Hi all, I'm glad to be part of the forum and hope you can help. My fiance and I are in the introduction process and not quite sure where to go from here.
A little bit of background: I never had a pet of my own until my fiance and I adopted a cat in 2018, so I'm relatively new to being a cat mom. My fiance on the other hand grew up around dogs, cats, rabbits, rats, etc his whole life. In fact, his mom worked for an animal shelter for many years and she still has several dogs and cats (and birds!) at his parents' house.
In Sept 2018 we adopted a male kitty named Misha who was about 4 or 5 months old at the time (he's just under 2 years old now). Misha was shy from the beginning and is not aggressive, and he gradually got used to us (though he still runs to hide any time someone comes to the house). A few weeks ago we adopted Lois who is estimated to be about 7 months old. Lois seems much more outgoing than Misha. They both love to play.
Lois has been in our guest bedroom, and she and Misha regularly play tag under the door. We've also been doing side by side feedings with baby gates stacked in the doorway for several days with no issues (no hissing or growling to this point). We also did scent swapping with socks and blankets early on (but it was discovered that Lois had ear mites, so we had to wash everything and restrict contact for a bit).
Lois has been out of her room and in the rest of the house twice (one of the times was when she escaped the room. When we found them, Misha was standing a few feet from her by his scratching post and she was under the couch, but it did not look like a confrontation. She came running out as soon as we got to the room.).
Misha is very happy to play with Lois under the door, but when he can actually see her, he gets very shy and skittish. My fiance has tried moving forward by holding Lois in his arms with Misha nearby, but Misha always moves away to somewhere he feels safe. There are times when Misha and I are outside her room and he'll "ask" me to open the door. I haven't done this, but I have wondered what would happen if I did. Lois really wants to get out of the room, and my fiance wants the same. He's saying Misha may have to deal with her being out because he doesn't want her to stay in the room for "months". But I really don't want to rush Misha and I want him to feel comfortable. They seem like they're on their way to being friends but I'm not sure that I'm reading the situation entirely right and don't want to ruin the introduction.
Can anyone please offer advice on how to move forward in the introduction process and move closer to Lois being out of her room without freaking Misha out?
A little bit of background: I never had a pet of my own until my fiance and I adopted a cat in 2018, so I'm relatively new to being a cat mom. My fiance on the other hand grew up around dogs, cats, rabbits, rats, etc his whole life. In fact, his mom worked for an animal shelter for many years and she still has several dogs and cats (and birds!) at his parents' house.
In Sept 2018 we adopted a male kitty named Misha who was about 4 or 5 months old at the time (he's just under 2 years old now). Misha was shy from the beginning and is not aggressive, and he gradually got used to us (though he still runs to hide any time someone comes to the house). A few weeks ago we adopted Lois who is estimated to be about 7 months old. Lois seems much more outgoing than Misha. They both love to play.
Lois has been in our guest bedroom, and she and Misha regularly play tag under the door. We've also been doing side by side feedings with baby gates stacked in the doorway for several days with no issues (no hissing or growling to this point). We also did scent swapping with socks and blankets early on (but it was discovered that Lois had ear mites, so we had to wash everything and restrict contact for a bit).
Lois has been out of her room and in the rest of the house twice (one of the times was when she escaped the room. When we found them, Misha was standing a few feet from her by his scratching post and she was under the couch, but it did not look like a confrontation. She came running out as soon as we got to the room.).
Misha is very happy to play with Lois under the door, but when he can actually see her, he gets very shy and skittish. My fiance has tried moving forward by holding Lois in his arms with Misha nearby, but Misha always moves away to somewhere he feels safe. There are times when Misha and I are outside her room and he'll "ask" me to open the door. I haven't done this, but I have wondered what would happen if I did. Lois really wants to get out of the room, and my fiance wants the same. He's saying Misha may have to deal with her being out because he doesn't want her to stay in the room for "months". But I really don't want to rush Misha and I want him to feel comfortable. They seem like they're on their way to being friends but I'm not sure that I'm reading the situation entirely right and don't want to ruin the introduction.
Can anyone please offer advice on how to move forward in the introduction process and move closer to Lois being out of her room without freaking Misha out?