I remember when I first got my second cat. When I looked at him through the adoption window, he would knead at my first kitty. So I figured that they would get along. And then, I took him home and it was a lot of hissing and swatting. After about a week, they coexisted nicely. Then, it took about 8 months later for them to start actually loving each other. All I had to do was get a dog for them to mutually hate 😂🤦🏽♀️
Omg Thank you so much for featuring my cats! Lol this was actually quite some time ago and I’m super thankful for your videos and also to my friend who is also very cat knowledgeable. Both Tiger and Boshi have a much stronger better relationship they definitely still have moments but I’m happy to say they do play now u definitely use feeding time as there bonding time and I actually implemented slow feeders so they both have a fun time together and boy it WORKS. Tiger still sometimes doesn’t understand how to play with her but I do a lot of one on one time with him to keep his mind happy and keep our bond just as strong THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Hi how did you get in contact with him ? My two male brothers use to be best friends now they hate each other n can eat near each other n are nice during treats, but otherwise always fighting n hissing at each other. It got better no more blood fights n separation but still
@@FoxyBeanz well there is a form on his website you can fill out if you have a question you can add videos and pictures but I never thought I would have been chosen for a video it was quite a surprise lol
I adopted a new 5 month old kitten and have a 2yr old resident male. After a week in separate rooms they're trying to get to know each other. She's 4lbs he's 14lbs. I don't want him to hurt her but I feel like I'm interfering in the process. He's pinned her down and few times and I've clapped to separate them. It seems like he's trying to say "I was here first" "I'm in charge".
We are having SUCH a problem introducing our new cat to our resident. He is a 1yr old male and she is a 2yr old female. Both very sweet and chill on their own. We've done the door introducing thing, we have a whole ridiculous baby gate situation dividing our home in half, we switch them out, they will play in the same room and eat but then as soon as we stop engaging them, he charges at her and she runs away. Clawing and hissing ensue. And we exhaust them both during playtime! Multiple rounds of huffing and puffing from them both. As much catification as we can do (as renters - no wall shelves unfortunately) but it is just not working! He will not stop running after her and chasing her! Fur goes flying every time. Do not want to have to give him up, but if we have to choose we will go with our resident cat of course. But we cannot be on top of them all the time - we work - Need to be able to leave them be! I love Jackson and his tips but I need more than "eat, play, love" at this point...
What a cool topic to talk about. We are excited to learn more about bodylanguage, cause when our kitties have argues, sometimes it's hard to tell who started and why.
I never comment on youtube but I'm making an exception to say THANK YOU for posting this! We just added another cat to our family and our resident cat has had a really hard time adjusting to having our new guy around and this is just what we needed
@Jackson catdaddy its been a long road, my mom had a lot of nervous energy that I think the cats were sensing, but they're getting on great now. They can chill with no real fights and tha makes me a very happy cat mama ❤
Forty years ago I got lucky with my two. The older one was about a year old, the new one a kitten. At first sight, the older female just hissed at the new one and ran out. On Day 2, they became buddies, and bonded. The older one was heartbroken when the younger one died about 13 years later.
So it's like they are speaking different languages and have to learn each other's language, you are the translator. Makes sense. This helps tremendously.
I had the exact same situation. I introduced my new cat wrong and now I'm paying for it. Separeted them now and going slow with Jackson's method of introduction. Hope everything will work out.
this is a mood. i've got one cat who has the two lower levels of the house to himself because the other 3 cats don't get along with him, he's got play based aggression issues and two of them are seniors and they just don't like playing rough anymore
I'd like to put this out here to all of you reading this and watching this video. If you're thinking of sending in some video footage because you need Jackson's help, I would suggest that you send in _loads_ of video footage. I can't tell from this video how much he's received from this one case, but obviously more footage equals more evidence. As he's said himself that he can't be there, I think the next best thing is to record as much as possible at different times in different situations. Maybe get someone to help, or maybe install some stationary cameras so you can leave the room and see what happens without you. Just putting it out there...
People should also watch videos of cats interacting, and not the diagnostic kind. I wish I could still recommend CreamHeroes, because it had much more content and cat interactions than Kittisaurus, but I can't. Claire's current channels do have good stuff, and I'm sure there are others out there. Sometimes the problem is that we don't understand the conversation our cats are having. Watching other peoples cats have conversations can help, especially because you don't have to worry about breaking it up.
My cat of 10 years died of renal failure 2 years ago. About 5 months ago my girlfriend finally convinced me to adopt a new cat. He's 1 year old now. Last week I adopted a 15 week old kitten. As expected, at first the resident cat did not like the newcomer at all! Then my girlfriend recommend watching the Jackson Galaxy "how to" videos on introducing a new cat. I followed his instructions to the letter. Today I released the new kitten. The resident cat hissed only once then they immediately started play fighting. That was 3 hours ago and they are getting along great! I can't be happier! Mr. Galaxy, you are amazing! Thank you so very much for all your help and doing what you do. If I could hug you I would. After my first cat died I never thought that I would get another, but here I am with 2 great cats and the introduction went smoothly and was a beautiful thing to see. Your awesome! Thank you!!!
You are only forcing their friendships for your own satisfaction. Clearly you don’t care about your cats’ feelings. You could’ve just isolate them. Cats have the rights to choose who they get to be friends with without humans forcing them to be friends with a random cat, you know?
@@knee_gah335 Obviously you don't have much experience with cats. They can't be forced to be friends with each other even if they are forced to live within the same house. My two play together and get along great with each other. If their personalities clash they just avoid each other or are wary around each other. You clearly need to watch more of Jackson Galaxy's videos. Go educate yourself.
@@knee_gah335 Ok, if you say so. Obviously you're not open to the realm of possibility that two cats may bond to become "friends" and that there might be any other opinions or ideas that are not yours. Hope you have a happy life.
Jackson, you are the Cat Master! Cat Daddy! Cat King...all of that! lol Love the work you do helping bring people closer to and understanding their cats better.
Excellent advice, as always. We are integrating our kitties after four long months of having to keep them separated by a fence for feeding s while getting used to each other. This vid with Jackson's explanation of what the playful kitten is trying to do really is helping us at this crucial turning point in their bonding. Thank you. Both our cats seem more afraid of each other but distracting them at the same time has been so important.
The video of the 2 cats looked good! Like they were communicating through body language and responding to eachother appropriately, they will get along together just fine im sure :)
THANK YOU for the comment about people only submitting videos that are shot horizontally! Vertical videos are completely unacceptable in any application! Great information about cats too!
This was amazing, thank you!!! We have a 1 yr old girl and just got a 4 month old boy kitten & this is very similar to how they were interacting within a week! We've definitely introduced play time with them in the same room & it's been amazing! Your insights and videos are helping my family so much! We had a cat adopt us, who loved our dog and two cats is a whole new game for us but we LOVE it!🥰
We just got a kitten and we’ve been slowly introducing them! We are at the point where they are able to interact with each other and play while supervised! I tried to play with them, I had one cat my bf had the other, but they ignored the toys and went right to sniffing each other
I think sometimes individual cats, like people, have personalities that just don't mesh that well. Our 12-year-old littermate sisters have literally been together from the womb, but they just have never gotten along very well (always wary around each other, hiss and chase each other occasionally). However - if they're outside for their playtime and a strange cat comes into the yard and challenges one of them, the other will come to her sister's defense and run the intruder off!
I thoroughly enjoy my cats’ interactions!! (If and when it’s not a zoomie/play fight moment ) It seems as though the older cat is the dominant of the two. It seems like though that he’s very chill about those moments. Like the older cat is like yeah sure, you can come along… 😂 ❤❤❤
My 2 year old female cat constantly growls and hisses at my 7 month old male cat. Both are neutered. The kitten likes to annoy my older cat by jumping on her, biting her, sitting on her, all the annoying younger brother things that they do. I just want my female cat to be able to feel comfortable around her own home instead of hiding behind the door when he is roaming around our apartment. I feel like I've ruined her life by introducing the kitten in to her life. I have attempted to do the reintroduction methods twice. My vet told me I need to let them interact otherwise the female will never get along with the kitten as they are constantly being kept apart. I try play with them together, feed together but she just growls all the time. Please help!!!
Same here only my females are 4&5 and my 7 month old male is from the street. My one cat seems to try to accept the male but he ends up trying to pounce and chase and I’m not sure if he’s playing or trying to attack!!! My other female just growls and hisses at him and they actually got into a hair pulling altercation so now I have them separate from him again. I just don’t want anyone to get hurt or be super upset the rest of their lifes bc that is simply not fair!!! I need help too I’m so stressed out and feel like I sound crazy talking about this with other people
The problem is: we cant constantly play with them or lead every interaction. What do we do when we finally sit down to rest or sleep at night after a long day of dealing with their needs?
This is the problem with my resident kitty and my foster kitty. Foster kitty is 10 years younger and is male and wants to play. Resident kitty wants to be left alone. Foster kitty can’t help himself sometimes even after we have played with him for a long time, fed him, etc. Then at that point he doesn’t lunge and stop short. He lunges and grabs while resident kitty is running away, hissing and growling. This is after we’ve done all the other steps of feeding on each side of the door, playing, feeding together, etc. It’s just not working. So while we really love foster kitty, we are still looking for a home for him. Resident kitty is not adoptable due to health issues anyways. It just sucks for us because we really love him and he really loves us, but resident kitty doesn’t want anything to do with him no matter how hard we try. I wish Jackson could come to my house and help us fix it.
I think your best bet should be to separate until you are comfortable leaving them together unsupervised. They spend time together playing with you they eat together . But when it's bed time new kitty goes into a different room . That's what's worked for us . Once they are used to each other and there is no negative interactions leave them be . It can take a while but it is worth it .
@@elishamarie81 That sounds stressful. I think sometimes we forget that our animals may just need to shout it out. We break up their arguments, instead of letting someone make their point. Your resident cat is an experienced cat and knows if the foster trying to play. She?s just not having it, or maybe he's not playing. Obviously, you don't want fur flying, but some hissing and growling and a few good punches may be in order. He's outgrown his kitten-pass. Also, it sounds like your resident cat could use some escape routes, ways to go UP and around so she can't be jumped on. And, you know, adopting out foster kitty doesn't mean that you've failed him or gave up on him or don't love him; it means that you've helped both cats. But it sounds a bit like you've adopted a second cat, to be honest. You might want to check out Kittisaurus; Claire has seven cats who disagree frequently, but I don't think I've ever seen anything even approaching the kind of fight we all worry our cats will have. It might help you evaluate the severity of the body language you're seeing.
Always great information! We have a 15 year and my x-husband thought we needed a kitten to replace our sons cat that died suddenly. Needless to say it has been a bumpy road. The kitten will be a year old the end of June. This video was very helpful. Only problem the kitten wants to play with same toy as the senior. It's definitely a case of Mr. Wilson and Dennis!
Thank you for making this video. I am glad as I search for the solution I see this video. What I do is for stray cats around the house. One new cat I guess try to protect the territory and so it chase the other cats. I did use high voice and something to block to ensure no violence happened.....I wonder how to communicate to make them get along. I do provide food, but not yet giving toys. Ironically, in fact I never care about animals before. But somehow, starting from feeding birds outdoor. Then I wonder about cats if they would eat the birds. And so I began to feed cats. Unfortunately I cannot find solutions of feeding veggie to cats. But more or less I do so for the environment and sympathy. This in fact also benefit myself, I could say is spiritual, and I find harmony from it.
Great info @jackson galaxy! I just adopted another cat. They do eat and love together but when the chase is on, I will definitely introduce the toy. Makes sense.
My new one is younger and she doesn’t interpret the no language of the older cats so she pounces to play and it ends in a little scuffle of the older ones letting her know it’s not play time
sounds like mine. All time is play time when he sees another cat. He never hisses or growls so it is more lack of ability to see personal space is a thing for others.
She probably needs that. As long as no-one is getting hurt. She needs to learn to be a respectful housemate, and her elders are telling her in a way she understands.
I get that with mine. Its very much a sibling rivalry thing with annoying little sister who constantly wants to play and older brother too "mature" for it and gets irritated with a hiss and a swat. Both are sleeping next to each other on a towel right now.
