my humans kept him in a room of his own with the door closed. We yowled and hissed at each other through the doors. After a few days, I got to look at him through a baby gate, and we still yelled at each other a bit. Now, it’s been a few weeks, and we’re both allowed to roam freely around each other when we’re being supervised, though the gate goes up when our humans are sleeping or away. I get one half of the apartment, and Max gets the other!

Anyway, I thought we would be friends by now! Max yowls and growls at me whenever he sees me–either through the gate or when I sniff him out. He’s always trying to hide from me, under beds and in closets, and I really just want to check him out or eat his food! When the gate isn’t up, Max usually stays in his room anyway, and whenever I come near him, he yowls and growls at me. I sometimes hiss back at him, sometimes look at him and meow, and sometimes try to get closer for a good sniff. We’ll do this for up to a half an hour so, and then half the time, I just get bored and walk away. The other half of the time, Max tries to run away from me. Then I chase him! But that doesn’t make him too happy, and he’ll hit me, I’ll hit him back, you know how it goes. Neither of us has really gotten hurt, and I always end up walking away, while Max always ends up cowering somewhere and growling at me.

What can my humans do to make our interactions more positive? Will we ever be friends, or at least learn to tolerate each other? Sometimes Max will come out of his room and hang out elsewhere in the apartment, but he inevitably gets nervous about me and runs back or gets chased into his room. He won’t play or eat when I am anywhere near him. Our humans try to praise and pet both of us when we’re together, but the end result is always the same. I think our humans are starting to get really tired of us fighting. Is there anything we can do?

Thanks,

Eddie Moo

Dear Eddie:

Introducing a new cat into home can sometimes be very challenging. Sometimes the transition goes smoothly and quickly, sometimes it does not go very smoothly and does not happen very quickly (weeks to six months or more) but it does eventually happen, and unfortunately sometimes it just doesn’t work at all. I got a little testy myself when ‘Reebok’ (aka ‘Bokkers’) was introduced to our hospital last fall. I’m pretty protective of my own turf, and I’m still known to occasionally walk past my food bowl and into her territory to her food bowl (which has the same food as is in my bowl), just to show her that I can eat wherever I want. If she’s at her food bowl when I arrive, she defers to me, which is how I like it.

My feeling, Eddie, is that Max is very intimidated by you. Although you have probably convinced your humans that you are only interested in ‘checking out Max or eating his food’, your description of your interactions with Max tell me that what you are really trying to do is to bully Max and establish yourself at the top of the cat pecking order. (I am a bully, too, so don’t feel bad. My behavior described above confirms this. Additionally, just for the fun of it, sometimes I’ll head into Reebok’s area, and just sit and stare at her. Some humans don’t realize this, but staring is an extremely powerful form of aggression in us felines. If I stare long enough, she’ll run, and then I may chase her. With my three legs and my laid-back attitude most of the time, however, my chase only lasts a couple of feet, and I’m always in slow motion when I ‘run’ anyway). When you go into Max’s room and go near him, you can’t fool me. You are not just curious, you are being blatantly aggressive. His natural response is to yowl and growl at you, and then maybe run off, with you in hot pursuit. Whenever a new cat is introduced into a home, we cats have to establish/re-establish our pecking order. Some cats are dominant (you, me), and some are more at the bottom of the pecking order. The ones at the bottom of the pecking order tend to be more intimidated by those at the top of the pecking order, and sometimes that intimidation can be somewhat extreme (as is the case with Max). In these cases, the intimidated cat may hide and/or rarely ever leave his or her ‘safe area’ or territory.

Your humans have really done a lot of things right in trying to make your interactions more positive. In many cases, these alone would have worked just fine. For now, though, I might suggest a couple of things. First of all, it might be a good idea for your owners to start all over with the introduction process. Because of your past experiences, each step in the introduction process should last more than a few days, and we’ll just take baby steps.

I would suggest going back to giving Max his own room with the door closed for now. He should have his own litterbox, scratching post, food, water, toys, etc. This is ‘his territory’ for now. Keep him separate in his own room for several weeks or more. Don’t even try putting the two of you together. You can still sniff each other from under the door (and hiss if you feel the need), but Max needs to feel very comfortable with his own territory before he goes to the next level.

