- Joined
- May 13, 2021
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Hey everyone! To make a long story short, I adopted two bonded siblings last May, Lucy and Linus, who were feral for about 6 months before they were rescued (They are both now a little over a year old). Lucy is very outgoing while Linus is very skittish and has only bonded with me. There has always seemed to be a dominance issue, but as of lately it’s a lot worse. We think that she sees him as weak because he has a back issue where he twitches a lot. These are some things happening:
- Lucy will chase Linus if he tries to leave his spot on top of the couch near the window and basically run him back, and also chase him if he gets anywhere near the cat tree especially
- Is constantly using staring intimidation on him to where he walks very anxiously
- Sometimes will get on top of him and he will hiss at her
What I’ve been doing:
- Playing with them both twice a day, sometimes 3 times a day, separately (she dominates the toy if I don’t)
- Feed them in separate rooms
- Sleep with Linus in my room at night
- Try to distract her from bullying him or tell her no when I see the bullying happen. Sometimes I will put her in my room for a time out.
Linus had confidence for about two days, and they played once, and that was a few weeks ago. I didn’t change anything, besides playing with them both more times in the day to help get her energy out. Since then, he’s regressed a lot, and she’s more determined than ever to dominate. I can tell a big difference when he’s confident, but I can’t seem to get him back to that point, which I think is the main place I’m stuck at. My house is small, so reintroduction is difficult unless I’m going to keep one in my room all the time and I don’t know how to feel about sleeping with a litter box in my room. Any advice on what to do? Should I reintroduce them? I also wanted to put shelves on the walls for them, but was told the walls are too weak in this house, so there just seems to be a limited amount of solutions I have. But I love them both, and do not want to have to get rid of any, so any advice is appreciated!
- Lucy will chase Linus if he tries to leave his spot on top of the couch near the window and basically run him back, and also chase him if he gets anywhere near the cat tree especially
- Is constantly using staring intimidation on him to where he walks very anxiously
- Sometimes will get on top of him and he will hiss at her
What I’ve been doing:
- Playing with them both twice a day, sometimes 3 times a day, separately (she dominates the toy if I don’t)
- Feed them in separate rooms
- Sleep with Linus in my room at night
- Try to distract her from bullying him or tell her no when I see the bullying happen. Sometimes I will put her in my room for a time out.
Linus had confidence for about two days, and they played once, and that was a few weeks ago. I didn’t change anything, besides playing with them both more times in the day to help get her energy out. Since then, he’s regressed a lot, and she’s more determined than ever to dominate. I can tell a big difference when he’s confident, but I can’t seem to get him back to that point, which I think is the main place I’m stuck at. My house is small, so reintroduction is difficult unless I’m going to keep one in my room all the time and I don’t know how to feel about sleeping with a litter box in my room. Any advice on what to do? Should I reintroduce them? I also wanted to put shelves on the walls for them, but was told the walls are too weak in this house, so there just seems to be a limited amount of solutions I have. But I love them both, and do not want to have to get rid of any, so any advice is appreciated!