@Jackson catdaddy Hi! I think my youngest cat just has a lot of energy. Burning as much off with play saves my other cats a bit of tussling time. It’s interesting - the older cats like to tussle but the youngest goes too hard. They have to put a stop to it after a minute or two.
Man I did the whole introduction thing with my cats. Having them separated, exchanging blankets, feeding them with the door between them, then with a blanket between them, then with a fence thing so they could see and smell each other without touching and everything was going well. They were very enthusiastic to see each other through the little fence. They played together and all. Then we took out the fence and my older cat got so maaaad! Instant hissing. The other one was a kitten so she didn't really get what was going on. I think her not reacting to the oldest's hissing with fear made my oldest cat even more angry lmao. It's been 3 years and even though they eat and play together, but they don't really *like* each other, they just *tolerate* the other. Guess they just aren't made for each other
Many cats who live together just tolerate each other. A lot of times humans want to see them become best buds, but sometimes the most you get is ok with sharing space without beating each other up. Even Jackson has said on a good day his cats just tolerate each other.
Yep. My beloved, recently deceased cat Nina thought she was human and not a cat. She loved humans, even strangers, but threw hissy fits when one of my other cats got to close to her. I was told to find her a home where she would be the the only cat in the house but I just couldn’t do it . She was the most affectionate cat I’ve ever had and I miss her so much it hurts… God bless our difficult furbabies…
Hi Isidora. I am having the exact same problems between my 9yr old and 8mnth old. The older cat is constantly hissing and spitting still after the kitten being here for 6months. She just will not accept her. I did all the seperation and slow introduction techniques. How long did it take for your two to start tolerating one another? I can't go on like this seeing my older cat so angry all the time. It's upsetting.
@@gavvo-7640 I'm in the same boat: I have two senior cats, brother and sister, who are the sweetest goofballs I've seen. But they just won't stop hissing at the two other kittens who came in. We screwed up the intro phase when one of the kittens made a "jail break" and they ran into my senior cats. Since then, all my senior cats do is hiss at the new cats whenever they see them. It's upsetting because the kids just wanna play with them, but they won't have it. I don't know what to do.
"eh ... It's kinda educated 🤷🏼♀️" Lol, 😂 always makes me laugh. I'm trying to introduce a new kitty to my 5 year old resident cat, my cat is having no real problem with it, he's chill and just wants to play, new cat ... she's not really about it yet. So , thanks for the videos and tips!
Oh no! I didn't know any of this and I see now I did A LOT of wrong stuff 😭😭. I addopted my first cat last year when I lived with my parents, and she was the little queen of the house. Last december I got married and we moved. There was this stray cat needing a new home so we figured it would be nice for them to have each other, but I only realized how much that affected her weeks later. We brought her to the new home and brought the new kitten only a few days later, so I see now she had to adjust to both changes at once. She ended up accepting the new kitten, and stopped hissing after a few days, but she's never been the same ever since 😥. Two months ago we got a third kitten, and my first cat who was only just accepting the presence of the second, still hates the third one this day. She used to be the sweetest cuddle ball when it was only me and her, but now she prefers to hide away on top of the furniture. She always seems wary, and doesn't play like before. But sometimes, at nightime, if the other two are sleeping, she climbs up in my bed and goes back to cuddling like she used to before 💔 I thought she was acting like that bc she was growing up (she was 7mo old when we moved and now she is 11mo) but I'm guessing she really doesn't feel comfortable in her own home 🥺 Sorry about the giant text, but I feel so guilty for not having reserched before. Anybody have any tips on what I can do to make things better now??
I'm in the exact situation just different ages but I too feel so guilty like I'm tormenting the first one here who adopted us out of nowhere after our 17yo jack Russell passed. The new one I couldn't leave to starve and get run over but I thought you nowit would be okay
I love this! I wish I'd known about it when we got two cats and our current cat, who'd had the house to himself until then, HATED them. They eventually became good friends, but, I wish I'd known this then!
Hi Jackson, I love your videos! Thanks for putting so much information out on youtube for free, you've taught me everything I know about cats! For that reason, I was wondering if you would ever do videos on how to best respect a cat's boundaries/not cause them unnecessary stress but also keep them well-groomed. Nail trims, coat brushing (especially long-haired cats that need bellies brushed), and dental care are specifically on my mind...This is for cats that aren't fond of the practices or that weren't exposed to them in their early years. I really would like to adopt an adult cat (or a pair of adult cats....!) but the thought of keeping them knot-free and well-maintained is my only deterrent. I would really love to hear your thoughts :) Thanks again!!
I had recently have fostered a cat from the shelter but had to bring him back because my cat Nevada did not like him at all. Even when I tried the interaction, he was calm but she was the one doing all the growling and hissing. I literally had to pull her off of him, and that was the day I took him back.
When my cats do a stare down, I sing a wild west duel song but I sing it all in caterwauls. That usually confuses them enough to stop the stare down and then I can further distract them. This is what happens when your cats do one of those stare downs after you've smoked a bunch of weed.
I adopted a 1-year-old male cat last year. I did everything by the books and then some on introducing him to my resident 13 female cat. Both cats had a history of being socialized with other felines. I consulted the experts and two vets. The two cats could not be kept in the same room. They just would not get along. The only thing I did not do that was suggested was sedating my female. Thats where I drew the line. I was living in two separate households. I gave it a year without any progress. I made the difficult decision to rehome the male. It broke my heart, my Vet and the agency where I adopted him said it was the right decision.
My kitten wants to play with my boyfriends cat but his cat doesn't want too play. They sniff each other as well or lay in the same room but they also chase eachother. My boyfriend gets pissed off when that happens. Especially at my cat. My boyfriend thinks it is aggression and my cat being a bully. But it mostly is just that he wants to play. And this video proves that I was right about that. Play but misscommunication between the two cats. I play a lot with my cat to release his energy. I do a lot of things to try and make it work and possitive for both the cats. But also for my boyfriend and I because my boyfriend being stressed and frustrated does not help the situation. I feel it and the cats definitely do to.
I have a 16 month old neutered male and a 3.5 month old male kitten. I did the slow introductions and it worked! They will tussle and the older male will pin him every so often by the neck. But, no blood is drawn. It seems like he’s just putting him in his place. I’ve caught them brushing up against each other. It seems like they will be fine...the kitten just has a shit ton of energy and the older cat is not interested sometimes.
We have a similar situation here. Poes Poes (2,5yo) is the 'old cat' and Spekkie (15yo) is the 'new' cat. We let them adjust to each other veryyyy slowly and now they're really okay with being in the same room. They don't interact a lot, they sniff at each other a couple times, then walk away from each other. Poes Poes used to do that wiggle butt thing and jump towards Spekkie quite often, but Spekkie then throws out her claws and hisses at her, and Poes Poes then walks away. I interpreted it as Poes Poes sort of bullying Spekkie, but it's good to know that it comes from wanting to play!
Having a not dissimilar issue right now. I know this video is old, so probably no one will reply. I rescued a cat about 6 weeks ago and recently rescued a second as a friend just over a week ago. Both are females, close to the same age (~10 months), one is noticeably larger than the other. Both have similar temperaments. Both are extremely cuddly lap cats. They love people and want to be pet, cuddled, held, and sit in your lap. The first and larger is much more vocal, the newer and smaller is a little more skittish and a little higher energy, but still a confident and relaxed cat overall. Didn't so much as complain once getting in the carrier and getting into a new home. Both wanted out and to explore the new home and were purring in my lap minutes after getting home. No fear or anxiety, just curiosity and cuddles. New cat was fostered with other cats and a dog or two, had no issues with the foster. First cat was fostered mainly alone, but there were dogs in the house. No issue with them either. However, new cat greets first cat with fear, suspicion, recoil, hissing, and if cornered screaming and swats. First cat sometimes takes the message and ignores her, but mostly just follows her around, tring to initiate play, rolling over on her belly and chasing after her. They can be near each other fine. They can basically be touching while eating without an issue, but when the food goes away and first cat comes up to greet new cat or initiate play, she usually reacts with fear, hisses and growl. And it's not that new cat isn't playful. She is VERY playful, in seconds will turn from hissing at first cat who tried to initiate play to batting around dust, feathers, leaping at shadows, or ambushing my feet. I'm not sure how to one, get first cat to be a litle more calm and gentle with her play attempts, and two, get new cat who is clearly playful and high energy to take up the play offer constantly being given to her by first cat. I can't leave them alone for extended periods unsupervised because ultimately, first cat will continue following new cat around until she backs herself into a corner, feels overwhelmed, and starts shrieking and trying to swat. I facilitate interactions when I can, but it's been a little over a week and when I'm out of the house, I still have to leave new cat shut in her own room just so I don't have to worry about a fight or an injury if I'm not there. Once or twice new cat even tried to initiate play by leaping at first cat, but when first cat responded with a gentle, clawless swat, she became all hisses and growls again. Hoping they can work it out.
Jackson, my cat likes to take her anger on my other cats. For example, I would coddle and squish my cat too much until she gets annoyed, but she never attacked me, instead she would ran away, and attack the nearest cat.
Shona Palmer this is call redirected aggression , your cat does not enjoy that interaction but can't seem to understand what is going on so it will get out of the situation and attack the nearest thing in order to protect herself.
Hi Jackson!! I recently graduated from college and have to move back in with my parents for a bit. I have a 1 year old cat named Joey and my parents have a 16 year old cat named Charlie. Whenever I’m at my parents house, Joey has NO boundaries with Charlie and tries to play with her by jumping on top of her!Literally as soon as he enters a room with Charlie in it he just immediately runs and jumps on top of her. It scares the crap out of Charlie!!! She hisses at him and runs away. I’m honestly surprised she hasn’t attacked him yet!! So now whenever we’re at my parents house Joey has to stay in my bedroom most of the time. Charlie has never wanted anything to do with other cats. In fact, she used to pee everywhere before my parents other cat died!! Considering Joey and I are going to be there until at least December, I need to figure out a way for these cats to co-exist!! I definitely feel that Joey jumping on top of Charlie is him trying to play. He’s an extremely sweet cat. But unlike Boshi in the video, Joey jumps on Charlie when it’s not wanted.
Should have watched this 3 years ago. We have a calico now almost 11 and we added a kitten and definitely kept them separate too long. I don’t know if it’s because my calico (pumpkin) is older but she always seems scared walking by my younger cat (pepper). I mean they eat around each other, can be in some rooms and be fine but I just always feel bad that pumpkin seems scared or tentative walking passed peeper because she always wants to play and chase and pumpkin isn’t interested. Well unless it’s 1 am and then they are both chasing each other. But no hissing or claws out.
I currently have 3 resident cats, 2 years old and full of playful energy, and a older foster, pulled off the street 2 weeks ago with a limp. He went through the necessary quarantine and after getting blood work done, and given vaccines and de-wormer I started introducing him to my cats now they are tolerating each other but I’m having trouble really getting them to get along, mostly because, foster kitty doesn’t really play much, he has had a couple of limited attempts but he loses interest quickly. He can’t chase after the toy the way my cats can, both his age and and old fracture to his back leg (the reason for his limp) lead to him just being a really slow moving cat. The few times I did get him to play he layed down on his side and swatted at the toy moving around him, but he just isn’t able to chase it, or do much playing at all. My resident kitties do pretty much nothing but play with each other so it’s been a little difficult to get them to connect with each other. My kitties just don’t understand this slow moving cat. But he is trying to connect with them, this morning he tried to walk up to them and give them a little head bump, the same way he bumps my legs and hands, his way of sharing his scent and showing affection, but my kitties have only ever really done that with me and not with each other (not sure why) so when he got close to them they just freaked out a little, two of them just backed away, and one of them hissed and swatted at him. (Without claws, just a warning for him to back off) which in turn just confuses him more so now I’m not sure how to get them to bond, I started with treats but my own cats were too nervous to eat them at first.
This happens with our two cats too, except one cat is much younger (~2 years old) and unspayed (we're working on it) and the other cat is much older (~17 years old). The older kitty just wants nothing to do with the younger cat while the younger cat just wants to play . Usually, the younger cat wont leave the older cat alone so we've had to keep them separated ): It doesn't help that the younger cat is more bold than the older cat. It was really cute because one time they almost played together (shocking because the older cat hardly ever wants to play) and the younger cat just freaked out because she didn't understand the older kitty's play language ): We're in the middle of introducing them, as suggested by this channel, but it's been so slow and discouraging. We definitely need to do more eat, play, love though!
