Hi everyone! These are my two babygirls: Madi (tabby, 4 years old) and Padme (white tabby, 2-3 years old). Madi has been the only resident cat for 4 years. I adopted Padme 2.5 months ago.

Introduction went relatively well (if anyone would like more details, I’ll share them in the comments, I tend to make my stories too long), yet for the past 2-3 weeks the resident cat has been suddenly attacking/chasing the new cat. From what I read on the internet (here, lol) it seems that the older cat is trying to establish hierarchy. All the posts/comments said that once the newer cat fights back, they usually establish the level of playfulness and coexist well after that. PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG.

However, from my perspective it seems that the fights are getting harsher and harsher, I started noticing more hissing, and even growling, and airplane ears (from both sides). The resident cat pats and chases the smaller one until she hides somewhere and cannot be reached. The small cat is sometimes genuinely scared of the resident cat.

On the other hand, it happens maybe three times a day maximum, the rest of the day they just ignore each other, sometimes sniff each other (as in, they are CLOSE), and most importantly they usually sleep through the night together as shown on the picture.

I am a bit confused, whether I should react somehow? Separate them or hope the small one fights back? Just wait it out? Or should I get a behaviourist?

My main worry is that in 3 months we will be moving to a much smaller apartment (from a 3 storey house), so I’d like any issues to be resolved before that, since there is more space here (should e.g. a reintroduction be necessary).

Thank you in advance for any tips or success stories! 🫶🏻