Hi all,
We've never had two cats before, and I just can't decide if they're making progress or if I'm doin' it wrong...
Lily, our oldest, is about 4 years old -- we adopted her ~15 months ago. She's a dilute tortie with tortitude. Roger is 6.5 months old, and we've had him since he was a little more than 8 weeks old. We hadn't quite planned on a kitten, but a coworker was going to dump him at the shelter...so now we have him. He's an outgoing spazz and a half, seven plus pounds of cheery orange and white blur with absolutely no regard for Lily's personal space.
Their intro did not go as well as we'd hoped, given a combination of our ineptitude and our limited space. We also unexpectedly had to move from Seattle to Chicago in July. Both cats made the four day drive well, and they've settled in here.
Here's my concern: Roger still bugs the crap out of Lily. He's in play mode when she wants to be left alone, and I can't decide if her howls and growls are something that should be upsetting me or if I should just let them sort it out. On the one hand, things are much better than they used to be when she couldn't look at him without hissing. We've found that feeding them in separate rooms helps (she's a dainty and picky fussbucket; he's a bulldozer on crack). She does manage to get lap time with me now, and we're increasing our vertical space by building cat shelves and buying a taller cat tower.
Still...I hate seeing her be harassed when she's sleeping or just trying to walk across the room. She spends a lot of time avoiding the floor (where he's most likely to jump on her back). Half the time, I can't tell if they're playing or fighting when she's making noise -- there are times when she's clearly bolting, but there are other times when she hangs out and just swats at him without as much malice. I'm not sure she really "gets" how to play!
I guess my fear is that Lily might be low-level stressed all the time, and I don't want to affect her quality of life. She is my baby...and she had a terrible time the first month he was here (anorexia, fever spike, two days in the vet's office hooked up to an IV). She's never, never been that bad since, but I just don't know if the on-and-off interactions between them are normal or not. Halp! Please ease an overanxious cat girl's frame of mind.
Thanks!
We've never had two cats before, and I just can't decide if they're making progress or if I'm doin' it wrong...
Lily, our oldest, is about 4 years old -- we adopted her ~15 months ago. She's a dilute tortie with tortitude. Roger is 6.5 months old, and we've had him since he was a little more than 8 weeks old. We hadn't quite planned on a kitten, but a coworker was going to dump him at the shelter...so now we have him. He's an outgoing spazz and a half, seven plus pounds of cheery orange and white blur with absolutely no regard for Lily's personal space.
Their intro did not go as well as we'd hoped, given a combination of our ineptitude and our limited space. We also unexpectedly had to move from Seattle to Chicago in July. Both cats made the four day drive well, and they've settled in here.
Here's my concern: Roger still bugs the crap out of Lily. He's in play mode when she wants to be left alone, and I can't decide if her howls and growls are something that should be upsetting me or if I should just let them sort it out. On the one hand, things are much better than they used to be when she couldn't look at him without hissing. We've found that feeding them in separate rooms helps (she's a dainty and picky fussbucket; he's a bulldozer on crack). She does manage to get lap time with me now, and we're increasing our vertical space by building cat shelves and buying a taller cat tower.
Still...I hate seeing her be harassed when she's sleeping or just trying to walk across the room. She spends a lot of time avoiding the floor (where he's most likely to jump on her back). Half the time, I can't tell if they're playing or fighting when she's making noise -- there are times when she's clearly bolting, but there are other times when she hangs out and just swats at him without as much malice. I'm not sure she really "gets" how to play!
I guess my fear is that Lily might be low-level stressed all the time, and I don't want to affect her quality of life. She is my baby...and she had a terrible time the first month he was here (anorexia, fever spike, two days in the vet's office hooked up to an IV). She's never, never been that bad since, but I just don't know if the on-and-off interactions between them are normal or not. Halp! Please ease an overanxious cat girl's frame of mind.
Thanks!
