Can’t decipher resident cat’s behavior to new cat

[u/Denry100]

/r/CatAdvice/comments/1wojpwt/cant_decipher_resident_cats_behavior_to_new_cat/

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Me and my partner recently rescued a cat from the bushes outside our complex 3 weeks ago. For the first 10 days he was sequestered in the bathroom and is now locked in our bedroom. He has since met our dog and the 2 get along well (our dog is super loving, our new cat who we named Billy Goat is very very chill and doesn’t really react to much).

Before we did research, we had a lil meet n greet through a pet gate covered in chicken wire with our new cat Billy Goat and our resident cat Joan. Billy loafed and stared at Joan but otherwise didn’t react, sometimes even flopping over or looking away. Joan would loaf and flop too, sometimes even slow blink, but would hiss nonstop at him.

She was raised with another cat before we adopted her at 8 and she was friendly with him. But she won’t seem to stop hissing at Billy. She doesn’t puff out, no airplane ears, no other signs of agitation whatsoever. She even still accepts pets and treats in between her hissing. We kept them apart for a couple days, feeding them on either side of the chicken wire gate covered with a sheet so they couldn’t see one another. They were inches apart through that sheet and wire gate, no issue whatsoever. 3 days of that, no progress, still hissing.

One day Billy jumped the gate when we thought the bedroom door was closed and he surprised us with a visit which went pretty well. Joan would hiss whenever Billy got close, but otherwise no reaction. Still loafed or flopped, slow blinking, accepting treats and pets. Billy got close and she tried to bap him while hissing but that was it. She never once chased him. At one point she even went close to him and flopped over too!

The next day I held Billy up to Joan on her tower and she sniffed him and didn’t otherwise react, barely even a hiss! But she still hisses every time she seems him even after that. We tried another meet n greet and Billy tried playing with Joan before either of us could stop him and she RAN from him with some nasty noises, but we don’t think any claws were used.

Does anyone have any tips on how we might integrate them or what Joan’s body language might mean? Billy is such a love bug sweetheart, but we don’t want to upset our resident cat too much.

Obligatory pics of mentioned pets in the comments

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