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Introducing Cats to Each Other: Part 3

Day 7 — Fri, Jan 3rd

No bites or grabbing! Great work, Marsh. More importantly, Gus and Marsh met four times and it all went exceptionally well. No negative body language, no vocalizations, and they were both easy to keep semi-distracted instead of fixating on each other.

Marsh on top of a glass table reaching for an unsuspecting Gus on the floor

Dainty.

Marsh sniffing Gus' butt
Marsh and Gus snuffing each others noses

Day 8

Marsh bit me twice, but no grabbing. Our new protocol for this is to loudly state “no bite,” lean into the bite instead of trying to pull away from it, and to stop paying attention to him but not leave the room. “No bite” worked really well and he immediately disengaged.

I use a spoon of wet food when doing hoops with him. Theoretically the spoon is good because it teaches cats to not bite hard.

Gus and Marsh met twice today, and sadly, they were tenser meets that each ended with small spats. They were both easy to separate — the first one I made one loud clap and that did the trick. Marsh even went back to the quarantine room on his own after that.

A brown piebalded tabby lounging on a couch looking intently out of frame with his paw hanging over

Day 9

Marsh tried to bite me twice in the morning but they were both less aggressive than yesterday and the “no bite” command was effective again. I thiiiiink he’s learning. But then in the evening he bit me a couple times and then tried to grab me as I was getting up — more similar to what he did to Kat on Thursday.

Marsh lounging on the couch with his belly up and a hand from out of frame petting him

We skipped having the guys hang out in the same room and instead just had them eat a good treat with the door cracked.

A gap between a door with Gus on one side and Marsh on the other, each eating their snacks
Marsh sleeping on top of a green tote

Day 10

Still no progress on the grabbing and biting issue. Consulted with folks from the rescue and we’re gonna change up his diet a bit. We’re feeding him TikiCat right now in five meals. We’re gonna feed him a paté instead, in fewer meals, hoping that he’s acting out because of hunger and his meals have been too light.

Marsh and Gus met again today though, and it went well! And, Marsh let me pick him up without biting me.

Marsh passed out belly side up on the couch
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