- Joined
- Dec 11, 2014
- Messages
- 120
- Purraise
- 67
I adopted two adult cats (mother and daughter, 5 and 4 years) about 6 weeks ago, adding them to a household with 10 and 11-year-old cats. I kept the new ones in a bedroom with a closed door for two weeks then moved them to a larger room connected to the master bedroom; there are double doors between the two areas. After a week or two, I started letting them explore the entire area, with the bedroom door closed. I also erected a barrier of plastic grating about five feet high that I put between the rooms when I wanted to let the other cats into the bedroom to see the new kids and also use this room as they normally would. One of my cats would come up to the grate, puff her tail, and sometimes meow or growl, but I took it in stride and hoped she'd eventually get used to the new arrivals. The other would look but do nothing, then go away. Then yesterday the more aggressive older cat jumped the barrier! As far as I know, she'd never tried before, and we didn't think she could get over something that high. She went into attack mode, and it took several minutes for my husband and I to separate them. One of the cats had escaped and was hiding in a closet, while the other was cornered under a piece of furniture. Since the barrier is clearly no longer effective and safe, all I can do until we can come up with a new system that allows the cats to see each other but not have physical contact is keep them isolated behind closed doors. I have Feliway dispensers in one of those rooms and in the hallway, and I've ordered some Composure that I hope will help my older cat. The attack made me feel as if no progress has been made with the older cat, although the new girls have been adjusting well. I'm uncertain I'll ever reach a point where I can safely let the all the cats roam the house at the same time, even with supervision, and I'm not sure I want to spend years juggling cats between closed rooms and constantly worrying that I've left a door open or didn't notice that some cat was where I didn't expect it and could attack or be attacked. I'm not giving up yet, but the barrier-jumping incident and cat's aggressiveness, unchanged since day one, has me very disheartened. I'm not at the point of taking them back to the shelter, but I'm not ruling it out. Any advice?