- Joined
- Nov 6, 2017
- Messages
- 23
- Purraise
- 9
Pips is the brown Torbie at the top and Moose is the black stripped on a the bottom.
We adopted a currently 4 year old female cat named Pips around 2 years ago, she was extremely shy when we first brought her home. Recently we adopted a just over a year male cat named Moose who wasn't shy whatsoever since day one. Both cats are neutered and neither cat is declawed.
When we brought Moose home he had a bit of a kitty cold, which went away on it's own after about a week. During this time the cats had no contact with each other, we kept Moose quarantined in his room until a day or two after the vet cleared him. Moose escaped from his room one night and each cat became startled resulting in fur flying. This fight was their first encounter together. After that we started feeding them on either side of the door, eventually working up to having the door wide open during feeding time. Other than a few hisses once and a while they were fine. It got to the point where the two dishes were around a foot away from each other, neither cat seemed to mind. Once they were comfortable with eating so close together we would feed them in the kitchen a couple feet of distance between them and supervise them after they finished eating. During the few weeks of doing this there were more than a few times they would either chase or fight with each other. Usually resulting with Pips peeing on the floor.
As time went on there were less fights so we kept them out longer together. Pips would hide under the couch and Moose would walk around. Pips is always hiding when Moose is out, and won't go near him. If she is out she slow walks close to the ground and wont take her eyes off Moose. Moose won't leave her alone despite her growling when he gets too close and at first he'd get the picture and walk away. Now he doesn't seem phased when she growls or hisses and will slow crawl up to her. Either sitting there next to her or swatting at her. He's never hissed or growled at her that I can remember, but it's hard to tell whether he's trying to play or being aggressive. We try to redirect him when he walks up to Pips but once he's started he's only focused on her and wont play with the toy.
We try to play with Moose before they're together to decrease his energy, but he never seems to run out of it. We play with Pips a little, but she just had 12 teeth extracted around two week ago. She currently only have 1 bottom fang remaining. The surgery had almost no effect on her and she has shown no signs of discomfort since we brought her home. I have no worries about the recovery, just don't want to play with her hard until she's fully recovered. She doesn't act any different than she did before the surgery was done.
How can we tell if Moose is being aggressive or just trying to play when his body language never changes? We're not sure if we should separate them when he won't leave her alone so they have no more negative experiences together, or if we should let them establish a hierarchy. Is it unhealthy to be separating them constantly? Do they need to work it out?
Attachments
-
2.1 MB Views: 38
Last edited: