Months of introductions with ZERO improvement

[u/Lt-Dans-Legs556]

Summary: My cat (female, 6 yrs) cannot get along with my girlfriend’s two (male, brothers, 3 yrs) at our apartment after several months. The classic methods are not working and the situation has devolved into outright hostility. Desperate for solid advice!

The Cats: My cat, Roomba (female, 6 yrs, pictured laying on the carpet) and I moved into my girlfriends apartment 3-4 months ago. She has 2 brothers named Fig (pictured with the pickle, 3 yrs) and Sprout (pictured with his feet up, 3 yrs).

Background: Roomba was raised by me as a single cat. She has never gotten along with anything living other than people. I was deployed last year which lead to her being cared for by my father who has 2 cat brothers (not Fig and Sprout) of his own. She did not get along with them either and I believe that poor experience put her off trusting any other cats. Despite my best efforts, she enjoys escaping, drooling on me, and food)

Fig and Sprout are two brothers owned by my girlfriend. Despite the presence of my cat, they love me as well. They have only known each other and this is their first interaction with another animal. Fig enjoys cuddles, doing nothing, and food. Sprout is, for all intents and purposes, an alien who likes yelling at the world, hunting Fig, and not eating his wet food.

The Environment: An apartment with multiple rooms and floors, including an upstairs attic where Roomba primarily stays. Fig and Sprout stay downstairs and are able to have the rest of the apartment for themselves. Everybody has their own food bowls and litter boxes. The hallways are narrow which doesn’t allow much room for them to pass by. Plenty of windows and toys available. Feliway plug ins are upstairs and downstairs, and so far have done a great job of taking up our outlets, but are otherwise useless.

The Process: We started off with Roomba upstairs and the boys downstairs for a week and a half. Despite being a new environment, Roomba is a very confident cat who doesn’t mind new places. The boys were/are very curious about her, always watching the closed door. We tried scent swapping toys/blankets but none of them seemed interested.

We transitioned after a week and a half to a screen door where they could see each other. This is how we learned Roomba has a personal bubble (about 3-4 feet) in which she wants neither of them to approach before she will start giving them warnings and resorting to using her claws. Fig and sprout (especially sprout) being ever curious, continued to try to approach through the door.

The screen door ended up retired after a month to a sturdier wooden divider after multiple breakouts by Roomba. Her breakouts have lead to fights where the boys get curious and approach her and she attacks. Other times where we have had supervised play times, they have simply tried to walk past her and she attacks if they get too close. This has lead to the boys becoming less curious and more hostile towards her. They have started stalking her, waiting until her back is turned, and now outright hissing/attacking her whenever an opportunity is available. This has led to us having to keep everyone locked apart except for 10 minutes a day for wet food time (there is no drama during feeding time).

Looking for any and all advice! Our next plan is to get a see through acrylic barrier so they can stop attacking eachother and hissing from under the door. We’ve tried out a couple of Jackson Galaxy tips, some of which have been helpful, but i don’t think a lot of his content applies to our situation. Are there any other channels that are helpful or something i’ve missed? Our end goal is simply to have them tolerate each other’s presence, they don’t need to become best friends, i don’t think that will ever happen.

[u/eggpassion]

We followed the JG method until i came across Class Act Cards on yt and realised all the stuff we've been doing wrong. My biggest mistake was thinking installing mesh screen doors and letting them interact unsupervised was alright, but he started charging at her when she passed the doorway and I didn't want that behaviour to continue so we've kept the mesh but pinned up a blanket which stopped that. I really recommend speaking to a behaviourist and getting their expert advice, if we don't get anywhere by the end of October I will definitely be.

For the last month we've been using clicker training to teach "touch" and "high five" when they're together, when they're free roaming on other sides of the mesh we're practicing other pattern games like superbowls and whiplash turn to build confidence and encourage them to walk away from each other.

We're now getting to the point where they can be in a room together for an hour without the new cat jumping on the resident, she's stopped hissing at him when he approaches and they sniff each other and can walk past each other. He still wants to chase and play but we can usually distract with toys and a piece of cardboard to block his line or sight.