8 days into introducing cats help
The small cat on the ground is my resident cat. She’s about 2 years old and very small because she was the runt of her litter. She’s an extremely sweet cat who loves being held, cuddling, and playing.
We recently had to put my other kitty down about 2 months ago. He was a biiiiig cat. Probably three times the size of my little one lol. They were extremely bonded, so I knew bringing another cat into the home would be a big adjustment for her, but considering how bonded the other two were, I figured she might be open to having another new friend.
Fast forward to now: I knew someone who had a stray/maybe feral(?) cat that they found outside a couple of months ago. They got him vaccinated and neutered, but unfortunately had to rehome him after discovering they were allergic to cats.
I say “feral” with a question mark because he really doesn’t display typical feral behavior. He is about 1.5 years old according to vet. He’s very comfortable around people and clearly wants to interact with my resident cat. He sometimes chases after her, but it seems playful rather than aggressive, and he’s only hissed at her 2–3 times, every time it has been because she has hissed or growled at him first. He seems like he really just wants to play with her.
I kept them completely separated for the first 2 days. On day 3, they were able to have their first face-to-face meeting for a couple of minutes. I’ve also been feeding them on opposite sides of the door and playing with them together. They’re able to share Churus without any issues.
On days 3 and 4, my resident cat would stalk him, growl at him, and then hide under the couch when he approached her to play. Once she got to that point, I would separate them again for the rest of the night.
Now, they’ve progressed to hanging out together under supervision once or twice a day for about 30 minutes to an hour at a time. He really wants to play with her, and she still growls at him, but she doesn’t immediately run and hide anymore unless he swats at her (which has never seemed aggressive).
Another thing I’ve noticed is that she will sit outside the room where he sleeps, where his litter box, food, and water are, and her tail will wag while she watches the door. She seems curious and interested in what he’s doing.
Does this seem like progress? Or should I be doing anything differently to help them adjust to each other?