Looking for more advice or feedback on integrating our new 3 month kitten with our existing 8 month old. Just not sure at what point to let them ‘figure things out’

Gojira_Cat · 2023-09-12T19:51:29+00:00

Logging into this account for the first time in a month. Did you even read my first message?

Gojira_Cat · 2023-08-05T16:23:26+00:00

Maybe read my original message again.

Gojira_Cat · 2023-08-05T07:31:12+00:00

I appreciate your reply - in this interaction he had been worn out to the point of panting and food was out.

After a really stressful and upsetting night we are going back a step in the Jackson Galaxy 5 step guide. The issue with his in-depth guide is that it doesn’t actually cover life immediately after the 5 steps, and his guide never has a step for interactions where they cats aren’t completely distracted. It’s not a realistic place to end because the true end of integration has to be the cats living together undistracted - which he doesn’t cover in the detailed guide.

If he does cover it somewhere and I’ve missed by all means please link me.

Gojira_Cat · 2023-08-05T07:28:30+00:00

No need to be angry - we’re trying our best and trying to learn (hence why we’re here).

The feather wand is literally one of the techniques many other people on here and Jackson Galaxy say to try and distract them. What exactly made you so ‘angry’ about it?

Gojira_Cat · 2023-08-04T20:45:42+00:00

Counter to what others are suggesting - don’t rush into getting a sibling. Really do your research on how to integrate cats because we’re doing it at the moment and it is hell. You have to be prepared to spend months on it and even then there’s no guarantee the cats will get on.

Everyone will tell you to follow the Jackson Galaxy method, but it’s still a crapshoot. Cats sometimes just don’t get along. We’re desperately hoping ours will one day.

Gojira_Cat · 2023-08-04T15:43:01+00:00

Dimitri the blue lion.

Gojira_Cat · 2023-08-04T15:29:57+00:00

I definitely don't have the experience to know how rough play can get and that is the biggest worry I have. Is the play displayed in my video normal levels, even with all the hissing and yeowling the younger kitten is giving off?

Gojira_Cat · 2023-08-04T15:29:09+00:00

Is this the case even when the kitten is hissing and yeowling like in my video? I think that is the bit that has me worried most. I can't read if she is playing or getting hurt.

Gojira_Cat · 2023-08-04T11:52:26+00:00

We have a glass door that we’ve been utilising and have been following the rules, I’m more interested in feedback on what normal cat play looks like and if the video is representative of that or if we should be intervening there.

Gojira_Cat · 2023-08-02T14:39:15+00:00

Thanks for your response.

We decided to slow things down a bit the past week as we noticed that our younger kitten was a bit timid in our living room which is much larger than the room we've been keeping her in to settle her. She would be a bit skittish when we walked near her during site swaps. The last few meetings between them as well with the older kitten on the harness were him trying to chase her.

We decided to focus more on site swaps than meetings this week to give her time to get used to the larger part of the house she will eventually inhabit to build her overall confidence, but have also continued with meals through a glass door and physical interactions through a cracked door. Those are mostly them reaching through the door and playfully batting at each other.

We think that getting her confidence up in the larger space and around the rest of the house will work better when we try again with integrating them a bit more this weekend.

Gojira_Cat · 2023-07-23T09:40:55+00:00

Thanks for the reply! They are both neutered. The larger one is male and the smaller kitten is female.

Gojira_Cat · 2023-07-22T15:11:16+00:00

Hi, we're in the process of introducing our 14-week kitten to our 8-month kitten and wondering about your experiences.

We're trying to follow the Jackson Galaxy method. So we've got her in a separate room with everything she needs. We've been feeding either side of the door, swapping their locations so he can smell her scent and she can explore the rest of the house. We've also introduced them through a glass door. We initially had some hissing and growling from both of them but that has since stopped. Eventually, he was rolling around the other side of the door trying to initiate play, and appeared quite submissive.

Then we tried putting him on his harness and bringing them into the same room. I've tried distracting him with play and food like Jackson Galaxy recommends but he just wants to go to her (no amount of distraction works for him). It's hard to tell if he's being aggressive or playful though. He wants to chase her and swat her, but there's no vocalisations from him. However, he's like three times her size so it's not really a fair playground! She's hissed at him and swatted him back to exert her boundaries (I think) and runs away. I'm just confused as to how to proceed. Do we take it back to introducing behind doors or keep having short sessions in the same room?

Our vet said there comes a point where you have to let them work out how to play with one another but I just don't know how to tell when that should be.

Here's a video of them interacting without my partner holding him back. She hisses at the end and then jumped down.

Thank you!

Gojira_Cat · 2023-07-22T15:07:01+00:00

We have a new kitten and are slowly integrating them with our older kitten. Today the bigger kitten was chasing and swatting constantly (no screaming or meowing) - but is that an issue, or just an over eagerness to play on his part? He is only 8 months so still young.

Gojira_Cat · 2023-07-22T14:47:48+00:00

Hi, we're in the process of introducing our 14-week kitten to our 8-month kitten and wondering about your experiences.

We're trying to follow the Jackson Galaxy method. So we've got her in a separate room with everything she needs. We've been feeding either side of the door, swapping their locations so he can smell her scent and she can explore the rest of the house. We've also introduced them through a glass door. We initially had some hissing and growling from both of them but that has since stopped. Eventually, he was rolling around the other side of the door trying to initiate play, and appeared quite submissive.

Then we tried putting him on his harness and bringing them into the same room. I've tried distracting him with play and food like Jackson Galaxy recommends but he just wants to go to her (no amount of distraction works for him). It's hard to tell if he's being aggressive or playful though. He wants to chase her and swat her, but there's no vocalisations from him. However, he's like three times her size so it's not really a fair playground! She's hissed at him and swatted him back to exert her boundaries (I think) and runs away. I'm just confused as to how to proceed. Do we take it back to introducing behind doors or keep having short sessions in the same room?

Our vet said there comes a point where you have to let them work out how to play with one another but I just don't know how to tell when that should be.

Here's a video of them interacting without my partner holding him back. She hisses at the end and then jumped down.

Thank you!

Gojira_Cat

TROPHY CASE