2 cat household- resident isn’t getting along with new cat

[webmiss]

Hello,

so we have always had a 2 cat household.
we have now had 5 cats, over 20+ years. All 2 at a time. So we are used to introducing and have never had any issues. We’ve had both 2 males and male/female. Always fixed.

This winter we lost our 15 year old male Himalayan Leo. He was such a good boy, his female companion Lily, who is 6 was welcomed with open arms by him in 2016. He was a rockstar with her. Greeted her with “trills” sounds and smelling only. Never hissed or growled at her. They slept together, groomed each other etc. ( that’s them in my profile pic together )

so naturally when Leo passed we waited a while and in late march we brought home a new friend for Lily thinking it would help and be a natural companion for her. Besides towards the end she always wanted to play with Leo and he was not in the mood as he was old. So we thought a new kitten would be awesome.

Well Lily is not a fan of our new little boy Snowie ( both neutered and spayed btw) Once in a while they will play and chase each other but most of the time, she hisses at him and growls even if he comes near her. We have a very large house so there is plenty of room to claim territory and spread out. I make sure to give Lily extra love and attention to make sure she knows she’s still my baby. We try to play with both of them at the same time with their favorite toys each taking turns playing and it goes well. It just breaks my heart when Snowie comes by her and meows to her, I can tell he wants her companionship and she is honestly so mean and just growls and hisses. She doesn’t seek him out to fight or anything, but if he comes by her she usually hisses and growls.

any help or advice would be appreciated. Just kills me that for the first time our cats aren’t even friends, which is kind of the whole reason we like having 2. So they have each other as friends in addition to us humans .

here’s my new sweet poof and his queen sister

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
Cats are cats, and not everyone is going to get along. She's not being mean, she's just laying down the feline law that says nope, I'm not in the mood to play right now.

Objectively, this doesn't sound too bad. Just give it time and continue doing what you have been

 

[ArtNJ]

Six is kind of an in between age. Friendship is very possible, but sometimes they act like crotchety old people waiving the cane and yelling "get off my lawn!" Sounds like that is all you have going on, and I totally agree, its not such a big problem. Since its been a bunch of months, rapid and substantial additional progress is unlikely, but its quite possible that things will continue to inch along, and eventually you'll be pleasantly surprised to see how far they've come. No guarranties of course, and sometimes "fine when not actively being bothered or the other cat doesn't get too close" is about as far as they get.

You've been fairly lucky/blessed in the past in sounds like, but introducing cats is always a bit of a dice roll. As the resident gets older, the odds get worse. Sounds like you rolled very well with your sweet departed cat -- and lady luck wasn't so kind this time around. Still, could be a lot worse, and further progress is quite possible, perhaps even likely, if you are patient.