NEW CAT PLEASE HELP!!

[Musahax13]

Rags, is our new Main Coon mix male kitten. He is pretty big and i adopted him from a shelter.
I had hoped he would get along with our fairly young female siamese cat (Elsa) however i was severely mistaken..
The first few days Elsa was curious and scared. Her tail was puffed and she would arch her back and hiss/growl whenever Rags would approach her.

However, He didn’t pay her much attention and would just play in his little room. (He was used to being around many cats and dogs).

One day, out of nowhere Rags saw Elsa and decided to sneak up behind her and jump at her. (Im assuming he wants to play?) There was a few loud growling screeches and hisses and they both ended up running back to their rooms. I separated them not knowing what happened and tried to reintroduce them. Same thing would happen.

Whenever Rags sees Elsa he immediately runs after her and now its gotten to the point where she is so scared she barely eats/drinks and wont leave her room. (Barely) She is constantly on high alert and i don’t know what to do.
Any advice would be MUCH APPRECIATED! Thank you.

[Ruth B]

I would suggest going back to stage one of introductions and take it very slowly, going again through all the scent swapping exercises, then feeding them either side of a door, going from having each cat about 1m away from the door until you can have them about 30 cm either side of it, they can hear and smell the other cat, then using something like a baby gate, so they are still separated but able to see each other. You need to make sure that both cats are happily eating at the same time before moving them closer or replacing the door with a baby gate. Eventually hopefully you can have them happily feeding side by side with no barrier and no chasing. I would also suggest that you play with both of them, particularly Rags, until he is worn out before feeding time, so he is ready to eat and sleep, not eat and play. Also make sure that Elsa has plenty of her things around the house so she knows it still belongs to her and plenty of high places where she can go to watch Rags with out being the centre of his attention.

Finally, I am assuming Rags is neutered, if not then getting that job done as soon as you can will certainly help matters.

Lets us know how it goes.

[Musahax13]

Ok! I talked to the shelter who i adopted Rags from they told me to seperate them into 2 rooms and have them switch rooms everyday. So that is what i am currently doing. I locked both Elsa and Rags into two rooms right beside each other and put their full bowls by the door. Is this the right way to do it?

[Musahax13]

So should Elsa be able to go around the house and only fed beside the door? Should i time them to eat at the same time?

[lilynmitz]

Good suggestions from Ruth, so I don’t have a lot to add. But yes,do let your resident cat mainly have free access to the rest of the house, but feeding them near each other at the same time will be helpful. You may find the suggestions in this link helpful too.

https://www.catchat.org/index.php/new-cat-introductions

Do expect to take it slowly though. You can’t force these things, and the dynamic will change between them over many months, if not years (as I have found with most of my cats). Look at it fromElsa’s viewpoint - she was top cat and got all of your attention, and the whole house was her safe territory. She has lost all of that, and now it appears that Rags is asserting himself (after a few weeks of polite behaviour while he sussed things out). Give Elsa lots of attention and reassurance, and plenty of places she can hide Way from Rags if she needs to. Try to stay calm yourself when around them, as they will pick up on your tension and anxiety and it will make them feel more anxious themselves and increase this stress behaviour.

[Ruth B]

Yes, my opinion is to give Elsa free roam of the house as she was there first, and feed them at the same time either side of the door. Make sure you do plenty of scent swapping so they both get used to each other scent and associate it with good things, food, play, treats etc. It is going to take time and be prepared to go back a couple of steps when needed.

If, however, you are having them shut in two separate rooms then I would suggest letting them each have time to explore the rest of the house when the other is shut away, which will again help them learn that the other cat is about even if they aren't actually meeting them.

[Musahax13]

Ok thank you so much!! I will try what everyones told me and hopefully it will all go well!