Hi everyone, I would love some advice. We adopted our 4th cat two weeks ago. We already have two sisters (7 years old) and a big boy (9 years old). The new one (10 years old) was quarantined for one week after her vet checkup and all the necessary procedures. We slowly introduced her to the others. They weren’t complete strangers to each other; the new cat was already familiar with them through their enclosed terrace in our garden. Therefore, there was no hissing or any negative reactions from our indoor babies. However, since she started roaming freely, the new cat hisses and growls whenever the others try to smell her, even the most innocent moves are not welcomed. The others are trying to avoid her, and she seems afraid of them as well. She has recently started coming down to us from her quarantine safety room, but she still refuses their company and especially eating in the same room. She insists on eating behind a closed door in her quarantine room. I would really love to see them snuggling, playing, and eating together someday. Please help! Thank you! 😻😻😻😻
Thank you for making this video. I cannot afford you, so this is a way for me to learn how to help my cats. Can you make a video of 2 female cats that used to get along and not they don't. One of them is the trouble maker and the other is afraid and timid. Very different personalities. One likes to play and is more active, the other is happy to lay down and chill.
Has it worked out for you, I have the exact same situation, my resident wants to be friends but new adoption is hissing and growls. I need them to get along.
I have just introduced two cats and I have to say the “control the action” part didn’t work for me. It might be because both of my cats are really kittens (the oldest was 8 months when we started introducing, the youngest 11 weeks) but after keeping them separate and feeding either side of the door, toys couldn’t distract them from each other. There was definitely some anxiety from my resident cat, but they wouldn’t stop play fighting. Keeping them separate became impossible because even though we were trying to split our time evenly between them, the new kitten was just meowing and wailing every time he was left alone. In the end I just had to let them exhaust themselves with an 8hr nonstop play session, and then they settled down to sleep next to each other and gave each other a groom. There’s still moments when I’m worried about whether the play fighting is getting out of hand, and I think they’re still figuring each other out, but all in all I think things are going well. My older cat now has a little black shadow 😍
Alice In Wonderland Very similar circumstances for us. 4 month old rescue and a year old rescue resident cat. Took about 3 weeks for them to be in the same room and it be manageable. Distracting with toys didn’t do it for our elder cat, he got too territorial over food as well, growling, who knows what he’s been through previously. We had them separated for nearly 3 weeks, scent swapping etc, but I’m lucky to be home all day to interact with them and take turns in different spaces. We’re getting there now I think, our younger girl is shouty, our older guy is quiet. I don’t know if he’s playing or trying to murder her at times. It escalates quickly sometimes and he has a mouth full of her fur. She goes back for more though. She screams blue murder even when he’s being gentle. We’ve got us a screamer! Perseverance I guess. Early days.
I’m watching this video because I’m in a very similar situation. How did this all turn out now that it’s been a year? Our cats seem like they like each other for the first few seconds when they see each other and even nuzzle up for a second but then it turns into nonstop playing or fighting. We can’t tell which. They’re giving such mixed signals. There’s no growling or hissing but they are biting each other in a way that doesn’t look like play. After we break them up one or the other sometimes is panting with their tongue out. Once our new cat is back in her base camp room our first cat hides under the couch. Any advice based on your experience?
I’ve been separating my 13 year old first kitty at mealtime from the 2 little boys I rescued at 2 weeks old,because I thought it would start a fight, but they come in and taste her food anyway and she just watches them. I can’t imagine feeding them all together as she is still not very tolerant of their inquisitiveness. They do intrude on her lap time and I’m trying to give equal attention to all of them. I guess it just takes time and patience.
This is very helpful. we got two cats, an old male and a younger female introduced into family. Somtimes Ive wondered if the male doesnt know how to play, it seems like they want to interract and "copy" eachothers behaviour, they do lurk and wiggle like in the video but it ends up with the female hissing and the male has a history of "biting" her in the back or trying to grab her leg when shes laying flat out on the floor. I try to interfere and watch out so the episodes doesnt repeat themselves. Hes totally dominating outside of the house. whenever she comes out he chases her and does the scracthing to mark his territory and she ends up sitting on the fence where he doesnt get her. dont know how to get them to act differently.
I have a similar situation happening with my two cats. My resident cat is a 2 y/o male and my newest is a 3 y/o female. The resident is very anxious in general because he and his litter were abandoned by their mom and I had to raise him from 5 weeks old without interaction with other cats. We adopted my female in April 2022 and she is friendly, playful, and ornery, but we were told she was good with other cats. She does the same butt-wiggle and charge behavior as in the video but my male does not want/know how to play with her. It always ends up with her chasing him and them getting into a tussle if I don’t separate them or am not entertaining them for too long. Do you think the escalation into fighting is because my resident cat is not playing back with my new cat? Is there a way to teach my new cat that my resident cat does not want to play? New cat does not growl or hiss EVER during these interactions, in-fact the only times I’ve heard her hiss is if she gets too hyped up when playing with wand+string toys. Resident cat cries, hisses and growls when she chases and tackles him. They haven’t hurt each other during the “fights” and I don’t want to find out if they would, I’d rather my new cat just stop bullying my resident cat. I do my best to follow the “eat, play, love” mantra, as well as they other advice given in this video, I am just anxious for it to start actually working! I don’t expect a reply because this video is old but If anyone has had a similar experience I’d love to hear about it and what ended up happening with the cats relationship.
I’m literally going through the exact same thing. My resident cat gets SO upset. It sucks. I don’t want him bullied but I also don’t think that the new cat is trying to hurt him. Has yours gotten any better?
Same situation here. My first cat always seems hesitant and my younger cat is always wanting to run and pounce and play. I don’t hear hissing and it seems more like play but I messed up keeping them separate for too long because I was scared. Has your situation gotten any better?
Been adopting Jackson's method of helping cats learn each other but I've ran into an impasse. I have three cats. The oldest (and mother of one of the cats), Olive, gets along with both. Kala (the daughter and former babycat) is not a fan of the newest (and now babycat) Buttercup. Buttercup is not related to either. Buttercup holds no resentment whatsoever with Kala and only reacts to Kala getting aggressive or defensive. Kala and Buttercup eat side by side with a baby gate between them without any issues. Once feeding ends though, there's a chance Kala starts to hiss, and we've tried to make sure to close contact before that happens so that everything ends on a good note. But any time the two have been on the same side Kala just wants nothing to do with Buttercup and will chase her down constantly. We're still keeping up the routine that has been working, but I'm just not sure where we can go forward with it beyond the gate between the two during feedings.
I have a sweet kitty who’s less than a year old but she’s terrified of all other animals/cats that she’s met so far. I’d really like her to get along with my in-laws older male cat because they’re both awesome cats. They just don’t get along. So far we’ve introduced them about 3 times and one of those was on a family trip for Christmas. We had to keep putting them in their carries and place them in separate rooms because either my cat would start hissing, spitting, growling and puffing up, or their cat would. I’m not sure what to do about it. They hate seeing earth other and smelling each other’s scent even though we always try to distract them with toys or food. Maybe I should just give up on them having a friendly relationship?
When you said how a small interaction can go wrong and snowball is exactly what is happening with my two cats my resident cat rainbow is four years old and I just introduced a one year old male. they have the same temperament very sweet affectionate talkative. They seemed to have a lot of interest in one another and I have a screen door up on my bedroom so they are able to see each other and are both eating on opposite sides of the door, and they also alternate days in my room and the main part of the house. however when I finally thought they might be ready to take the next step and get together after about a week my girl did not react how I expected and completely puffed up hissed and ran and then he chased her and there was a scuffle. I re separated immediately. Now she isn’t having any of it and I’m not sure how to get things back on track I’ve been trying to use feeding and play and she just seems miserable and royally pissed off. He was acting very neutral around her and now he is starting to show signs of wanting to attack her. Help!!! 😭
This is great advice! I want to get a buddy for my 4-year old boy who has always lived alone with me. He was with other kittens in the shelter, but I'm worried that he won't like a new kitten. I'll definitely take these tips!
Same! My boy is 4 years this year and was with another kitten at the shelter at 3 months old but alone with me afterwards. My boyfriend moved in with me 9 months ago and had a cat (8 years old) at his folks' that he wanted to bring. She has lived with other animals, 4 dogs and a cat, but her relationship with that cat at his parents has never been positive. Hissing, growling, fights so they stayed as far from one another as possible. My boy is super relaxed and interested, no hissing or growling. We brought my boyfriend's cat to our place a week ago and keep her separate from him. We do playtime and feed on the other side of the door/baby gate. We went Jackson's route with covering the gate with a blanket and we've removed it a few times with pretty good interactions while feeding. My boyfriend's cat will hiss at times and swat but it's not always. Most of the time she is cool with my boy when she sees him. We did the room swap yesterday and it went well. She was all over the place and hissed randomly at nothing a couple times but calmed down eventually and did her cute relaxed flop to the floor so we took that as a good sign. More feeding on each side of the gate and playtime this week, and I think we are going to try having them meet this weekend upcoming. I wish you all the luck with your buddy and his new friend when you get him one!!
@@raedreambeliever - Thanks! I think I'm going to wait a year to give him some time to mellow out a little more (he's still as high-energy as when he was a teen) and really think about the financial commitment and effort it will take to get a second cat. Stuff like how to keep them from eating each other's food, getting a second litterbox and second set of most things, making sure that I'm making enough money in case they have any health emergencies, etc.
@@knee_gah335 Wow, what an amazing coincidence that you were also at the shelter at the same time as me and know all the details regarding his adoption! For example, how he was found with no siblings, and was at the shelter with only a much younger bonded pair of kittens that I didn't want to split up. True, my apartment allowed up to two cats, so I could have separated the bonded pair to adopt a second cat. But I was a fresh college grad and knew that I wouldn't be financially able to support two pets at the time. Selfish and illogical of me, I know.
I’ve had both of my cats, Sidney (male) and Boo Girl (female), since they were kittens, about ten years, now, and they do seem to get along. But, what I saw the other night was just something else! I got rid of an old, two level, cat condo- they didn’t even use it anymore- and I replaced it with a new, two level condo. When the new one got here, Sidney got right on it, and just loved it. Later on that evening, Sidney was laying in the bottom “shelf”, and the top one was empty, of course. Boo Girl jumped up on the top level, and started digging her nails. Then, Sidney got up, jumped up to the top level, and LITERALLY pushed Boo Girl off! 😳 I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! And Boo Girl just got off of it, no fighting. Then, the same exact thing happened again the next day! Sid was on the bottom, Boo Girl jumped on top, and Sid got up and pushed her off, again! Boo Girl hasn’t gone near it, since. I tried twice, putting Boo Girl on it myself, while Sid was out of the room, but she wouldn’t stay either time, she jumped off immediately, and won’t go near it, now. They always time share everything, so I don’t understand this. This is new behavior. It’s also the first new condo I bought in years. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it, or not. I realize Sidney has claimed the new condo as his territory, and Boo Girl has respected his decision, but I’ve never seen this type of behavior from them, before, and I’m wondering why it happened. I want both of my babies to enjoy the new condo, and I don’t like seeing one of my babies not sharing with the other.
OMG this is the video I need. I've been trying for a month to try to introduce my Cat, Calypso to her new siblings Odie & Athena and its not progressing. They are past the eating behind doors and are now all eating together no problems but if I leave them anywhere together Calypso will swipe/Charge the babies (no claws out) and I can't seem to get past that point hopefully this video can help me out
The cat might just be teaching the other cats/kittens there place in the house and that the cat already there is the "leader," or teaching them play fighting stuff and how NOT to use there razors that are in there paws
There is no such thing as “new sibling”. Calling unrelated cats siblings is like saying the Earth is flat. You are just forcing them bond against their will just for your own satisfaction. Please stop fantasizing over a non-existent bond. Also if Odie and Athena are not related, then may I ask why you adopted from different litters?
hello cat daddy. i have a multiple cat household of different ages. all my babies are rescues. i rescued a feral kitten at 4 weeks young as she had URI and skinny. another kitten dumped in a box found her way to my place. these two, Styla and Angel, were the BEST of friends ! grooming, eating, playing, snuggling - everything together. unfortunately and very sadly, Styla was killed by someone who is not registered nor qualified to administer anaesthesia and she passed away 4 minutes after the injection. Angel is sad. cries when waking up. overeats and has gained weight which i have put an end to doesnt really want to play whic is the time i now grab when she is in th emood to play. i have 3 purrkids who are the gentle, sweet, quiet kitties but chirpy towards me. my question : how do i get one of my other kitties to become Angel's best friend ? so this is obviously after introduction....almost 1 year after living in the same family and home.
