Fleaso (the nervous, blind 5 year old) v Bob (the playful 1 year old) - uploaded videos

[JimmyL]

Here are a few short videos showing how are cat introductions are progressing (or not!). The videos average about 20 seconds..so not long at all! Fleaso is the black cat; Bob is the tabby. Hope you enjoy (especially di and bob , A ArtNJ , and Elphaba09 )

Fleaso is blind and has trouble sensing Bob, even when we put the collar and bell on. We are trying to work out whether Bob has any concept of Fleasos blindness(?)

So here are the Youtube references:


- this is very much the norm; Bob walks up to Fleaso, when she realises he is near she hisses and retreats. Bob wanders off.


A few more where both cats are intrigued...and without aggression:

 

[ArtNJ]

Well, I think any time a one year old is not jumping all over another cat (and I didn't see that) thats terrific. And any time a cat stressed out a bit by another cat is merely a bit on guard/tense, rather than having problems eating, using the box or fighting, thats also good, at least relatively (no one wants to see their cat tense, but in the scheme of things, its not so terrible). So clearly on one level, this doesn't seem so bad to me.

On another level, your asking "how are things progressing" and maybe also "are things progressing" and on that level, I really can't tell. Even with sighted cats, the stress of an older cat reacting to a new youngster can last a long time and improve only very slowly. I call it the "long slow crawl towards toleration". So with that in mind, maybe this is going about as "fast", realistically, as its going to go?

I've never had a blind cat, but if this was a 1 year old and a senior cat, my reaction would be well, very much not ideal, but not unusual for some tension to last a long time, and for things to be on the long, slow crawl to toleration track.

Usually I suggest some time outs with closed door affection for the stressed cat, but with a blind cat I reckon that won't work without some tweeks. Do you have a room that maybe you can keep closed most of the time, and only allow the blind cat in there when its time for a private affection break? Not sure how that will work out in practice, but it could be something to try.

The "build positive associations" kind of tactics are difficult even with sighted cats, as a very stressed cat won't play or accept treats. And with a blind cat, such tactics are likely even more difficult, although certainly you can try. Maybe some folks will have some ideas, but I think for the most part your doing what you can and its about letting time do its work.

 

[di and bob]

Thanks for the wonderful videos! I think everything looks great. Introducing two cats is difficult in itself, one being blind adds to the difficulty. Fleaso to me, is acting not like a blind cat, but as a female, hissy and teaching boys their manners. Hissing is just a warning. Whether because she is surprised or not, she is communicating to him to mind his manners. I think everything looks normal in a male and female cat household! You have to admit, Bob is keeping her from being bored! Give them both a kiss from me!.

 

[JimmyL]

Thanks for the support and words of wisdom A ArtNJ and di and bob .

I think you are right in the fact that things are going as quickly as possible, and we are doing the rights things as considerate cat owners!

We perhaps overly worry for both of them and are sometimes concerned that we are going backwards. By that, I mean a slight concern that the cats have moved from curiosity to a routine of antagonism/stress/impatience.

The videos are encouraging but Fleaso (blind older), now seems to know when I am going to fetch Bob and disappears under the bed for a bit. She doesn't stay there for long but now has nervous anticipation that she didn't have before. Even when he is not around, she is much more cautious in the area that is shared.

My wife is probably more concerned about the anxiety than me because apart from this, she is still eating well, her fur is generally in good condition and her toilet habits are the same as usual. Sometimes she hides for a while, but she still maintains curiosity and tries to open the door to the adjoining room, even knowing he is in there. When she recognises that he is (too) close she growls, hisses and licks her lips a little.

Bob is by no means an aggressive cat, but he is very playful when he comes up. And he is getting BIG – strong and fast too!!

We protect her when they are in a room together but we perceive that he just wants to play with her. But when he is on the receiving end of hisses and growls, he gets agitated too. We have put the bell and collar on him, but a couple of times he goes from being fast asleep to quickly chasing her. She doesn’t even have time to react to the bell…he is so fast (and it is usually when we are concentrating less because he seems asleep.

We then put them in separate rooms, where we try and calm her down, but he paces by the separating door in a grumpy mood. He then takes a long time to settle, and/or I decide to take him back to the courtyard (which can make him even grumpier!).

Generally, which I guess is typical of a one-year-old, he is either tearing around, or happy to sleep deeply for hours on end. I have set up an assault course with him, where he chases a bouncy ball. he also likes to 'fight' with a towel, and YoutUbe bird videos seem to transfix him!

We put in a lot of work, guarding them when they are together, and one of us soothing Fleaso in a separate room, when Bob has launched at her, but this is not always practical; one of us might be out, or both of us are involved in our work. So sometimes they have to be in a room on their own, and they don't always react well to this. The flat is fairly spacious but it is still quite constricting. We have a large lounge, one bedroom with an adjoining bathroom, and a kitchen with terrace (and protecting netting) that can also be closed to the lounge

Elphaba09 made a point previously about bringing Bob in full time, with the current constant toing and froing unsettling both cats. But our thinking is that outside for him is a safe courtyard away from a road or any other dangers, and it gives us and the two cats some respite from a stressful situation (He has spent all of his time, apart from July onwards in the courtyard). The worst is that we wonder if we're being fair on both cats by forcing them to be in this situation. But we probably react to their grumpy meows too much - they do dominate our lives!

Of course it’s not all bad; when he is completely sleepy, and she is calm, we have them in the room together and she is fairly content, even being aware that he around. We also had a situation where they touched noses for about two seconds...before she started hissing and running of with him chasing her. But we are also concerned that nothing will ever progress beyond this point...and we might be better off finding Bob an alternative home.

We are moving back to the UK (from Belgrade) in March/April next year; I will be traveling by car with both cats on a three-day trip. Hopefully we can make some further progress, particularly as it might be a very stressful time for Fleaso. In a perfect world they would be excellent companions; she would play with him and not feel stressed by his company.

A couple of things I could still do:

- Training Bob to recognise his name

- Train him to be on a leash so we have co-ordinated times for him , and his behaviour outside (this would help train him for whatever arrangement we might end up with in the UK.

- Make the flat even more 'catified'; we have cat towers and games, but I could make some tunnels out of cardboard for him to run through.

- make contact with a 'cat behaviourist' to see if there is anything else we can do about making there interactions more congenial.

So there you have it; any thoughts on these last points, or anything else raised in this post, would be gratefully received. Many thanks!