Is this normal behaviour?

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i.p.freely - 17 Oct 2004 17:46 GMT

Hi group, looking for advice on problems integrating a new cat.

A week ago my older cat passed away (he was the alpha of my two neutered
males, the only two cats). I went to the rescue and adopted a 8 YO female
which was aparently used to other cats and friendly etc. For the first 2
days they studiously ignored each other aside from a few touch-noses but
this morning the new cat attacked Worf and has been hunting & chasing him
around the house (not just out of the immediate vicinity) to the point where
he cowers in fear and growls whenever she is in sight. I now have her shut
in a spare room with toys, bed, litter tray, food etc and Worf has gone
outside & not come back yet

Worf is a sociable cat and used to others, there are a number of cats in the
neighbourhood and they all come in and out of each others houses with no
trouble between them. As he was not the previous 'alpha' of the house, he is
generally passive in nature and therefore is not attacking back although he
is physically twice the size.

Would this behaviour be normal with a new cat asserting herself or does it
look like her nature has been mis-described as I was also told that she'd
been in the shelter for an extended period of time without finding a home
which is strange as she is a pretty little cat. She's also bitten my
neighbour who came in to see her, and after a couple of minutes of petting
also tried to claw & bite me. She's a Turkish Van if her breed gives any
clues.

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zuzu22@webtv.net - 17 Oct 2004 23:17 GMT

> A week ago my older cat passed away (he
> was the alpha of my two neutered males,
> the only two cats).

In the cat world, there is no such thing as an "alpha" cat. A cat in a
two cat household may at some point be considered "dominant," but cat
heirarchy often changes.

>I went to the rescue
> and adopted a 8 YO female which was
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> bed, litter tray, food etc and Worf has
> gone outside & not come back yet

Separating the cat is what should have been done to begin with, and it
was wise for you to put the new cat in a separate room. Allowing
fighting to happen can make introductions *more" difficult, and since
you've had a breakdown in the process of introduction, it would be wise
for you to keep the new cat in the room with NO contact with the other
cat for at least a week or so, let things settle down, then begin a
*very slow* introduction. You can read why this is so important and how
to do one here:
http://www.catsinternational.org/articles/getting_a_cat/good_introduction.html

> Worf is a sociable cat and used to
> others, there are a number of cats in
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> a home which is strange as she is a
> pretty little cat.

What you need to keep in mind is that this cat has gone from being
abandoned, to living for a long time in a stressful shelter situation,
to coming into a new home with strange people and a strange cat. This
many changes in such a short time is very stressful for cats, and she's
feeling very vulnerable and defensive. Going on the offensive and
attacking the resident cat is likely to actually be a defensive move
designed to scare him off because she's unsure and scared herself. The
right thing to do for her is to keep her separated in a room of her own
and give her time to make the adjustment to you and get used to her new
surroundings before exposing her to the rest of the house and the
resident cat. No doubt Worf could also use a break from her. ;-)

>She's also bitten my
> neighbour who came in to see her, and
> after a couple of minutes of petting
> also tried to claw & bite me.

Some of this could be related to too much, too soon, but you also need
to understand that some cats get easily overstimulated from petting and
the biting is a warning that the cat has had enough and you need to back
off. Cats do give warning signals, and you'll need to learn to recognize
the body language she exhibits that precedes the biting. Signals include
the ears flicking, the tail lashing, or even subtle muscle twitches on
the body. Immediately stopping physical contact when the cat exhibits
any of these warning signals will virtually eliminate incidences of you
getting bitten.

The best approach for integrating this cat successfully into your home
is to give her some time, don't rush and instead take things very
slowly. A good rule of thumb is if you think she's ready for the next
step, wait one more day. HTH.

Megan

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i.p.freely - 18 Oct 2004 07:51 GMT

> > A week ago my older cat passed away (he
> > was the alpha of my two neutered males,
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> two cat household may at some point be considered "dominant," but cat
> heirarchy often changes.

My bad choice of words. Q was always the dominant cat, I had them both from
kitten but Q was a year older and was with me for a year with no other cat.
I was told I had imprinted on him and he became a 'one animal cat' whereby
he would get jealous and start spitting if I petted another cat and even
spat at girlfriends though was generally OK with other male humans. For some
reason he always tolerated Worf though was never cuddly with him as cats can
be.

> What you need to keep in mind is that this cat has gone from being
> abandoned, to living for a long time in a stressful shelter situation,
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> surroundings before exposing her to the rest of the house and the
> resident cat. No doubt Worf could also use a break from her. ;-)

Thanks, have done. Took me half an hour to 'walk' Worf through the house
when he came back in last night to assure him she was not going to jump out
on him, poor mite.

> Some of this could be related to too much, too soon, but you also need
> to understand that some cats get easily overstimulated from petting and
> the biting is a warning that the cat has had enough and you need to back
> off. Cats do give warning signals, and you'll need to learn to recognize
> the body language she exhibits that precedes the biting.

Yep, have recognised that - she sort of yaps before attacking. :)

> The best approach for integrating this cat successfully into your home
> is to give her some time, don't rush and instead take things very
> slowly. A good rule of thumb is if you think she's ready for the next
> step, wait one more day. HTH.
>
> Megan

Thanks for the advise, will see how it goes. :)

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i.p.freely - 23 Oct 2004 23:00 GMT

> >I went to the rescue
> > and adopted a 8 YO female which was
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> *very slow* introduction. You can read why this is so important and how
> to do one here:

http://www.catsinternational.org/articles/getting_a_cat/good_introduction.html

Update:

She's been 6 days in the spare room and generally has become accepting of me
and accepts petting just like any other cat would from her keeper. For the
last 3 days I've been opening the door slightly to allow her and Worf to
have a sniff at each other and there was no adverse reactions. Today I
picked her up and carried her to where Worf was lying on a chair, he made no
move to run away or be aggressive but as soon as she saw him she 'yapped' a
kind of meaw, put her ears back and tried to launch herself out of my arms
at him - fortunately I was ready and held her back.

Lost cause?

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Sherry - 23 Oct 2004 23:10 GMT

>> Separating the cat is what should have been done to begin with, and it
>> was wise for you to put the new cat in a separate room. Allowing
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
>
>Lost cause?

Oh, no, it's not a lost cause. Six days isn't very long really. I never offer a
face-to-face meeting of the new cat till after at least 3 weeks. You just gotta
be patient. :)

Sherry

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