This exactly my two cats Rocky and Charlie. Both of them get along at times and will even lick each other or sit next to each other. Rocky is over a year old and still loves to play. Charlie is around 5 years old and is a little more serious. Rocky will shake the butt and pounce to try and play with Charlie. Charlie doesn't know what to think. Charlie gets mad and will hiss or try to swat him. I will continue to try and do a lot of play interaction with the both of them. Before they eat, I always make sure to play with them. I also try to make them play together even when there not eating.
My cats are like this too. They're siblings and they used to play, eat and even sleep together. But lately the older one keep her distance from her brother and I have no idea why :(
I really appreciate the help you are giving to cat parents like us .. i have a big issue going on and no one is able to help me . I have two persian cats they were quite fine till now they are 4 years old suddenly they started fighting after smelling a female cat outside my door so i neutered them but again they started fighting two aggressively its been more than 20 days and i cant stop them can you help
One time, I was on the phone with a friend and she was telling me something really serious. Well, right at perhaps the most serious part of it, one of my cats rolled off the back of the sofa in her sleep and, to make matters even funnier, she started doing that embarrassing licking of her paw as if she hadn't just sleep rolled off a sofa. I laughed so hard that it took me a while before I could tell my friend why I was laughing and she was all angry because she thought I was laughing at her. Then the more angry she got, the funnier the whole situation became and, even when I could stop laughing for a little bit, once I started to try to tell her why I was laughing, I would think of it again and start laughing uncontrollably again. Once I was finally able to spit it out, she laughed too though.
i just brought in a 2.5 year old female to my place, i have an 2 year old male. both are fixed. i had the 2 year old male for about 9 months, and the female is about a week now with me. shes a super sweetie too, kinda princess like in her movements. she will interript me on my tablet or phone for attention etc. shes still being very shy, hiding and such, but she is coming out more and more and staying out a lot longer, often even overnight if i pass out on the couch, or ill wake up from bed and she will be on the couch, so shes adatpting to some degree. she responds to treats, and has been eating and using the litter box no problem.. ill often find the male near her, sometimes they will be nearly side by side, and even seen them curled up against each other, but then the male will try and be cute and playful, and she just wants nothing to do with it, hisses at him, takes a few swats at him and such. she has not been very playful at all, not responding to anything playful really. i wonder if its a male and female thing, or if its a dominance thing, or shes not all that great with other cats / socialization. i have no history of her past lifestyle. i dont think she was abused, cause she has no problem being held by me, i can pick her up at any time i want and she is welcoming, and she has no issues with female humans or other male humans that are new to her as she lets other people hold her and pet her.
We have a similar issue - we have 2 kittens - a 6month old completely regular non-pedigree girl we've had for a couple of months & a recently introduced 4 month old pedigree rag doll boy. The girl wants to play with the boy all the time - follows him around, tries to play with his tail, hiding in a tunnel and then jumping out, but the boy is so slow and passive when she does that, doesn't react or just calmly walks away, but then is happy to play with a fishing rod toy, which shows he's not tired or non-playful. When she is playing with a toy he'd come and take over where she would step away and watch from a corner. Same if we play with each of them separately in the same room with 2 different toys - she just stares at him & ignores her toy or he comes over and plays with hers instead... How do we get them to play TOGETHER? They don't have an issue touching noses or eating in the same room, but they're not really grooming each other, playing together or sleeping closer than 1m away from each other.
Ive had issues with my adult cat and the new kitten coexisting. Its been several months where the kitten is now a mini adult cat. The older cat, Tempurra, treat the other cat, Hachido, as prey. We have been seperating them frequently from different rooms. Everytime we put Hachido in a room to seperate for a bit, Tempurra jumps underneath the door tthats between them rying to get her. Like her paws reaching for Hachido. In the beginning Tempurra despised Hachido that it came to a point of injuries. I got injured, my partner got injured (all different occasions) which all added up to Hachido growing up being afraid of Tempurra because of that, now Hachido starts hissing at Tempurra. And now, Tempurra just with her big blue eyes, hunts her with her eyes. If she had the opportunity to get her she would. She has been in a cat bag to let her see Hachido to try to see she is no threat. It become such a stress in the house but i do not want to rehouse Hachido. Ive been watching the videos but I have not seen one that has similar issues such as having two cats not liking each other for several months.
If anyone out there could answer this it would be greatly appreciated. My cat Soba has been living with me for quite some time, and we've just adopted a stray named Ahsoka. (Don't blame me for naming them so similarly lol it's my fiance's fault) Ahsoka at this point is pretty much fine with Soba. But Soba absolutely wants to kill Ahsoka. And it's been weeks. Ahsoka has her own space in my bedroom. We keep the door closed most of the time but once per day we put a baby gate in that doorway to allow them to see eachother. They have already smelled eachother quite a bit, it took us several weeks to get to this point. Soba likes to jump right over the baby gate unexpectedly and without warning in order to attack Ahsoka. If we try to take Soba out of the action she attacks us full on. My fiance and I have both at different times been completely mauled by her, dripping blood. This has absolutely never happened before Ahsoka came in. We have a baby due in 3 months and we need to get these cats to like eachother by that time because it would be a very dangerous place for the baby to be. We also have a 3 year old who luckily has not been harmed yet but they've been terrified multiple times and at this point I'm afraid they're going to grow up with a fear of cats after seeing the damage Soba has done to us.
We are still trying to integrate an adopted cat in with our previously adopted resident cat (both adopted as adults). It is still not going well. Newest cat being Napolean and chasing, hitting etc. Affectionate towards humans. We are now 8 months in and can't leave them alone...how long should we try before we have to make a difficult decision. Its not fair on either of them, especially resident cat who is showing symptoms of anxiety (overgrooming).
I have a 9 month old orange fluffy male NON fixed kitten. (I intend to get him fixed this week. Ive had no time to yet). He's spunky, tries to be alpha, and sometimes will hunt my cat who I've had for 5 years. Little Man, is a rag doll mut. He is shy, skittish, smaller than Abu, and does not take the "im the older brother" role. So, here recently Abu gets bored or they have a stare down and he will just randomly start chasing and cornering Little Man. And tonight was the first time it was an attack attack. Little Man was hissing and growing. I separated them each time, it happened 3 times, and then finally after the 3rs time I put Abu in the bedroom and closed the door. I'm going to keep them in separate rooms for the night and then try to "re introduce" them tomorrow morning. But I was going to ask, Abu not being fixed ... do you think that could be contributing to him randomly wanting to HUNT Little Man?
I knew he just wanted to play. My Nala does it to me. Whenever she use to hear me coming ild hear a thud on the floor so I've recorded her to see what she does when I'm coming upstairs and that's the same moves. Lol
I'm so afraid that my 2 adopted furbabies are just not going to mesh and that obviously was soooooooo not my intention 😔 after 48 years of being the CatMommy in my world...I'm at a loss with these 2 and it breaks my heart 💔 I don't want to rehome either one...but my 1st is hyper, biting and scratching me whilst playing despite toys, redirection etc. He will chill after a bit though but isn't up under me all the time. I got my 2nd after feeling a bit guilty for leaving my 1st home alone all day - I'm used to having a crew (after 19 years together). My second is a sweetheart - a cuddler. She's lowkey. Both a year old. Both happy to be with me for the most part (more her than him) But together...I may get a couple minutes of them *tolerating* the other and then....ITS ON. Both are fierce. Both have claws. Both will not back down. I'm trying to keep my energy positive and in Light & Love...however...its dimming at the thought that they aren't going to mesh 😔
Hi Jackson, I have an issue in my household with how my partner disciplines our cats and wondering if you could give me some advise please? Firstly we have two cats, Kali is my 5yr old rescued domestic shorthair. She was given to us by a friend who found her in a park in Sydney as a kitten. She has always been quick to jump at loud noises and is very wary of anyone that is not us. She is adorable and purrs when i hug her but doesn't like being under blankets what so ever. She loves to sit on my lap or legs when she sleeps. I believe she is always facing the door when she sleeps also. My partners cat Teesha who is a Chocolate Burmese which she has had for 15 Years. She is an adorable cat that comes into bed with us and will lay on your bicep and snuggle. She is very easy going and never seems to initiate any form of aggression or fighting. So here is the scenerio - My cat is sleeping on the foot of the bed at my feet and my partners cat jumps onto the bed to come and snuggle with us. She walks past Kali and when in Kalis comfort zone, Kali will spring up and attack her. Teesha retreats instantly and the fight ends but my partner jumps up and grabs Kali and holds her down on the bed quite forcefully and makes growing noises. This makes me very uncomfortable and we end up having a fight. I believe she is being too rough with Kali. I do not approve of Kalis behaviour. But i am unsure on how it would be proper to disclipine her when she does this to Teesha. Or if i evem should to be honest? This is just one example as this bascially happens whenever Teesha enters Kalis comfort zone while Kali is sleeping or laying down. Sometimes Kali will tolerate Teesha giving her a few kisses on the head here and there but not for long. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer and i also appreciate if you don't have the time to reply to me on this issue. Cheers have a great day! Josh
I got us a new family member a 7 weeks old Russian blue. She is a huricain and my 4 years old cat Gibson is 4 times the aize of her. She is runing around playing a lot. He is been hising a lot the first 3 days. Now it seams he is just tolerating her. He doesnt hiss anymore. Im just so scared as she is so little and he is such a gigant.
I remember when I first got my second cat. When I looked at him through the adoption window, he would knead at my first kitty. So I figured that they would get along. And then, I took him home and it was a lot of hissing and swatting. After about a week, they coexisted nicely. Then, it took about 8 months later for them to start actually loving each other. All I had to do was get a dog for them to mutually hate 😂🤦🏽♀️
😂😂😂
😆😆😆 a common enemy will bring them together
Oh my god hilarious
Enemy of my enemy is a friend lol
Lol
Omg Thank you so much for featuring my cats! Lol this was actually quite some time ago and I’m super thankful for your videos and also to my friend who is also very cat knowledgeable. Both Tiger and Boshi have a much stronger better relationship they definitely still have moments but I’m happy to say they do play now u definitely use feeding time as there bonding time and I actually implemented slow feeders so they both have a fun time together and boy it WORKS. Tiger still sometimes doesn’t understand how to play with her but I do a lot of one on one time with him to keep his mind happy and keep our bond just as strong THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
That's great to hear, thanks so much for the update 💕
That's wonderful news! Your kitties are so adorable!
Hi how did you get in contact with him ? My two male brothers use to be best friends now they hate each other n can eat near each other n are nice during treats, but otherwise always fighting n hissing at each other. It got better no more blood fights n separation but still
@@FoxyBeanz well there is a form on his website you can fill out if you have a question you can add videos and pictures but I never thought I would have been chosen for a video it was quite a surprise lol
I'm so glad you said this and for the video you sent in because I'm in this same scenario now....and this is all so helpful. 😸
This popped up at such the right time, as we adopted a kitten a few days ago.
Same here same problem let's do eat play love
SAME! 😁👍
Weird... Same here almost creepy timing as im about to adopt a kitten and we have one old lady here
I just did too! How are they getting along now?
I adopted a new 5 month old kitten and have a 2yr old resident male. After a week in separate rooms they're trying to get to know each other. She's 4lbs he's 14lbs. I don't want him to hurt her but I feel like I'm interfering in the process. He's pinned her down and few times and I've clapped to separate them. It seems like he's trying to say "I was here first" "I'm in charge".
