Hey everyone, this is my first time here, hope I'm posting in the right place.
A couple of days ago we brought home Freddie, an 8 month old male bombay. We had him neutered immediately. Our resident cat Stevie, a year old female persian (not yet neutered), has not warmed to him at all.
We kept them separate for the first night but both cats absolutely hate being shut away in the bedroom away from us. So we decided to allow them both to hang out in the living area with us.
At first it was ok and Freddie was gently approaching Stevie with Stevie hissing and lashing out only if he got too close. When this happened we would remove Freddie. But the situation has worsened.
Stevie is used to free feeding but we were advised to implement a regular feeding schedule and have both cats eat at the same time nearby each other so they can get used to each other's smell. Unfortunately, Freddie has been acting aggressively ever since this happened. He will chase Stevie away from both his food and hers and now Stevie won't eat.
We are both extremely stressed and actually haven't slept since we got Freddie. We just don't know what to do. All the advice we've been given seems to have only made things worse!
Please help!
A couple of days ago we brought home Freddie, an 8 month old male bombay. We had him neutered immediately. Our resident cat Stevie, a year old female persian (not yet neutered), has not warmed to him at all.
We kept them separate for the first night but both cats absolutely hate being shut away in the bedroom away from us. So we decided to allow them both to hang out in the living area with us.
At first it was ok and Freddie was gently approaching Stevie with Stevie hissing and lashing out only if he got too close. When this happened we would remove Freddie. But the situation has worsened.
Stevie is used to free feeding but we were advised to implement a regular feeding schedule and have both cats eat at the same time nearby each other so they can get used to each other's smell. Unfortunately, Freddie has been acting aggressively ever since this happened. He will chase Stevie away from both his food and hers and now Stevie won't eat.
We are both extremely stressed and actually haven't slept since we got Freddie. We just don't know what to do. All the advice we've been given seems to have only made things worse!
Please help!