Next, you and Max can move on to controlled and supervised introductions. The baby gate might be a good place to start with this. Max still would be in his room, but with the door open so you could still see each other but not go after each other. The baby gate would act as a deterrent to your going in or Max going out of that room. If things are going relatively smoothly with the baby gate after several weeks or more, you might try having your owners use a 5-10 minute feeding window twice daily for the next step at controlled introduction. You and Max would be in the same room (maybe several feet apart, or maybe with one food bowl up on the counter top, and one food bowl on the floor, etc), but only for the few minutes that it takes to eat the food. Your owners should be supervising the two of you at all times. Feeding time is usually a very positive time in our cat lives, and often we are more interested in eating than fighting, if there’s a choice, so using feeding time as a tool for introducing new felines is often helpful. Over a period of several weeks or more, your owners can slowly move the food bowls closer together and increase the length of time that you two cats are together.

Additionally, the use of Rescue Remedy or Feliway may be helpful. Rescue Remedy is a homeopathic bach flower essence solution that may have a calming effect on a cat in a stressful or fearful situation. Place 1-2 drops in the mouth or on the tongue. Consider this for both you and Max. Feliway mimics the friendly pheromone scent that a cat produces in its cheeks. It can be helpful in reducing a cat’s anxiety, stress or fear. This product should never be rubbed or sprayed on us cats, but the liquid version of the product can be sprayed onto objects in our environment (cat bedding, carriers, some furniture, rugs, etc.) to help to calm us. Additionally, and/or alternatively, the Feliway plug-in diffuser, which is plugged into an electric outlet, can be used. The scent automatically covers a 500-600 square foot room. This product may help to calm cats and ease up those fighting tendencies. (Here at my hospital, we have Feliway diffusers in several areas to help calm the fears that some of you experience when you come to my hospital).

It is always helpful for our humans to recognize our natural feline behaviors. Us cats will not necessarily always be friends. Sometimes the very best that can be expected is that we will tolerate each other. Sometimes even that does not happen, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

It may be tempting for our owners to want to interfere with our introduction process in ways that aren’t real helpful in making that transition go more smoothly. In many cases, using the baby steps described above, there will still be hisses and growls, etc., but our humans, in most cases, should just let us cats work it out. Your humans should not try to ‘rescue’ Max by picking him up, or ostracizing you, if you are intimidating him. This may make the situation worse by interfering with the natural progression of your relationship with Max. It’s ok for them to scold you if you go beyond a reasonable limit, but it sounds like you’re a reasonable guy, Eddie. As you come to tolerate the changes with Max, I’m sure your owners will praise you for tolerating those changes. With baby steps, and time (often up to several months or more!), most of us cats can work things out on our own. Your owners should monitor the two of you closely, however, until you and Max are fully integrated and not reacting defensively or aggressively to one another. You should not be left alone together unattended full integration is achieved. You each should have your own special time with your humans.

In some instances, though fortunately not commonly, the introduction goes so poorly that one or both cats may need ‘mood altering’ drugs to either curb aggressive behavior (you), or reduce anxiety (Max). Sometimes a consultation with a board-certified animal behaviorist is necessary. And unfortunately, sometimes the chemistry between two particular cats is so poor that the introduction just plain does not work at all, with or without drug therapy, and the ‘intruder’ (as you may be referring to your new house companion) needs to go to another home where he or she is more welcome.

I wish you the best of luck, Eddie. I am sure that you are trying to work through this. Your owners have done a lot to make your introduction with Max go more smoothly. But give it time. It has only been a few weeks for you and Max! My humans here at the hospital would certainly commend your owners also for bringing an adult cat in need of a home into your home. Adult cats are oftentimes harder to adopt, and humans like it when they can offer a home to a cat that might otherwise be harder to place. However, you and I both know that kittens are oftentimes more acceptable to us adult animals, even though they may want to play with us and we need our 23.5 hours of daily napping. I guess we don’t get as ‘turfy’ around kittens because we don’t see them as quite the threat that we do another adult cat, and especially an adult cat of the same sex. Max sounds like a wonderful cat, and so do you, Eddie.

I hope I was able to be of help. My apologies for the lengthy answer. I’ve got to get back to bed now, but first I’ll probably let Reebok know who’s boss around here.

Boo