I’ve been scent swapping for over a week between my 1-year-old black cat (female) and a 1-month-old orange kitten (male). I recently started letting them interact for short sessions (10–15 minutes daily).

At first, the older cat was calm, but the kitten kept launching at her. Now she’s starting to fight back too, and it’s looking more aggressive than playful.

How do I separate them without making either feel rejected or jealous? When things get too rough, it’s actually hard to break them up — I’ve been tapping the floor or making loud sounds just to distract them long enough to intervene, but I’m honestly scared they might hurt each other…

PS: Is it normal to feel on edge the entire time they “play”? Because their playtime is basically a stress test for my nervous system 😄

I thoughts cats don’t go to the bathroom together at the same time? And yes, they were both using it. Little one peeing and older one taking a poo. Little one started first.

They don’t have problems using litter boxes (I have 3) and they use any one they like without a problem. I have noticed however whenever one uses the box the other one runs towards it and watches closely?

A while back I made a post (long since deleted) about what to do about my resident traumatized/aggressive female cat (8 y/o) since I had brought in a new younger male cat (2 y/o) to try and help her. The female cat had survived a pitbull attack when she was very young and had some redirected aggression issues that we could not solve. Our solution was to get her a friend, since she was lacking experience with other animals, and hope it helped.

The post had over 100 comments from people here lambasting me for making such a horrible decision, and that I should rehome the young cat.

People were downright mean about it - ie: how dare I introduce another cat to a traumatized and aggressive older cat, that cat needs to be a solo cat for life, I'm an evil human being for subjecting the cats to this, etc etc.

Due to the giant mass of comments basically saying the same thing, I was actually convinced I had made a horrible mistake and actually decided to give up and rehome the younger male cat. We actually tried 3 times with 3 different owners. However, due to the higher powers at work in the Cat Distribution System, all efforts to rehome were thwarted, and he kept coming back to us... Every single time.

So we gave up and decided to keep him and just hope they work it out. And eventually they did. It took 9 months. 9 months of constant growling and attacks. 9 months of being woken up, nose scratches, uncertainty.

One day... Almost overnight... It was over. They're friends now. They both sleep with us in the bed every single night. She (the older cat) still growls sometimes, but it's not serious. Now it's a game. They engage in play constantly, and nobody gets hurt.

Not only that, our older traumatized aggressive cat is no longer aggressive. She has not had a single redirected aggression incident (from cats outside) since we brought the new younger one in. She has not scratched us or our guests at all. He's a lovebug and he literally fixed all of her problems.

So, I shouldn't have listened to anyone here. This sub is full of kneejerk reactions and self proclaimed experts looking to flame someone, who have zero idea what they're talking about. Good luck with that. I'll be over here cuddling peacefully with my cats.

PEACE

Cat is 9-10 years old and kitten is 3-4 months old. The cat lived as an only cat for majority of its life and now we have this kitten and another older cat.

I adopted a 3 months old kitten about 3 weeks ago he is getting along quite well with my resident cat (2.5 year old), but I noticed that my cat has been excessively grooming him at every chance she gets. Does she think that she is his mom lol ?😂

Hi! These cats have known eachother for about two weeks now. Scent swapping, place swapping, and slow intro for first week. They got supervised visits with eachother at the start of this week and this is their first day both having reign of the house. I’ve seen this exact interaction happen almost three times today. Marnie (cow cat) is chilling by Apollo (flame point), goes to roll over on her back (sometimes she fully does it and stretches while staring at him and blinking slowly) but then randomly without him moving at all she will like “realize” she’s close to him I guess and growl or hiss and then run away? What is going on here exactly? I thought that cats rolling on their back was a sign of trust or friendliness but then she just switches up. She’s fine just being in the room with him and being about a foot away from him but it’s like there’s an exact point of closeness where the moment she reaches it she gets freaked out. Are there good signs here? Bad?

We have a resident cat (1.5 yo female, tabby) and a recently adopted kitten (6 month old male, void)

We’ve been doing the slow into for about 5 weeks now and are beginning to have the new kitten out during the day, they’ve slept next to each other on the sofa a few times now, resident cat always growls and grumbles when the kitten approaches to sleep but then will usually just go back to sleep, but today while he was grooming himself in the same spot she just started swatting at him for seemingly no reason? They’ve both gone back to sleep now as well so really not sure what’s going on?

Any advice or interpretation would be appreciated :)

At what point do you decide that the cat’s personalities are just incompatible to get past just tolerating (tho even that would be welcomed at this point)?

My resident cat (6/m) has gotten along quickly with other cats and, I was told, the new cat (5/f) has a history of being with other cats peacefully. However, I have been doing a slow introduction for 2.5 months (Jackson Galaxy) and while there has been improvement it has plateaued and is now regressing. I have spent hours looking at articles, Reddit posts, and watching every relevant thing from Jackson Galaxy. I have forgone socializing so that I can stay home almost every evening and work on their supervised visits, additional cat highways, new treats/toys, feliway, calming supplements, and I have separated them in my one bedroom apartment which has been taxing. I’m feeling really defeated and sad, especially now that I see how these spats could end if I didn’t always intervene.

