- Joined
- Jun 5, 2017
- Messages
- 26
- Purraise
- 2
Well folks, we took the leap and adopted a 8-week old male kitten. He's very cute and has lots of energy.
Prior to this, we had a single cat in the apartment, aged about 11 months. He's been very set in his ways, being able to free-feed, go wherever he wants, sleeps wherever he wants...
...You can probably guess where the problems started...
We brought the new kitten (Graham) home on Saturday afternoon and set him up in our bedroom. Closing the door between bedroom and living room immediately was a cause for concern for our resident cat (Arlo) and was sniffing things out like crazy! Since then he's just not been himself. He knows there's an intruder in the house! He's now always on high-alert at the slightest noises, he's become very skittish and worst of all...he won't eat his food. Lots of personality changes to make use owners sad.
Now the last note may tie in with the fact that I am now trying to enforce a scheduled feed, since I read that having them both eat on opposite sides of the door is a plus! Yet while Graham is chomping away, Arlo seems concerned that his food is in the wrong place and is not available when he wants it.
So now you're up to speed, here are some follow-up questions I have.
1) For now, should we revert Arlo back to free-feed, just so he eats when he feels comfortable. My only concern is losing the bonding aspect/intro phase with Graham.
2) Since it's only day 2, I'm assuming it's still too early for an actual meeting? (Note: They have swatted at each other under the door, without any hissing or growling from either side!)
3) We site switch every few hours, so they both get a change of scene. Should we also alternate who gets access to the bedroom each night, or should it just be Arlo for now?
Thanks for all your help in advance!
Prior to this, we had a single cat in the apartment, aged about 11 months. He's been very set in his ways, being able to free-feed, go wherever he wants, sleeps wherever he wants...
...You can probably guess where the problems started...
We brought the new kitten (Graham) home on Saturday afternoon and set him up in our bedroom. Closing the door between bedroom and living room immediately was a cause for concern for our resident cat (Arlo) and was sniffing things out like crazy! Since then he's just not been himself. He knows there's an intruder in the house! He's now always on high-alert at the slightest noises, he's become very skittish and worst of all...he won't eat his food. Lots of personality changes to make use owners sad.
Now the last note may tie in with the fact that I am now trying to enforce a scheduled feed, since I read that having them both eat on opposite sides of the door is a plus! Yet while Graham is chomping away, Arlo seems concerned that his food is in the wrong place and is not available when he wants it.
So now you're up to speed, here are some follow-up questions I have.
1) For now, should we revert Arlo back to free-feed, just so he eats when he feels comfortable. My only concern is losing the bonding aspect/intro phase with Graham.
2) Since it's only day 2, I'm assuming it's still too early for an actual meeting? (Note: They have swatted at each other under the door, without any hissing or growling from either side!)
3) We site switch every few hours, so they both get a change of scene. Should we also alternate who gets access to the bedroom each night, or should it just be Arlo for now?
Thanks for all your help in advance!