- Joined
- May 23, 2017
- Messages
- 24
- Purraise
- 33
Two months ago, I adopted Chester, a large, beautiful, domestic long-haired, 2-3 years old. He is a declaw and is current on everything, in excellent health. Only my husband and I live here and Chester is very affectionate and a real snuggler... until yesterday. I thought I was doing a good thing. I adopted a female cat from a local shelter, trying to save her from being put down. I thought she would be a good friend for Chester and that she could use a good life. Her previous owners declawed her, front and back and then, I guess, decided they didn't want a cat, so they put her out, then abandoned her. At the shelter, her fur was so matted and flea-riddled that they had to shave clumps of her hair off. She is a Nebelung (long-haired Russian Blue) is 2-3 years old and is very sweet. I paid for her to have an FIV test and she's negative. I'm supposed to take her to our vet tomorrow for her wellness visit. Her name is Pansy. Pansy wants so much to be friends with Chester; she just keeps approaching him and he keeps growling and hissing. Now, I expected this; it's not the growling and hissing that bothers me. It's that Chester has gone off hiding under furniture, is off his food (he has a separate feeding setup) and, of course, is no longer in our laps, snuggling and purring.
My question is this: are Pansy's attempts to approach Chester seen as aggression by him? Do you think he's afraid of her? We have a small house; there's not much chance of actually separating them to any real degree. Chester is an extremely quiet cat; Pansy is a talker. She's just very much an extrovert, but always purring, always shoving her head against our hands, never seems upset. We just knew that super-sweet Chester would want to be friends. Boy, were we wrong. I don't want to take her back to the shelter, even though I have a week to decide, they said. Are there times when some cats just will not accept each other? I realize that 24 hours is no time at all, but I only have 5 days to decide if we'll keep her. I wish they hadn't told me that because now, there's this big clock ticking in my head, causing me to want things to progress more quickly than they probably will. Do you guys think this will take a good while to sort (if it ever does)? I don't have a lot of expertise with cat behavior. Thank you for any advice.
My question is this: are Pansy's attempts to approach Chester seen as aggression by him? Do you think he's afraid of her? We have a small house; there's not much chance of actually separating them to any real degree. Chester is an extremely quiet cat; Pansy is a talker. She's just very much an extrovert, but always purring, always shoving her head against our hands, never seems upset. We just knew that super-sweet Chester would want to be friends. Boy, were we wrong. I don't want to take her back to the shelter, even though I have a week to decide, they said. Are there times when some cats just will not accept each other? I realize that 24 hours is no time at all, but I only have 5 days to decide if we'll keep her. I wish they hadn't told me that because now, there's this big clock ticking in my head, causing me to want things to progress more quickly than they probably will. Do you guys think this will take a good while to sort (if it ever does)? I don't have a lot of expertise with cat behavior. Thank you for any advice.