- Joined
- Mar 9, 2019
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Hi everyone,
I could use some advice on our situation. My husband and I have a 10-year-old tabby named Olive and a 9-year-old greyhound. We adopted Olive as an older kitten (about 8 mos.) as a companion for our 5-year-old cat Henry after his "brother" died. We lost Henry to CHF two years ago, and Olive has seemed fine as an only, but I missed having a big ol' cuddly boy kitty. Olive is a sweet cat, but only on her terms. Three weeks ago we adopted Momo, a DLH who turned 10 on March 2. He is a total lovebug with us and seemed to settle in right away. So much so that we rushed the process of letting him have access to the whole house. I work from home and he seemed so laid-back that we thought it would be okay to speed things along because I'd be here to supervise interactions. Well...
Olive is still hissing and growling a lot every time he's around. She mostly stays in our master bedroom, which is the top floor of our house. I put Momo in the guest room several times a day so she can be out and about, but she seldom takes advantage. He is always shut in the guest room overnight. I have Feliway diffusers on every floor: the master bedroom, the main level, and the finished basement where Olive's litter box is. Feliway worked well when we first adopted the dog and Olive stayed in a closet for almost two weeks and couldn't keep her food down (should have been our hint, huh?), but I haven't seen any improvement this time around.
Momo has generally been very good about walking away when she tells him off, although he's obviously curious about her (he also had lived with another cat previously). On a couple of occasions, though, it's like he reaches his threshold and just goes after her. The first time it happened she had run into the guest room to get away from him, so we assumed he followed her to defend his turf. He pounced on her, they tussled, and we threw a blanket on them to break it up. No one was hurt.
Today was a scarier incident. Olive had come downstairs from our bedroom and Momo was on the couch. She noticed him, hissed, and headed to the basement. He ran after her, she yowled, and she ran under the futon where he began "stalking" her. I put a pillow in front of him to break his line of sight, and that's when Olive decided to run out. He chased her and launched himself at her, and it was like a feline tumbleweed. Scared me to death. I clapped and yelled to break it up, and Olive ran to the basement window (another favorite spot of hers) but Momo even chased her up there. She was cornered and they went at it again. I finally managed to break it up. It took a while before Olive would let us check her out, but other than looking like a plucked chicken with all the tufts of hair sticking up and falling off, she wasn't injured. Momo was fine as well, but he's got a lot of fur to protect him. Olive did pee herself during the incident.
I'm feeling really discouraged and need some opinions. Is this normal, cause for concern, and/or all part of the process? We wonder if Momo's had too much access to her territory too soon. We have done the rubbing towels on them, swapping their bedding, letting them explore each other's space, and giving them treats in each other's presence (which works 50/50, as Olive's very hard to distract when he's around). Their interactions have really been limited to 5-10 minutes a couple times a day. Unfortunately today that was long enough for a fight. My vet says it can take anywhere from a month to two years for things to settle, but as these are both senior cats already, two years does not seem fair to either of them. Do I throw in the towel now before I become more attached to Momo, or do I give it more time? I think we have been spoiled with very tolerant cats in the past, as we never expected this to be so hard.
If you made it through this long post, thank you.
I could use some advice on our situation. My husband and I have a 10-year-old tabby named Olive and a 9-year-old greyhound. We adopted Olive as an older kitten (about 8 mos.) as a companion for our 5-year-old cat Henry after his "brother" died. We lost Henry to CHF two years ago, and Olive has seemed fine as an only, but I missed having a big ol' cuddly boy kitty. Olive is a sweet cat, but only on her terms. Three weeks ago we adopted Momo, a DLH who turned 10 on March 2. He is a total lovebug with us and seemed to settle in right away. So much so that we rushed the process of letting him have access to the whole house. I work from home and he seemed so laid-back that we thought it would be okay to speed things along because I'd be here to supervise interactions. Well...
Olive is still hissing and growling a lot every time he's around. She mostly stays in our master bedroom, which is the top floor of our house. I put Momo in the guest room several times a day so she can be out and about, but she seldom takes advantage. He is always shut in the guest room overnight. I have Feliway diffusers on every floor: the master bedroom, the main level, and the finished basement where Olive's litter box is. Feliway worked well when we first adopted the dog and Olive stayed in a closet for almost two weeks and couldn't keep her food down (should have been our hint, huh?), but I haven't seen any improvement this time around.
Momo has generally been very good about walking away when she tells him off, although he's obviously curious about her (he also had lived with another cat previously). On a couple of occasions, though, it's like he reaches his threshold and just goes after her. The first time it happened she had run into the guest room to get away from him, so we assumed he followed her to defend his turf. He pounced on her, they tussled, and we threw a blanket on them to break it up. No one was hurt.
Today was a scarier incident. Olive had come downstairs from our bedroom and Momo was on the couch. She noticed him, hissed, and headed to the basement. He ran after her, she yowled, and she ran under the futon where he began "stalking" her. I put a pillow in front of him to break his line of sight, and that's when Olive decided to run out. He chased her and launched himself at her, and it was like a feline tumbleweed. Scared me to death. I clapped and yelled to break it up, and Olive ran to the basement window (another favorite spot of hers) but Momo even chased her up there. She was cornered and they went at it again. I finally managed to break it up. It took a while before Olive would let us check her out, but other than looking like a plucked chicken with all the tufts of hair sticking up and falling off, she wasn't injured. Momo was fine as well, but he's got a lot of fur to protect him. Olive did pee herself during the incident.
I'm feeling really discouraged and need some opinions. Is this normal, cause for concern, and/or all part of the process? We wonder if Momo's had too much access to her territory too soon. We have done the rubbing towels on them, swapping their bedding, letting them explore each other's space, and giving them treats in each other's presence (which works 50/50, as Olive's very hard to distract when he's around). Their interactions have really been limited to 5-10 minutes a couple times a day. Unfortunately today that was long enough for a fight. My vet says it can take anywhere from a month to two years for things to settle, but as these are both senior cats already, two years does not seem fair to either of them. Do I throw in the towel now before I become more attached to Momo, or do I give it more time? I think we have been spoiled with very tolerant cats in the past, as we never expected this to be so hard.
If you made it through this long post, thank you.