We are having SUCH a problem introducing our new cat to our resident. He is a 1yr old male and she is a 2yr old female. Both very sweet and chill on their own. We've done the door introducing thing, we have a whole ridiculous baby gate situation dividing our home in half, we switch them out, they will play in the same room and eat but then as soon as we stop engaging them, he charges at her and she runs away. Clawing and hissing ensue. And we exhaust them both during playtime! Multiple rounds of huffing and puffing from them both. As much catification as we can do (as renters - no wall shelves unfortunately) but it is just not working! He will not stop running after her and chasing her! Fur goes flying every time. Do not want to have to give him up, but if we have to choose we will go with our resident cat of course. But we cannot be on top of them all the time - we work - Need to be able to leave them be! I love Jackson and his tips but I need more than "eat, play, love" at this point...
Hi ,has your situation improved
I have a similar situation, how did you resolve yours? Did they get along at some point?
How’s it going now?
Same scenario here
Same
What a cool topic to talk about. We are excited to learn more about bodylanguage, cause when our kitties have argues, sometimes it's hard to tell who started and why.
Very true.
Jackson, you make cats seem almost human. Texting was a great example of their thought pattern. 💙
He really is the cat whisperer
Boshi looks like he is eager to play, but respects when Tiger says no. He has a good manners!
I never comment on youtube but I'm making an exception to say THANK YOU for posting this! We just added another cat to our family and our resident cat has had a really hard time adjusting to having our new guy around and this is just what we needed
This is EXACTLY what I needed today!!
@Jackson catdaddy They are! Thanks for checking up. ❤❤❤
@Jackson catdaddy its been a long road, my mom had a lot of nervous energy that I think the cats were sensing, but they're getting on great now. They can chill with no real fights and tha makes me a very happy cat mama ❤
Forty years ago I got lucky with my two. The older one was about a year old, the new one a kitten. At first sight, the older female just hissed at the new one and ran out. On Day 2, they became buddies, and bonded. The older one was heartbroken when the younger one died about 13 years later.
So it's like they are speaking different languages and have to learn each other's language, you are the translator. Makes sense. This helps tremendously.
I had the exact same situation. I introduced my new cat wrong and now I'm paying for it.
Separeted them now and going slow with Jackson's method of introduction. Hope everything will work out.
Same. 😞
this is a mood. i've got one cat who has the two lower levels of the house to himself because the other 3 cats don't get along with him, he's got play based aggression issues and two of them are seniors and they just don't like playing rough anymore
good luck it's a hard road
Saaaaame
How did it go? We did it wrong the first time too and the resident cat attacked me :(
I'd like to put this out here to all of you reading this and watching this video. If you're thinking of sending in some video footage because you need Jackson's help, I would suggest that you send in _loads_ of video footage. I can't tell from this video how much he's received from this one case, but obviously more footage equals more evidence. As he's said himself that he can't be there, I think the next best thing is to record as much as possible at different times in different situations. Maybe get someone to help, or maybe install some stationary cameras so you can leave the room and see what happens without you.
Just putting it out there...
As someone who works professionally as a photographer from time to time.... it's always better to have too much footage than not enough
People should also watch videos of cats interacting, and not the diagnostic kind. I wish I could still recommend CreamHeroes, because it had much more content and cat interactions than Kittisaurus, but I can't. Claire's current channels do have good stuff, and I'm sure there are others out there. Sometimes the problem is that we don't understand the conversation our cats are having. Watching other peoples cats have conversations can help, especially because you don't have to worry about breaking it up.
I'm sure he has nothing to do.
My cat of 10 years died of renal failure 2 years ago. About 5 months ago my girlfriend finally convinced me to adopt a new cat. He's 1 year old now. Last week I adopted a 15 week old kitten. As expected, at first the resident cat did not like the newcomer at all! Then my girlfriend recommend watching the Jackson Galaxy "how to" videos on introducing a new cat. I followed his instructions to the letter. Today I released the new kitten. The resident cat hissed only once then they immediately started play fighting. That was 3 hours ago and they are getting along great! I can't be happier!
Mr. Galaxy, you are amazing! Thank you so very much for all your help and doing what you do. If I could hug you I would. After my first cat died I never thought that I would get another, but here I am with 2 great cats and the introduction went smoothly and was a beautiful thing to see. Your awesome! Thank you!!!
You are only forcing their friendships for your own satisfaction. Clearly you don’t care about your cats’ feelings. You could’ve just isolate them. Cats have the rights to choose who they get to be friends with without humans forcing them to be friends with a random cat, you know?
@@knee_gah335 Obviously you don't have much experience with cats. They can't be forced to be friends with each other even if they are forced to live within the same house. My two play together and get along great with each other. If their personalities clash they just avoid each other or are wary around each other. You clearly need to watch more of Jackson Galaxy's videos. Go educate yourself.
@@johnNJ4024 but humans will do anything they can to make 2 cats bond against their will, so it’s still forcing
@@knee_gah335 Ok, if you say so. Obviously you're not open to the realm of possibility that two cats may bond to become "friends" and that there might be any other opinions or ideas that are not yours. Hope you have a happy life.
Jackson, you are the Cat Master! Cat Daddy! Cat King...all of that! lol Love the work you do helping bring people closer to and understanding their cats better.
Excellent advice, as always. We are integrating our kitties after four long months of having to keep them separated by a fence for feeding s while getting used to each other. This vid with Jackson's explanation of what the playful kitten is trying to do really is helping us at this crucial turning point in their bonding. Thank you. Both our cats seem more afraid of each other but distracting them at the same time has been so important.
I thought I was lost after 1 month of adaptation, good to know I’m not the only one with long weeks ahead… how are them now?
The video of the 2 cats looked good! Like they were communicating through body language and responding to eachother appropriately, they will get along together just fine im sure :)
Just did a 5 minute intro with a new cat and this really helped me, thank you. The intro went well! My cat was pretty scared but calmed down quickly
THANK YOU for the comment about people only submitting videos that are shot horizontally! Vertical videos are completely unacceptable in any application!
Great information about cats too!
This was amazing, thank you!!! We have a 1 yr old girl and just got a 4 month old boy kitten & this is very similar to how they were interacting within a week! We've definitely introduced play time with them in the same room & it's been amazing! Your insights and videos are helping my family so much! We had a cat adopt us, who loved our dog and two cats is a whole new game for us but we LOVE it!🥰
My cats throw down multiple times per day. Its frustrating. Thanks Jackson!
We just got a kitten and we’ve been slowly introducing them! We are at the point where they are able to interact with each other and play while supervised! I tried to play with them, I had one cat my bf had the other, but they ignored the toys and went right to sniffing each other
I think sometimes individual cats, like people, have personalities that just don't mesh that well. Our 12-year-old littermate sisters have literally been together from the womb, but they just have never gotten along very well (always wary around each other, hiss and chase each other occasionally). However - if they're outside for their playtime and a strange cat comes into the yard and challenges one of them, the other will come to her sister's defense and run the intruder off!
This guy makes alot of sense !!
I thoroughly enjoy my cats’ interactions!! (If and when it’s not a zoomie/play fight moment ) It seems as though the older cat is the dominant of the two. It seems like though that he’s very chill about those moments. Like the older cat is like yeah sure, you can come along… 😂 ❤❤❤
My 2 year old female cat constantly growls and hisses at my 7 month old male cat. Both are neutered. The kitten likes to annoy my older cat by jumping on her, biting her, sitting on her, all the annoying younger brother things that they do. I just want my female cat to be able to feel comfortable around her own home instead of hiding behind the door when he is roaming around our apartment. I feel like I've ruined her life by introducing the kitten in to her life. I have attempted to do the reintroduction methods twice. My vet told me I need to let them interact otherwise the female will never get along with the kitten as they are constantly being kept apart. I try play with them together, feed together but she just growls all the time. Please help!!!
Same here only my females are 4&5 and my 7 month old male is from the street. My one cat seems to try to accept the male but he ends up trying to pounce and chase and I’m not sure if he’s playing or trying to attack!!! My other female just growls and hisses at him and they actually got into a hair pulling altercation so now I have them separate from him again. I just don’t want anyone to get hurt or be super upset the rest of their lifes bc that is simply not fair!!! I need help too I’m so stressed out and feel like I sound crazy talking about this with other people
This was super helpful cats. I guess with my cats I figured they would know each others "play with me" moves when they're brother and sister.
The problem is: we cant constantly play with them or lead every interaction. What do we do when we finally sit down to rest or sleep at night after a long day of dealing with their needs?
This is the problem with my resident kitty and my foster kitty. Foster kitty is 10 years younger and is male and wants to play. Resident kitty wants to be left alone. Foster kitty can’t help himself sometimes even after we have played with him for a long time, fed him, etc. Then at that point he doesn’t lunge and stop short. He lunges and grabs while resident kitty is running away, hissing and growling. This is after we’ve done all the other steps of feeding on each side of the door, playing, feeding together, etc. It’s just not working. So while we really love foster kitty, we are still looking for a home for him. Resident kitty is not adoptable due to health issues anyways. It just sucks for us because we really love him and he really loves us, but resident kitty doesn’t want anything to do with him no matter how hard we try. I wish Jackson could come to my house and help us fix it.
I think your best bet should be to separate until you are comfortable leaving them together unsupervised. They spend time together playing with you they eat together . But when it's bed time new kitty goes into a different room . That's what's worked for us . Once they are used to each other and there is no negative interactions leave them be . It can take a while but it is worth it .
@@elishamarie81 I'm so very sorry this is happening! Do you think giving the 2 cats a little bit more time to adjust would help?
@@elishamarie81 That sounds stressful. I think sometimes we forget that our animals may just need to shout it out. We break up their arguments, instead of letting someone make their point. Your resident cat is an experienced cat and knows if the foster trying to play. She?s just not having it, or maybe he's not playing. Obviously, you don't want fur flying, but some hissing and growling and a few good punches may be in order. He's outgrown his kitten-pass.
Also, it sounds like your resident cat could use some escape routes, ways to go UP and around so she can't be jumped on. And, you know, adopting out foster kitty doesn't mean that you've failed him or gave up on him or don't love him; it means that you've helped both cats. But it sounds a bit like you've adopted a second cat, to be honest. You might want to check out Kittisaurus; Claire has seven cats who disagree frequently, but I don't think I've ever seen anything even approaching the kind of fight we all worry our cats will have. It might help you evaluate the severity of the body language you're seeing.
This is the same problem I'm having. They are fine when we play with them, but as soon as we stop our new cat charges at our resident cat, claws out.
Jackson methods are just amazing ..really worked for my cats
Always great information! We have a 15 year and my x-husband thought we needed a kitten to replace our sons cat that died suddenly. Needless to say it has been a bumpy road. The kitten will be a year old the end of June. This video was very helpful. Only problem the kitten wants to play with same toy as the senior. It's definitely a case of Mr. Wilson and Dennis!
Thank you for making this video. I am glad as I search for the solution I see this video. What I do is for stray cats around the house. One new cat I guess try to protect the territory and so it chase the other cats. I did use high voice and something to block to ensure no violence happened.....I wonder how to communicate to make them get along. I do provide food, but not yet giving toys. Ironically, in fact I never care about animals before. But somehow, starting from feeding birds outdoor. Then I wonder about cats if they would eat the birds. And so I began to feed cats. Unfortunately I cannot find solutions of feeding veggie to cats. But more or less I do so for the environment and sympathy. This in fact also benefit myself, I could say is spiritual, and I find harmony from it.
My cats do the same thing! I really needed this.
Perfect timing! We just got a new cat and are trying to introduce everyone 🥰
good
Thank you. I recently started fostering cats.
Excellent information delivered in an easy to understand way. Kudos!! Thank you.
🤣🤣 wtf
The texting example, I lost it 😂
"I'm coming to get you !!" "Wait ,what ??"
Omg I REALLY needed this! Thank you Janet for asking and thank you Jackson for answering! Woot!
Great info @jackson galaxy! I just adopted another cat. They do eat and love together but when the chase is on, I will definitely introduce the toy. Makes sense.
My new one is younger and she doesn’t interpret the no language of the older cats so she pounces to play and it ends in a little scuffle of the older ones letting her know it’s not play time
sounds like mine. All time is play time when he sees another cat. He never hisses or growls so it is more lack of ability to see personal space is a thing for others.
Mine too!! I try to distract the younger, play-oriented one with a toy while the older cats escape.
She probably needs that. As long as no-one is getting hurt. She needs to learn to be a respectful housemate, and her elders are telling her in a way she understands.