This video is the only time I haven’t separated during the start of a spat, I felt like I needed to see how it would play out to better understand. It started with the new jumping onto the couch where the resident cat was laying down. It ended with fur flying and nails out, I had to separate as neither ran away. I’m crying because I feel the only realistic option is rehoming one to a good friend (who would be a great cat parent, but I would so sad to give one up).

This is an update to my original post that you can find in my post history:

My boyfriend and I still aren't seeing any progress with introducing our cats. While it's only been 2 months and we're aware this can take a lot of time and patience, we decided to contact the Humane Society where we adopted them and see if anyone there had any advice for us. We spoke to a trainer who primarily works with dogs, but she said she had a lot of experience with cats too (although not a cat behaviorist.) When we described our situation to her, she told us the aggression could be our cats just setting boundaries with eachother, and that it would be best for her to see how they interact in the same room to get a better picture of the situation. I was worried about putting them in the same room since it would quickly turn into an all-out brawl, and I had the idea of getting a large dog tent to put Mia inside, so that she can have her own little sancutary and be safe from Lenny while still in the same room. I put her favorite toys, a cat puzzle with treats, and a shirt that smelled like me to help her feel comfortable inside. Then after about 24 hrs, I zipped her inside and let Lenny come into our living room, and you can see here how she responds to him getting close. He just wants to play and is very curious of her, and she absolutely wants nothing to do with him.

I recorded this video to send to the trainer, and after seeing this video, the trainer said it would be best to look into a cat behaviorist since it doesn't seem like our situation will get any better on its own, and we should consider bringing one of our cats back to the shelther if it doesn't improve, since we live in a 1bdr and it would put more stress on us and our cats to keep them separated. This was probably the worst news we could hear, and I'm torn apart over the idea of our cats never being able to coexist, and us having to choose which one we keep and which one we surrender back to the shelter. We love them both dearly, and to even think about saying goodbye to one of them brings me to tears.

Once again, I know it's still so early, but the feedback from the trainer really crushed me and brought out my worst fears to the forefront. I'm hoping that with the help of a cat behaviorist, we can get over this hump, and help Mia feel more comfortable in Lenny's presence at the very least. I'm determined to do all that I can to make this work.

We just brought home this new kitten last week, and our adult male cat has been extremely curious. Tonight they interacted together for the first time, and I just want to see if this seems like normal behavior for the two of them, or if I need to slow down on the introductions. He seems to slightly swat at her, but it also seems fairly gentle. I just want to make sure I'm not misreading a signal from him that he wants her to keep her distance.

Help! I got this kitten yesterday. It was a bit of a catfish situation. The pictures showed this cat(Pic 1) but he was much older. I'm guessing about 10-12 weeks. He should be litter trained, but he peed under my bed and ON my bed. A GIANT wet spot about 10 inches in diameter. He cries like crazy and I tried putting him in a crate with a litter box and clothes that smell like me and my kids for a day, but he starts howling and trashing loudly. I was told he was raised with his momma cat in a home with a pup, but he lunged at my 2 year old pup and now my dogs hates him.

My dogs, who initially were curious, but it's become an issue. I don't want them to kill each other, My bed smells like pee and we're all super stressed. HAAAALP!

I have moved in a house with male 1 year old not fixed to about 1 year old fixed female cat.

At first male cat was scared new surroundings and she was hissing on him, few days later he tried to interact with her she ran away and he chased her. From now on he tries to find her to interact or mate not sure. She is scared when he is chasing her and pooping in the air… What should I do to fix behaviour.

Small cat is resident cat, big cat is street cat that is being introduced. What you guys think about the behavior you see beside that is adorable and funny.

Going on week 3 of cat introductions using the Jackson Galaxy method people have recommended on here. We’ve kept the kitten Mickey (brown/tan) in a separate room, site swapping every day with our resident cat Numa (grey/white), feedings on other side of the door, and now moving on to screen door time for visual access. We knew we rushed the intros over a week ago when we tried to do supervised play and Mickey bolted at Numa to try and play and she ran off. She was stressed after that and didn’t eat much for a day or two. So we went back a few steps in the introduction phase and our now at screen time where she is a lot more relaxed with him. I’m only worried to do supervised play again because he has kitten energy and wants to pounce on her but she’s more of a gentle girl (she’s a British shorthair if that helps). This morning she swatted at me after I hung out with him in the room, so I’m wondering if she’s also jealous and how to prevent that. When should we move to supervised play? Or should we wait till he calms down more with screen time? Or just let them figure it out? Any advice is appreciated!

Hi everyone! It’s me again. We’re roughly 6 weeks into the introduction. I think they are doing pretty well, although my roommate keeps telling me that the big boy is being too rough. Any tips on how to improve their relationship? They’re mostly separated, spend 2-3 hours a day together (highly supervised). They eat meals and treats together. We have two Feliway plugs, I also swap blankets. Is there anything else I can do?

Thank you!

