The new cat, Oscar is isolated. He just wants to come out all the time, so I feel bad. I spend a few hours with him everyday, but I have a couple days during the week Thursday and Friday where I'm working all day. He's alone for ten hours or so and I just feel awful for him.
that is a really frustrating/stressful place to be, I know. They are both beautiful, though!
I guess I've always doubted the effectiveness of pheromones but I'm willing to try anything thanks!Oh dear! I'm sorry to see your two kitties are not getting on..
If you're able to purchase it where you live, are you able to try Feliway Multicat diffusers (its the red box not the purple one)? You'd need a few depending on your house size, but I have seen these make a huge difference in addition to what you are doing already with the gates/doors, etc. If you're able to get these and then leave up the gate in your photo above, give it a few days and see how it goes, I wonder if that might help?
I did a similar thing with two kittens after they came home from being spayed - were best friends before spaying, then fought constantly until they got the multicat Feliway and were placed in kennels on opposite sides of the room, then slowly moved closer together and eventually they got on fine again. That's only one example, though, every situation is different, but I hope it might help you and your cats (and rats) get back to normal...
I've never used Feliway, and have read both threads where people find it made a huge difference, and others who say it did nothing. But at this point, for you, it might be worth a shot. There's also calming treats, and calming collars, that you might want to look into.