I get that with mine. Its very much a sibling rivalry thing with annoying little sister who constantly wants to play and older brother too "mature" for it and gets irritated with a hiss and a swat. Both are sleeping next to each other on a towel right now.
@Jackson catdaddy Hi! I think my youngest cat just has a lot of energy. Burning as much off with play saves my other cats a bit of tussling time.
It’s interesting - the older cats like to tussle but the youngest goes too hard. They have to put a stop to it after a minute or two.
Man I did the whole introduction thing with my cats. Having them separated, exchanging blankets, feeding them with the door between them, then with a blanket between them, then with a fence thing so they could see and smell each other without touching and everything was going well. They were very enthusiastic to see each other through the little fence. They played together and all. Then we took out the fence and my older cat got so maaaad! Instant hissing. The other one was a kitten so she didn't really get what was going on. I think her not reacting to the oldest's hissing with fear made my oldest cat even more angry lmao.
It's been 3 years and even though they eat and play together, but they don't really *like* each other, they just *tolerate* the other. Guess they just aren't made for each other
Many cats who live together just tolerate each other. A lot of times humans want to see them become best buds, but sometimes the most you get is ok with sharing space without beating each other up. Even Jackson has said on a good day his cats just tolerate each other.
Yep. My beloved, recently deceased cat Nina thought she was human and not a cat. She loved humans, even strangers, but threw hissy fits when one of my other cats got to close to her. I was told to find her a home where she would be the the only cat in the house but I just couldn’t do it . She was the most affectionate cat I’ve ever had and I miss her so much it hurts… God bless our difficult furbabies…
Hi Isidora. I am having the exact same problems between my 9yr old and 8mnth old. The older cat is constantly hissing and spitting still after the kitten being here for 6months. She just will not accept her. I did all the seperation and slow introduction techniques. How long did it take for your two to start tolerating one another? I can't go on like this seeing my older cat so angry all the time. It's upsetting.
@@gavvo-7640 I'm in the same boat: I have two senior cats, brother and sister, who are the sweetest goofballs I've seen. But they just won't stop hissing at the two other kittens who came in. We screwed up the intro phase when one of the kittens made a "jail break" and they ran into my senior cats. Since then, all my senior cats do is hiss at the new cats whenever they see them. It's upsetting because the kids just wanna play with them, but they won't have it. I don't know what to do.
☹☹☹
"eh ... It's kinda educated 🤷🏼♀️"
Lol, 😂 always makes me laugh.
I'm trying to introduce a new kitty to my 5 year old resident cat, my cat is having no real problem with it, he's chill and just wants to play, new cat ... she's not really about it yet.
So , thanks for the videos and tips!
Oh no! I didn't know any of this and I see now I did A LOT of wrong stuff 😭😭. I addopted my first cat last year when I lived with my parents, and she was the little queen of the house. Last december I got married and we moved. There was this stray cat needing a new home so we figured it would be nice for them to have each other, but I only realized how much that affected her weeks later. We brought her to the new home and brought the new kitten only a few days later, so I see now she had to adjust to both changes at once. She ended up accepting the new kitten, and stopped hissing after a few days, but she's never been the same ever since 😥.
Two months ago we got a third kitten, and my first cat who was only just accepting the presence of the second, still hates the third one this day.
She used to be the sweetest cuddle ball when it was only me and her, but now she prefers to hide away on top of the furniture. She always seems wary, and doesn't play like before. But sometimes, at nightime, if the other two are sleeping, she climbs up in my bed and goes back to cuddling like she used to before 💔 I thought she was acting like that bc she was growing up (she was 7mo old when we moved and now she is 11mo) but I'm guessing she really doesn't feel comfortable in her own home 🥺
Sorry about the giant text, but I feel so guilty for not having reserched before. Anybody have any tips on what I can do to make things better now??
I'm in the exact situation just different ages but I too feel so guilty like I'm tormenting the first one here who adopted us out of nowhere after our 17yo jack Russell passed. The new one I couldn't leave to starve and get run over but I thought you nowit would be okay
I gotta say Jackson - your new beard suits you very well 👍👍
Mr. Galaxy, Thank you for the variety of videos you produce. This vids has given me some ideas to help my own cats that have a slightly similar issue.
Thank you so so so much Jackson, you are the best!!!!
Really good advice. His pill paste cover he sells is fantastic too.
I love this! I wish I'd known about it when we got two cats and our current cat, who'd had the house to himself until then, HATED them. They eventually became good friends, but, I wish I'd known this then!
Hi Jackson, I love your videos! Thanks for putting so much information out on youtube for free, you've taught me everything I know about cats! For that reason, I was wondering if you would ever do videos on how to best respect a cat's boundaries/not cause them unnecessary stress but also keep them well-groomed. Nail trims, coat brushing (especially long-haired cats that need bellies brushed), and dental care are specifically on my mind...This is for cats that aren't fond of the practices or that weren't exposed to them in their early years. I really would like to adopt an adult cat (or a pair of adult cats....!) but the thought of keeping them knot-free and well-maintained is my only deterrent. I would really love to hear your thoughts :) Thanks again!!
0:11 did it glitch out for everyone?
The video footage jerking? Nah looks like an edit to make fun of the video being recorded vertically.
I had recently have fostered a cat from the shelter but had to bring him back because my cat Nevada did not like him at all. Even when I tried the interaction, he was calm but she was the one doing all the growling and hissing. I literally had to pull her off of him, and that was the day I took him back.
Notice how Tiger went to the scratching pad to mark territory.
yea, Tiger was nervous/unsure about what Boshi was trying to communicate, so he marked territory to feel more secure
When my cats do a stare down, I sing a wild west duel song but I sing it all in caterwauls. That usually confuses them enough to stop the stare down and then I can further distract them. This is what happens when your cats do one of those stare downs after you've smoked a bunch of weed.
Wah wah waahh waahh
*tumbleweed noises*
I adopted a 1-year-old male cat last year. I did everything by the books and then some on introducing him to my resident 13 female cat. Both cats had a history of being socialized with other felines. I consulted the experts and two vets. The two cats could not be kept in the same room. They just would not get along. The only thing I did not do that was suggested was sedating my female. Thats where I drew the line. I was living in two separate households. I gave it a year without any progress. I made the difficult decision to rehome the male. It broke my heart, my Vet and the agency where I adopted him said it was the right decision.
My kitten wants to play with my boyfriends cat but his cat doesn't want too play. They sniff each other as well or lay in the same room but they also chase eachother. My boyfriend gets pissed off when that happens. Especially at my cat. My boyfriend thinks it is aggression and my cat being a bully. But it mostly is just that he wants to play. And this video proves that I was right about that. Play but misscommunication between the two cats.
I play a lot with my cat to release his energy. I do a lot of things to try and make it work and possitive for both the cats. But also for my boyfriend and I because my boyfriend being stressed and frustrated does not help the situation. I feel it and the cats definitely do to.
I have a 16 month old neutered male and a 3.5 month old male kitten. I did the slow introductions and it worked! They will tussle and the older male will pin him every so often by the neck. But, no blood is drawn. It seems like he’s just putting him in his place. I’ve caught them brushing up against each other. It seems like they will be fine...the kitten just has a shit ton of energy and the older cat is not interested sometimes.
lol
We have a similar situation here. Poes Poes (2,5yo) is the 'old cat' and Spekkie (15yo) is the 'new' cat. We let them adjust to each other veryyyy slowly and now they're really okay with being in the same room. They don't interact a lot, they sniff at each other a couple times, then walk away from each other. Poes Poes used to do that wiggle butt thing and jump towards Spekkie quite often, but Spekkie then throws out her claws and hisses at her, and Poes Poes then walks away. I interpreted it as Poes Poes sort of bullying Spekkie, but it's good to know that it comes from wanting to play!
Having a not dissimilar issue right now. I know this video is old, so probably no one will reply. I rescued a cat about 6 weeks ago and recently rescued a second as a friend just over a week ago. Both are females, close to the same age (~10 months), one is noticeably larger than the other. Both have similar temperaments. Both are extremely cuddly lap cats. They love people and want to be pet, cuddled, held, and sit in your lap. The first and larger is much more vocal, the newer and smaller is a little more skittish and a little higher energy, but still a confident and relaxed cat overall. Didn't so much as complain once getting in the carrier and getting into a new home. Both wanted out and to explore the new home and were purring in my lap minutes after getting home. No fear or anxiety, just curiosity and cuddles.
New cat was fostered with other cats and a dog or two, had no issues with the foster. First cat was fostered mainly alone, but there were dogs in the house. No issue with them either. However, new cat greets first cat with fear, suspicion, recoil, hissing, and if cornered screaming and swats. First cat sometimes takes the message and ignores her, but mostly just follows her around, tring to initiate play, rolling over on her belly and chasing after her. They can be near each other fine. They can basically be touching while eating without an issue, but when the food goes away and first cat comes up to greet new cat or initiate play, she usually reacts with fear, hisses and growl. And it's not that new cat isn't playful. She is VERY playful, in seconds will turn from hissing at first cat who tried to initiate play to batting around dust, feathers, leaping at shadows, or ambushing my feet.
I'm not sure how to one, get first cat to be a litle more calm and gentle with her play attempts, and two, get new cat who is clearly playful and high energy to take up the play offer constantly being given to her by first cat. I can't leave them alone for extended periods unsupervised because ultimately, first cat will continue following new cat around until she backs herself into a corner, feels overwhelmed, and starts shrieking and trying to swat. I facilitate interactions when I can, but it's been a little over a week and when I'm out of the house, I still have to leave new cat shut in her own room just so I don't have to worry about a fight or an injury if I'm not there. Once or twice new cat even tried to initiate play by leaping at first cat, but when first cat responded with a gentle, clawless swat, she became all hisses and growls again. Hoping they can work it out.
Jackson, my cat likes to take her anger on my other cats. For example, I would coddle and squish my cat too much until she gets annoyed, but she never attacked me, instead she would ran away, and attack the nearest cat.
Shona Palmer this is call redirected aggression , your cat does not enjoy that interaction but can't seem to understand what is going on so it will get out of the situation and attack the nearest thing in order to protect herself.
Hi Jackson!! I recently graduated from college and have to move back in with my parents for a bit. I have a 1 year old cat named Joey and my parents have a 16 year old cat named Charlie. Whenever I’m at my parents house, Joey has NO boundaries with Charlie and tries to play with her by jumping on top of her!Literally as soon as he enters a room with Charlie in it he just immediately runs and jumps on top of her. It scares the crap out of Charlie!!! She hisses at him and runs away. I’m honestly surprised she hasn’t attacked him yet!! So now whenever we’re at my parents house Joey has to stay in my bedroom most of the time. Charlie has never wanted anything to do with other cats. In fact, she used to pee everywhere before my parents other cat died!! Considering Joey and I are going to be there until at least December, I need to figure out a way for these cats to co-exist!! I definitely feel that Joey jumping on top of Charlie is him trying to play. He’s an extremely sweet cat. But unlike Boshi in the video, Joey jumps on Charlie when it’s not wanted.
Should have watched this 3 years ago. We have a calico now almost 11 and we added a kitten and definitely kept them separate too long. I don’t know if it’s because my calico (pumpkin) is older but she always seems scared walking by my younger cat (pepper). I mean they eat around each other, can be in some rooms and be fine but I just always feel bad that pumpkin seems scared or tentative walking passed peeper because she always wants to play and chase and pumpkin isn’t interested. Well unless it’s 1 am and then they are both chasing each other. But no hissing or claws out.
I currently have 3 resident cats, 2 years old and full of playful energy, and a older foster, pulled off the street 2 weeks ago with a limp. He went through the necessary quarantine and after getting blood work done, and given vaccines and de-wormer I started introducing him to my cats now they are tolerating each other but I’m having trouble really getting them to get along, mostly because, foster kitty doesn’t really play much, he has had a couple of limited attempts but he loses interest quickly. He can’t chase after the toy the way my cats can, both his age and and old fracture to his back leg (the reason for his limp) lead to him just being a really slow moving cat. The few times I did get him to play he layed down on his side and swatted at the toy moving around him, but he just isn’t able to chase it, or do much playing at all.
