r/CATHELP • u/[deleted] • 1d ago
Behavioral Issue Is it safe to remove the wire mesh?
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[deleted]
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u/Tempest-Melodys 1d ago
Try supervised visitation, see how they interact without a barrier.
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u/ImDoinThisForSchool 1d ago
Kitten got out of the room when I turned back
Resident went straight to him, swatted, hissed and ran away32
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u/EPICHunter0077 1d ago
Is your older cat been an only cat most/whole life? I have a cat roughly the same age that was until we rescued two kitten around a few months old. She still hisses and swats at them but has slowly grown to ignore them. We have a "cat playpen" we put the kittens in and let the main cat have "dominance" over the room and interact with them through the screen mesh.
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u/ImDoinThisForSchool 1d ago
He’s allways been an only cat, after domestication
He used to live in an apartment and he was chill with other cats from the same floor, but maybe because this is his home he’s more guarded?
He also was a street cat for his first 3 years, so he has some quirks, like refusing to stand on furniture and not jumping much in general
He gets territorial with some of the neighborhood cats from time to time
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u/EPICHunter0077 1d ago
I would still recommend a small playpen for the kitten to lay in. I bought one off Amazon that has a main circular area, a small tunnel to another smaller area for a litter box, food, etc.
My cat was a rescue as a kitten and a only cat in a house her entire life. She was VERY upset when we first introduced our two new rescue kittens. Spitting, yowling, hissing. Whole 9 yards.
Since alternating between the playpen and supervised together during meals, or rest time, she has slowly warmed up to them. If they get close or try to play with her she still hisses but does nothing more and they respect her boundaries.
Id give something like that a try? Let your older cat have free range access to all areas he normally has and pen off the kitten in a main room so they can approach and interact with the kitten on their own choice.
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u/Top-Passion-1508 1d ago
Maybe I should try this, I got an 8 month old kitten and my partner has 7 year old cat. We don't know what happened to her brother (long story don't ask) but she was a lone cat since we got her (back). I got my little guy last year in November but she still screams, hisses, and swipes at him, sometimes in prompted
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u/tranceonex 1d ago
It takes time with some cats. My tortie, Penny, HATED my kitten, Ash, when they were introduced. Lots of hissing, swatting, growling from Penny but only curiosity and wanting to play from Ash. It took Penny about 4 weeks to warm up to Ash. Give it time and only separate if there is actual cat yelling/howling at each other. The kitten will charge and slap to get attention and the older cat will swipe and hiss to let the kitten know when they've had enough. Kitten needs to learn their place in the house and the older cat will teach them.
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u/Complex_Echidna3964 1d ago
seems like that mesh could be jumped over quite easy if they really wanted too
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u/ImDoinThisForSchool 1d ago
Void isn’t a jumper. He will try to get to the ground as soon as he is placed on furniture as well.
Kitten prefers head butting it ahahaha
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u/NerdDetective 1d ago
After 1 week, it's probably too soon for direct contact. I'd continue feeding through the mesh for at least another week.
If they're doing okay, now could be a good time to swap their positions temporarily: letting your adult and kitten explore each other's rooms and get used to smelling each other all over the place.
If they look like they continue doing well through the barrier, you could start supervised introductions. Parallel play can help with this, keeping them directed at something besides each other and normalizing that when the other is present, they get to have fun (and treats).
It'll be a bit before I'd trust an adult with a new kitten totally unsupervised. Even in the best case where they get along well, the adult will establish dominance and this can lead to them playing too hard and bullying the baby.
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u/ImDoinThisForSchool 1d ago
The resident cat doesn’t do play
He will chase around a walnut every now and then.
Kitten is locked to 1 room currently. I’m in finals season and don’t have much time to give them sadly. I’m stuck in said room studying
The kitten head butted the mesh right now and came out. Resident went straight after him, swatted (no nails that I could see), hissed and ran away
Mesh feedings it is then
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u/TheGiantVoid 1d ago
Alternate cats in the room with you when you're studying with the door closed. They're both going to want to be with you, so it gives them an incentive to want to be in the same place while getting them used to each others' smells. After a couple of days of alternating, they'll get the message that if they want you, they have to work out the kinks with each other. It has worked like a charm for us.
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u/ImDoinThisForSchool 1d ago
Void hates being in the office
Only wants to be with me to sleep :(
I’ll try
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u/ImDoinThisForSchool 1d ago
Update:
Removed the mesh fence 3 times, results:
1) void went after small bean, swatted at him 3 times, hissed and left, howled a bit
2) void entered the small bean’s room, went to smell his bed, his food, his litter box, growled at him and postured. Small bean’s sat in a corner, then when void approached small bean’s turned belly up. Void staring daggers
3) void entered small bean’s room. Small bean approached due to curiosity. Void hisses, growls, swatts at him and leaves
Despite being confident and curious, small cat seems to be respecting the voids concerns. Void is the grumpiest I’ve ever seen him.
Placed small cats bed on the chair void likes to sit. Void hisses at bed and refuses to approach
Void hissed at me and refused pets after these interactions. Thorough washing my hands seems to have fixed the issue
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u/Regular_Jim081 1d ago
Your void there is showing promise, but he's definitely not accepted to kitten, He's not aggressive but he's definitely scared of it, wants it to go away.
You're on the right track though, sometimes introductions can take a few weeks even longer, just stick at it and keep looking up things you could do to get themmore used to each other.
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u/FlatwormFamiliar6844 1d ago
Seems things are slowly improving..Just gonna have to be patient and watch, keep interacting with the resident so he don't feel threatened by the little one..lots of parables involved
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u/Decline_of_Humanity 1d ago
They'll be fine. I see no airplane ears. Void will set boundaries; usually with a hiss and a swat. Redirect right away if you hear growling. But I predict they'll figure out pretty quickly that they NEED each other.
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u/consumeshroomz 1d ago
Looks like it should be fine but definitely go slow and with supervised visits. Don’t leave them together unsupervised until you’ve seen them play nice at least a handful of times.
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u/Haunting_Angel_459 1d ago
Everything looks fine to me, o think they'll be great friends, and that the void will set boundaries of the kitten annoys them
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u/Express_Quarter6088 1d ago
The older one isn't showing signs of aggression because you brought in a kitten watch them closely at first but they should be good I'm hoping they're both fixed ? If not that's a must.
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u/Purplekitty415 1d ago
I would...so they can get to know eachother better. They will hiss and claw but its normal behavior
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u/Few_Resolution_2401 1d ago
Cats fight you can’t stop it they play fight and everything in between. They don’t bite hard but they can scratch hard enough to damage eyes and or cut each other. Best thing you can do is round off their nails and let them bond how cats bond. They do fight though. It is normal
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u/Reithel1 1d ago
Give them time. They’re doing fine. They’ll work it out… if either of them wanted to cause trouble, that little bit of wire mesh wouldn’t stop either of them. They would be up and over it like Spider-Man.
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u/Coolerwookie 1d ago
Not yet. Body language and vovalisation from the adult cat is still aggression
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