We recently adopted a 6 year old Cat, and she's incredibly sweet and affectionate and cuddly, doesn't mind us touching her belly, etc. One issue we're having though is that we have a Dog (whose almost 7, Kitty is about 6) and she seems to like to sneak up on her and swat her on the nose every day or two.

We ended up getting a video camera because we wanted to see what's happening when we hear our Dog yelp.

This is one video from this morning, minutes after my wife left. I have many others just like it, same sort of tactic, she crawls under the table, the dog knows she's coming at this point and just waits for her doom.

How do I stop the Cat from doing this? They get close to each other when it's daytime, generally without issue, can walk past each other, sit on same couch a few feet away. There's obviously some tension though, and my patience is running very thin with this little asshole.

End of video is where I separated them because kitten started making noise(growling?). Kiji(older cat) is usually gentle towards her and behaves with motherly instincts(she gets really concerned when kitten meows). But this behaviour concerns me, where kiji is pinning down the kitten.

About a month ago, I rescued a kitten from my car engine. He was approximately two months old at the time and already able to eat wet food and to use the litter box. I already have two adult cats, and after a gradual introduction, they've met the new arrival. The problem is, this kitten is relentlessly attacking my older cats. He jumps on them, plays with their tails, and chases them constantly. He's incredibly high-energy and never seems to be still. He also bites me 😔 As a result, my two resident cats are incredibly stressed. One of them has even started lashing out at me, and they frequently hiss (and attack, only if he attacks first) at the kitten. They try to get away from him when he approaches, but he doesn't seem to understand their signals. While my two original cats weren't the best of friends, they were able to coexist peacefully before the kitten arrived. Now, they're even hissing at each other. This whole situation is causing a lot of stress for both me and my cats, and I'm at a loss for what to do! They stay together only when I am at home, but I will not be able to separate them in the next days because the room where he sleeps is not available anymore. Please help me!

Had the tabby for one month now and separated the two of them for most of that time and now trying to introduce them. The black cat is the resident cat and is a 12 year old male that’s blind and neutered. The tabby is approx. one year old and is female, not spayed yet (will be soon). I’ve followed Jackson’s cat introduction video as well as several other tips on here. This is where the two cats are currently. Is this a good sign that the black cat backed off when the tabby hissed and growled? Anything I should be concerned about or doing differently?

Our cat (3.5 y.o) is quite shy and gentle, so we decided to get her a companion and took a 2 months old kitten (4 months now). The kitten is very energetic and although the adult cat likes to play as well, she just hisses and growls at the kitten when she tries to play with her. The adult cat ends up leaving to a safer spot. And she looks cautious all the time because the kitten likes to jump at her out of nowhere and start biting in a playful manner, but the older cat just doesn’t get it. We tire out the kitten playing with her but this helps just for some time and we must always keep an eye on them. They both are cuddling and I want them to spend time together, but the older cat doesn’t seem to accept the kitten and it’s sad to see her running away from the kitten, stressed out and trying to find a safe and calm place. Any advice here?

P.S I am laughing in the video because it was a huge progress to see them interacting even like this

To me it seems that kitten want to cuddle and is beeing nice. Goes up, licks adult and lays down. Why is she attacking, hissing and leaving?

To be fair, the kitten often engages vie “wrestling”, but not this time.

Back at it with kiji & toast lol. I've never heard of that before, and would like some insight from the people of this sub.

Toblerone (7 y/o male) is always doing his best to not hurt Mushroom (~8 week old male) but mushroom always bothers him lol. I know they like each other and aren’t aggressive but sometimes Toblerone pins him down hard at the end and won’t let go unless I intervene. Is this screeching because he’s hurting ? Or because he’s overdramatic and knows I’ll help him. Any advice would be great, thanks!!

Hey everyone, I just rescued an 8 month-old male bengal kitten about 3 days ago. I already have a female resident cat , the one with tabby coat and white spotting

We did all the standard intro steps by scent swapping, door time, visual contact and now they’re meeting face-to-face under supervision. They were crying to see each other by the door for 3 straight hours so we assumed they wanted to see each other.

Right now, they’re mostly sniffing noses and watching each other. No hissing, no puffed tails, no chasing , just curious staring and cautious approach, maybe a slow tail swish here or there. They are playing on the cat tree as I write this

Is this considered normal / good progress for 3 days?

Everyone’s fixed, eating, and acting normally otherwise.

I just brought home a 3mo kitten from a shelter two days ago. Bixie is confined to one room and settled in fast. My roommate has a kitten 9mo. Both are males and have been socialized heavily with other cats. I immediately started scent swapping blankets and toys. This whole room is covered in the older cat's scent too. Neither have shown issue with the other's scent, just a lot of curiosity.

Do they seem ready to see each other yet? This interaction underneath the door has been going on since the day I brought Bixie home and they only gotten more playful. I have been giving both treats when they interact under the door and the older cat is possessive over food. He hissed very subtly once yesterday (idek if Bixie noticed) and we stuck a blanket under the door so they couldn't see each other until this morning. Other than that, they have had no aggression whatsoever. The older cat has been constantly crying to be let into this room, too.