Bottom line question: is there a way I can convince Ritz that Hercules isn't really guarding the kitchen entrance, prepared to pounce?
Background: Hercules, male, neutered; Ritz, female, spayed. Roughly same age (six). Ritz rescued when she was around four to six months old; Hercules dumped sometime, perhaps as long as three years ago. I TNRd him in May 2012, always super friendly. Based on weight and professional sutured wound (not be me!), he had several caretakers while living on the streets. Very laid back compared to Ritz. Ritz has always been an only child and is skittish by nature: Ritz hides when it storms; Hercules stays next to me on the sofa.
I removed Hercules from the colony in mid February 2015 when it was bitter cold, put up "is this your cat" signs. No response. Integration proceeded as anticipated--Hercules fine, Ritz a little scared. We are now at the stage where I leave them unsupervised when I am at work, Ritz will occasionally lick Hercules face and Hercules may be moving towards licking Ritz' face. I continue to feed them separately; Hercules is very food driven and can be aggressive (in a colony setting).
Ritz will very reluctantly (if at all) sit on my lap when Hercules is laying beside me on the sofa. Sometimes Hercules will stare at Ritz and then charge her for no discernible (to me) reason. And sometimes Hercules will just pick a boxing battle, nothing serious, but comes without provocation. Ritz sometimes defends herself, but usually not.
The issue I'm mainly asking for advice is this: Hercules will sometimes lay in front or side of the kitchen entrance, and Ritz perceives this as a threat, even though most of the time Hercules is just hanging out. She also doesn't like to walk by Hercules, she sometimes goes around or runs.
Any advice how I can get Ritz to relax a bit more?
Thanks for reading.
Background: Hercules, male, neutered; Ritz, female, spayed. Roughly same age (six). Ritz rescued when she was around four to six months old; Hercules dumped sometime, perhaps as long as three years ago. I TNRd him in May 2012, always super friendly. Based on weight and professional sutured wound (not be me!), he had several caretakers while living on the streets. Very laid back compared to Ritz. Ritz has always been an only child and is skittish by nature: Ritz hides when it storms; Hercules stays next to me on the sofa.
I removed Hercules from the colony in mid February 2015 when it was bitter cold, put up "is this your cat" signs. No response. Integration proceeded as anticipated--Hercules fine, Ritz a little scared. We are now at the stage where I leave them unsupervised when I am at work, Ritz will occasionally lick Hercules face and Hercules may be moving towards licking Ritz' face. I continue to feed them separately; Hercules is very food driven and can be aggressive (in a colony setting).
Ritz will very reluctantly (if at all) sit on my lap when Hercules is laying beside me on the sofa. Sometimes Hercules will stare at Ritz and then charge her for no discernible (to me) reason. And sometimes Hercules will just pick a boxing battle, nothing serious, but comes without provocation. Ritz sometimes defends herself, but usually not.
The issue I'm mainly asking for advice is this: Hercules will sometimes lay in front or side of the kitchen entrance, and Ritz perceives this as a threat, even though most of the time Hercules is just hanging out. She also doesn't like to walk by Hercules, she sometimes goes around or runs.
Any advice how I can get Ritz to relax a bit more?
Thanks for reading.