My resident kitties do pretty much nothing but play with each other so it’s been a little difficult to get them to connect with each other. My kitties just don’t understand this slow moving cat. But he is trying to connect with them, this morning he tried to walk up to them and give them a little head bump, the same way he bumps my legs and hands, his way of sharing his scent and showing affection, but my kitties have only ever really done that with me and not with each other (not sure why) so when he got close to them they just freaked out a little, two of them just backed away, and one of them hissed and swatted at him. (Without claws, just a warning for him to back off) which in turn just confuses him more so now I’m not sure how to get them to bond, I started with treats but my own cats were too nervous to eat them at first.
This happens with our two cats too, except one cat is much younger (~2 years old) and unspayed (we're working on it) and the other cat is much older (~17 years old). The older kitty just wants nothing to do with the younger cat while the younger cat just wants to play . Usually, the younger cat wont leave the older cat alone so we've had to keep them separated ): It doesn't help that the younger cat is more bold than the older cat. It was really cute because one time they almost played together (shocking because the older cat hardly ever wants to play) and the younger cat just freaked out because she didn't understand the older kitty's play language ): We're in the middle of introducing them, as suggested by this channel, but it's been so slow and discouraging. We definitely need to do more eat, play, love though!
Hi everyone, I would love some advice.
We adopted our 4th cat two weeks ago.
We already have two sisters (7 years old) and a big boy (9 years old).
The new one (10 years old) was quarantined for one week after her vet checkup and all the necessary procedures. We slowly introduced her to the others.
They weren’t complete strangers to each other; the new cat was already familiar with them through their enclosed terrace in our garden.
Therefore, there was no hissing or any negative reactions from our indoor babies.
However, since she started roaming freely, the new cat hisses and growls whenever the others try to smell her, even the most innocent moves are not welcomed.
The others are trying to avoid her, and she seems afraid of them as well.
She has recently started coming down to us from her quarantine safety room, but she still refuses their company and especially eating in the same room. She insists on eating behind a closed door in her quarantine room.
I would really love to see them snuggling, playing, and eating together someday.
Please help!
Thank you!
😻😻😻😻
Excellent advice, as always.
Thank you for making this video. I cannot afford you, so this is a way for me to learn how to help my cats. Can you make a video of 2 female cats that used to get along and not they don't. One of them is the trouble maker and the other is afraid and timid. Very different personalities. One likes to play and is more active, the other is happy to lay down and chill.
Has it worked out for you, I have the exact same situation, my resident wants to be friends but new adoption is hissing and growls. I need them to get along.
Boshi: do you wanna build a snowman?
I have just introduced two cats and I have to say the “control the action” part didn’t work for me. It might be because both of my cats are really kittens (the oldest was 8 months when we started introducing, the youngest 11 weeks) but after keeping them separate and feeding either side of the door, toys couldn’t distract them from each other. There was definitely some anxiety from my resident cat, but they wouldn’t stop play fighting. Keeping them separate became impossible because even though we were trying to split our time evenly between them, the new kitten was just meowing and wailing every time he was left alone. In the end I just had to let them exhaust themselves with an 8hr nonstop play session, and then they settled down to sleep next to each other and gave each other a groom. There’s still moments when I’m worried about whether the play fighting is getting out of hand, and I think they’re still figuring each other out, but all in all I think things are going well. My older cat now has a little black shadow 😍
Alice In Wonderland Very similar circumstances for us. 4 month old rescue and a year old rescue resident cat. Took about 3 weeks for them to be in the same room and it be manageable. Distracting with toys didn’t do it for our elder cat, he got too territorial over food as well, growling, who knows what he’s been through previously. We had them separated for nearly 3 weeks, scent swapping etc, but I’m lucky to be home all day to interact with them and take turns in different spaces. We’re getting there now I think, our younger girl is shouty, our older guy is quiet. I don’t know if he’s playing or trying to murder her at times. It escalates quickly sometimes and he has a mouth full of her fur. She goes back for more though. She screams blue murder even when he’s being gentle. We’ve got us a screamer! Perseverance I guess. Early days.
I’m watching this video because I’m in a very similar situation. How did this all turn out now that it’s been a year? Our cats seem like they like each other for the first few seconds when they see each other and even nuzzle up for a second but then it turns into nonstop playing or fighting. We can’t tell which. They’re giving such mixed signals. There’s no growling or hissing but they are biting each other in a way that doesn’t look like play. After we break them up one or the other sometimes is panting with their tongue out. Once our new cat is back in her base camp room our first cat hides under the couch. Any advice based on your experience?
I’ve been separating my 13 year old first kitty at mealtime from the 2 little boys I rescued at 2 weeks old,because I thought it would start a fight, but they come in and taste her food anyway and she just watches them. I can’t imagine feeding them all together as she is still not very tolerant of their inquisitiveness. They do intrude on her lap time and I’m trying to give equal attention to all of them. I guess it just takes time and patience.
This was so helpful!! Thank you
This is very helpful. we got two cats, an old male and a younger female introduced into family. Somtimes Ive wondered if the male doesnt know how to play, it seems like they want to interract and "copy" eachothers behaviour, they do lurk and wiggle like in the video but it ends up with the female hissing and the male has a history of "biting" her in the back or trying to grab her leg when shes laying flat out on the floor. I try to interfere and watch out so the episodes doesnt repeat themselves. Hes totally dominating outside of the house. whenever she comes out he chases her and does the scracthing to mark his territory and she ends up sitting on the fence where he doesnt get her. dont know how to get them to act differently.
I have a similar situation happening with my two cats. My resident cat is a 2 y/o male and my newest is a 3 y/o female. The resident is very anxious in general because he and his litter were abandoned by their mom and I had to raise him from 5 weeks old without interaction with other cats. We adopted my female in April 2022 and she is friendly, playful, and ornery, but we were told she was good with other cats.
She does the same butt-wiggle and charge behavior as in the video but my male does not want/know how to play with her. It always ends up with her chasing him and them getting into a tussle if I don’t separate them or am not entertaining them for too long. Do you think the escalation into fighting is because my resident cat is not playing back with my new cat? Is there a way to teach my new cat that my resident cat does not want to play?
New cat does not growl or hiss EVER during these interactions, in-fact the only times I’ve heard her hiss is if she gets too hyped up when playing with wand+string toys. Resident cat cries, hisses and growls when she chases and tackles him. They haven’t hurt each other during the “fights” and I don’t want to find out if they would, I’d rather my new cat just stop bullying my resident cat. I do my best to follow the “eat, play, love” mantra, as well as they other advice given in this video, I am just anxious for it to start actually working!
I don’t expect a reply because this video is old but If anyone has had a similar experience I’d love to hear about it and what ended up happening with the cats relationship.
I’m literally going through the exact same thing. My resident cat gets SO upset. It sucks. I don’t want him bullied but I also don’t think that the new cat is trying to hurt him. Has yours gotten any better?
Same situation here. My first cat always seems hesitant and my younger cat is always wanting to run and pounce and play. I don’t hear hissing and it seems more like play but I messed up keeping them separate for too long because I was scared. Has your situation gotten any better?
Thank you so much 😊
This all makes sense. Warm greetings from Alvi cat and his crew!
I picked up 2 kittens at a rescue 5 years ago and they still don’t like each other. I’ve tried everything.
Been adopting Jackson's method of helping cats learn each other but I've ran into an impasse.
I have three cats. The oldest (and mother of one of the cats), Olive, gets along with both. Kala (the daughter and former babycat) is not a fan of the newest (and now babycat) Buttercup. Buttercup is not related to either. Buttercup holds no resentment whatsoever with Kala and only reacts to Kala getting aggressive or defensive.
Kala and Buttercup eat side by side with a baby gate between them without any issues. Once feeding ends though, there's a chance Kala starts to hiss, and we've tried to make sure to close contact before that happens so that everything ends on a good note. But any time the two have been on the same side Kala just wants nothing to do with Buttercup and will chase her down constantly.
We're still keeping up the routine that has been working, but I'm just not sure where we can go forward with it beyond the gate between the two during feedings.
I have a sweet kitty who’s less than a year old but she’s terrified of all other animals/cats that she’s met so far. I’d really like her to get along with my in-laws older male cat because they’re both awesome cats. They just don’t get along. So far we’ve introduced them about 3 times and one of those was on a family trip for Christmas. We had to keep putting them in their carries and place them in separate rooms because either my cat would start hissing, spitting, growling and puffing up, or their cat would. I’m not sure what to do about it. They hate seeing earth other and smelling each other’s scent even though we always try to distract them with toys or food. Maybe I should just give up on them having a friendly relationship?
When you said how a small interaction can go wrong and snowball is exactly what is happening with my two cats my resident cat rainbow is four years old and I just introduced a one year old male. they have the same temperament very sweet affectionate talkative. They seemed to have a lot of interest in one another and I have a screen door up on my bedroom so they are able to see each other and are both eating on opposite sides of the door, and they also alternate days in my room and the main part of the house. however when I finally thought they might be ready to take the next step and get together after about a week my girl did not react how I expected and completely puffed up hissed and ran and then he chased her and there was a scuffle. I re separated immediately. Now she isn’t having any of it and I’m not sure how to get things back on track I’ve been trying to use feeding and play and she just seems miserable and royally pissed off. He was acting very neutral around her and now he is starting to show signs of wanting to attack her. Help!!! 😭
what ended up happening?
What do you do when 1 cat sees the other as pray and want to kill her? Both are scared cats. They are separated, my cats need relationship counseling.
How did it work out?
This is great advice! I want to get a buddy for my 4-year old boy who has always lived alone with me. He was with other kittens in the shelter, but I'm worried that he won't like a new kitten. I'll definitely take these tips!
Same! My boy is 4 years this year and was with another kitten at the shelter at 3 months old but alone with me afterwards. My boyfriend moved in with me 9 months ago and had a cat (8 years old) at his folks' that he wanted to bring. She has lived with other animals, 4 dogs and a cat, but her relationship with that cat at his parents has never been positive. Hissing, growling, fights so they stayed as far from one another as possible. My boy is super relaxed and interested, no hissing or growling. We brought my boyfriend's cat to our place a week ago and keep her separate from him. We do playtime and feed on the other side of the door/baby gate. We went Jackson's route with covering the gate with a blanket and we've removed it a few times with pretty good interactions while feeding. My boyfriend's cat will hiss at times and swat but it's not always. Most of the time she is cool with my boy when she sees him. We did the room swap yesterday and it went well. She was all over the place and hissed randomly at nothing a couple times but calmed down eventually and did her cute relaxed flop to the floor so we took that as a good sign. More feeding on each side of the gate and playtime this week, and I think we are going to try having them meet this weekend upcoming. I wish you all the luck with your buddy and his new friend when you get him one!!
@@raedreambeliever - Thanks! I think I'm going to wait a year to give him some time to mellow out a little more (he's still as high-energy as when he was a teen) and really think about the financial commitment and effort it will take to get a second cat. Stuff like how to keep them from eating each other's food, getting a second litterbox and second set of most things, making sure that I'm making enough money in case they have any health emergencies, etc.
Why didn’t you adopt one of his siblings too in the first place? You made an illogical decision, so take accountability for it.
@@knee_gah335 Wow, what an amazing coincidence that you were also at the shelter at the same time as me and know all the details regarding his adoption! For example, how he was found with no siblings, and was at the shelter with only a much younger bonded pair of kittens that I didn't want to split up. True, my apartment allowed up to two cats, so I could have separated the bonded pair to adopt a second cat. But I was a fresh college grad and knew that I wouldn't be financially able to support two pets at the time. Selfish and illogical of me, I know.
@@okashi10 ok im the one in the wrong here i apologize
I’ve had both of my cats, Sidney (male) and Boo Girl (female), since they were kittens, about ten years, now, and they do seem to get along. But, what I saw the other night was just something else! I got rid of an old, two level, cat condo- they didn’t even use it anymore- and I replaced it with a new, two level condo. When the new one got here, Sidney got right on it, and just loved it. Later on that evening, Sidney was laying in the bottom “shelf”, and the top one was empty, of course. Boo Girl jumped up on the top level, and started digging her nails. Then, Sidney got up, jumped up to the top level, and LITERALLY pushed Boo Girl off! 😳 I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! And Boo Girl just got off of it, no fighting. Then, the same exact thing happened again the next day! Sid was on the bottom, Boo Girl jumped on top, and Sid got up and pushed her off, again! Boo Girl hasn’t gone near it, since. I tried twice, putting Boo Girl on it myself, while Sid was out of the room, but she wouldn’t stay either time, she jumped off immediately, and won’t go near it, now. They always time share everything, so I don’t understand this. This is new behavior. It’s also the first new condo I bought in years. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it, or not. I realize Sidney has claimed the new condo as his territory, and Boo Girl has respected his decision, but I’ve never seen this type of behavior from them, before, and I’m wondering why it happened. I want both of my babies to enjoy the new condo, and I don’t like seeing one of my babies not sharing with the other.
OMG this is the video I need. I've been trying for a month to try to introduce my Cat, Calypso to her new siblings Odie & Athena and its not progressing. They are past the eating behind doors and are now all eating together no problems but if I leave them anywhere together Calypso will swipe/Charge the babies (no claws out) and I can't seem to get past that point hopefully this video can help me out
The cat might just be teaching the other cats/kittens there place in the house and that the cat already there is the "leader," or teaching them play fighting stuff and how NOT to use there razors that are in there paws
she's just showing them who's boss. Leave them be, as long as they're no claws involved. They need to establish hierarchy.
Me too! My cats eat together fine for the most part, but if they are alone together anywhere in the house it does not go well.
There is no such thing as “new sibling”. Calling unrelated cats siblings is like saying the Earth is flat. You are just forcing them bond against their will just for your own satisfaction. Please stop fantasizing over a non-existent bond. Also if Odie and Athena are not related, then may I ask why you adopted from different litters?
@@PatPat0512 THIS💯👑! I am glad you understand nature and don’t force cat bonding. You have restored my faith in humanity (and pet owners)
There so cute!
I have one cat and I want to get another one I. The future but I’ve been worried about how my cat would react if I got another one
hello cat daddy.
i have a multiple cat household of different ages.
all my babies are rescues.
i rescued a feral kitten at 4 weeks young as she had URI and skinny.
another kitten dumped in a box found her way to my place.
these two, Styla and Angel, were the BEST of friends !
grooming, eating, playing, snuggling - everything together.
unfortunately and very sadly, Styla was killed by someone who is not registered nor qualified to administer anaesthesia and she passed away 4 minutes after the injection.
Angel is sad. cries when waking up. overeats and has gained weight which i have put an end to doesnt really want to play whic is the time i now grab when she is in th emood to play.
i have 3 purrkids who are the gentle, sweet, quiet kitties but chirpy towards me.
my question : how do i get one of my other kitties to become Angel's best friend ?
so this is obviously after introduction....almost 1 year after living in the same family and home.
This exactly my two cats Rocky and Charlie. Both of them get along at times and will even lick each other or sit next to each other. Rocky is over a year old and still loves to play. Charlie is around 5 years old and is a little more serious. Rocky will shake the butt and pounce to try and play with Charlie. Charlie doesn't know what to think. Charlie gets mad and will hiss or try to swat him. I will continue to try and do a lot of play interaction with the both of them. Before they eat, I always make sure to play with them. I also try to make them play together even when there not eating.
My cats are like this too. They're siblings and they used to play, eat and even sleep together. But lately the older one keep her distance from her brother and I have no idea why :(
You sound like a wonderful cat mama 🐾🐾
I really appreciate the help you are giving to cat parents like us .. i have a big issue going on and no one is able to help me . I have two persian cats they were quite fine till now they are 4 years old suddenly they started fighting after smelling a female cat outside my door so i neutered them but again they started fighting two aggressively its been more than 20 days and i cant stop them can you help
One time, I was on the phone with a friend and she was telling me something really serious. Well, right at perhaps the most serious part of it, one of my cats rolled off the back of the sofa in her sleep and, to make matters even funnier, she started doing that embarrassing licking of her paw as if she hadn't just sleep rolled off a sofa. I laughed so hard that it took me a while before I could tell my friend why I was laughing and she was all angry because she thought I was laughing at her. Then the more angry she got, the funnier the whole situation became and, even when I could stop laughing for a little bit, once I started to try to tell her why I was laughing, I would think of it again and start laughing uncontrollably again. Once I was finally able to spit it out, she laughed too though.
i just brought in a 2.5 year old female to my place, i have an 2 year old male. both are fixed.
i had the 2 year old male for about 9 months, and the female is about a week now with me. shes a super sweetie too, kinda princess like in her movements. she will interript me on my tablet or phone for attention etc.
shes still being very shy, hiding and such, but she is coming out more and more and staying out a lot longer, often even overnight if i pass out on the couch, or ill wake up from bed and she will be on the couch, so shes adatpting to some degree. she responds to treats, and has been eating and using the litter box no problem.. ill often find the male near her, sometimes they will be nearly side by side, and even seen them curled up against each other, but then the male will try and be cute and playful, and she just wants nothing to do with it, hisses at him, takes a few swats at him and such. she has not been very playful at all, not responding to anything playful really.
i wonder if its a male and female thing, or if its a dominance thing, or shes not all that great with other cats / socialization. i have no history of her past lifestyle. i dont think she was abused, cause she has no problem being held by me, i can pick her up at any time i want and she is welcoming, and she has no issues with female humans or other male humans that are new to her as she lets other people hold her and pet her.
Hey, Jackson has a "normal" beard & facial hair!!!?!😯
I have the same issue .
I like this video...it makes sense...
We have a similar issue - we have 2 kittens - a 6month old completely regular non-pedigree girl we've had for a couple of months & a recently introduced 4 month old pedigree rag doll boy. The girl wants to play with the boy all the time - follows him around, tries to play with his tail, hiding in a tunnel and then jumping out, but the boy is so slow and passive when she does that, doesn't react or just calmly walks away, but then is happy to play with a fishing rod toy, which shows he's not tired or non-playful. When she is playing with a toy he'd come and take over where she would step away and watch from a corner. Same if we play with each of them separately in the same room with 2 different toys - she just stares at him & ignores her toy or he comes over and plays with hers instead... How do we get them to play TOGETHER? They don't have an issue touching noses or eating in the same room, but they're not really grooming each other, playing together or sleeping closer than 1m away from each other.
Ive had issues with my adult cat and the new kitten coexisting. Its been several months where the kitten is now a mini adult cat. The older cat, Tempurra, treat the other cat, Hachido, as prey. We have been seperating them frequently from different rooms. Everytime we put Hachido in a room to seperate for a bit, Tempurra jumps underneath the door tthats between them rying to get her. Like her paws reaching for Hachido. In the beginning Tempurra despised Hachido that it came to a point of injuries. I got injured, my partner got injured (all different occasions) which all added up to Hachido growing up being afraid of Tempurra because of that, now Hachido starts hissing at Tempurra.
And now, Tempurra just with her big blue eyes, hunts her with her eyes. If she had the opportunity to get her she would. She has been in a cat bag to let her see Hachido to try to see she is no threat.
It become such a stress in the house but i do not want to rehouse Hachido.
Ive been watching the videos but I have not seen one that has similar issues such as having two cats not liking each other for several months.
If anyone out there could answer this it would be greatly appreciated. My cat Soba has been living with me for quite some time, and we've just adopted a stray named Ahsoka. (Don't blame me for naming them so similarly lol it's my fiance's fault) Ahsoka at this point is pretty much fine with Soba. But Soba absolutely wants to kill Ahsoka. And it's been weeks. Ahsoka has her own space in my bedroom. We keep the door closed most of the time but once per day we put a baby gate in that doorway to allow them to see eachother. They have already smelled eachother quite a bit, it took us several weeks to get to this point.
Soba likes to jump right over the baby gate unexpectedly and without warning in order to attack Ahsoka. If we try to take Soba out of the action she attacks us full on. My fiance and I have both at different times been completely mauled by her, dripping blood. This has absolutely never happened before Ahsoka came in.
We have a baby due in 3 months and we need to get these cats to like eachother by that time because it would be a very dangerous place for the baby to be. We also have a 3 year old who luckily has not been harmed yet but they've been terrified multiple times and at this point I'm afraid they're going to grow up with a fear of cats after seeing the damage Soba has done to us.
We are still trying to integrate an adopted cat in with our previously adopted resident cat (both adopted as adults).
It is still not going well. Newest cat being Napolean and chasing, hitting etc. Affectionate towards humans. We are now 8 months in and can't leave them alone...how long should we try before we have to make a difficult decision. Its not fair on either of them, especially resident cat who is showing symptoms of anxiety (overgrooming).
I have a 9 month old orange fluffy male NON fixed kitten. (I intend to get him fixed this week. Ive had no time to yet). He's spunky, tries to be alpha, and sometimes will hunt my cat who I've had for 5 years.
Little Man, is a rag doll mut. He is shy, skittish, smaller than Abu, and does not take the "im the older brother" role. So, here recently Abu gets bored or they have a stare down and he will just randomly start chasing and cornering Little Man. And tonight was the first time it was an attack attack. Little Man was hissing and growing. I separated them each time, it happened 3 times, and then finally after the 3rs time I put Abu in the bedroom and closed the door.
I'm going to keep them in separate rooms for the night and then try to "re introduce" them tomorrow morning. But I was going to ask, Abu not being fixed ... do you think that could be contributing to him randomly wanting to HUNT Little Man?
Thank you,
I knew he just wanted to play. My Nala does it to me. Whenever she use to hear me coming ild hear a thud on the floor so I've recorded her to see what she does when I'm coming upstairs and that's the same moves. Lol
I'm so afraid that my 2 adopted furbabies are just not going to mesh and that obviously was soooooooo not my intention 😔 after 48 years of being the CatMommy in my world...I'm at a loss with these 2 and it breaks my heart 💔 I don't want to rehome either one...but my 1st is hyper, biting and scratching me whilst playing despite toys, redirection etc. He will chill after a bit though but isn't up under me all the time. I got my 2nd after feeling a bit guilty for leaving my 1st home alone all day - I'm used to having a crew (after 19 years together). My second is a sweetheart - a cuddler. She's lowkey. Both a year old. Both happy to be with me for the most part (more her than him) But together...I may get a couple minutes of them *tolerating* the other and then....ITS ON. Both are fierce. Both have claws. Both will not back down. I'm trying to keep my energy positive and in Light & Love...however...its dimming at the thought that they aren't going to mesh 😔
Hi Jackson,
I have an issue in my household with how my partner disciplines our cats and wondering if you could give me some advise please?
Firstly we have two cats, Kali is my 5yr old rescued domestic shorthair.
She was given to us by a friend who found her in a park in Sydney as a kitten.
She has always been quick to jump at loud noises and is very wary of anyone that is not us.
She is adorable and purrs when i hug her but doesn't like being under blankets what so ever.
She loves to sit on my lap or legs when she sleeps.
I believe she is always facing the door when she sleeps also.
My partners cat Teesha who is a Chocolate Burmese which she has had for 15 Years.
She is an adorable cat that comes into bed with us and will lay on your bicep and snuggle.
She is very easy going and never seems to initiate any form of aggression or fighting.
So here is the scenerio -
My cat is sleeping on the foot of the bed at my feet and my partners cat jumps onto the bed to come and snuggle with us.
She walks past Kali and when in Kalis comfort zone, Kali will spring up and attack her.
Teesha retreats instantly and the fight ends but my partner jumps up and grabs Kali and holds her down on the bed quite forcefully and makes growing noises.
This makes me very uncomfortable and we end up having a fight.
I believe she is being too rough with Kali. I do not approve of Kalis behaviour.
But i am unsure on how it would be proper to disclipine her when she does this to Teesha.
Or if i evem should to be honest?
This is just one example as this bascially happens whenever Teesha enters Kalis comfort zone while Kali is sleeping or laying down.
Sometimes Kali will tolerate Teesha giving her a few kisses on the head here and there but not for long.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer and i also appreciate if you don't have the time to reply to me on this issue.
Cheers have a great day!
Josh
I got us a new family member a 7 weeks old Russian blue. She is a huricain and my 4 years old cat Gibson is 4 times the aize of her. She is runing around playing a lot. He is been hising a lot the first 3 days. Now it seams he is just tolerating her. He doesnt hiss anymore. Im just so scared as she is so little and he is such a gigant.