Ok here's the situation. Our older cat, Entourage, passed away the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It came as a complete shock to my husband and I. He was only 5 years old, but he had a heart murmur from birth. We were laying in bed and he was laying on my lap. Suddenly he was just...gone. (I'm not gonna get more detailed about it, because it just...really makes me sad, I'm sorry.)
Well after that, our younger cat, Angie, who's about 2, was just heartbroken, she followed me around for a week, meowing all the time (up until then, she was never much of a talker at all, so I knew something was wrong), and she was looking around for Enty a lot. It was just heartbreaking. After a little over a week of that, we decided that maybe it would be best to get another cat, because she was just so lonely, and to be honest, we were a little loney too.
So we got a new baby, a 4 month old male, orange and white. We named him Sherbet. Well Sherbet is a very active little boy, as most kittens are, and right off the bat the two seemed to be getting along fairly well. We didn't even have to separate them for a night. We tried keeping them apart for a couple hours, but they kept trying to meet. There was not one hiss, and as crazy as it sounds, they were actually cuddling the first night. We gave Angie a lot of extra attention so she wouldn't feel slighted by the newcomer, and we thought things would be fine, and for the most part, they are.
But here's the problem. Angie is totally letting Sherbet walk all over her. If she's eating, and he tries to eat her food, she just lets him. If I toss a toy out for her, and Sherbet goes after it, she just backs off and lets him have it. She's just being really passive and that's totally not like her. When Entourage was around, she wouldn't take that kind of stuff. The other thing that's not quite right is that she's not being as affectionate towards me as she was before. I don't know quite how to explain it but she's just acting...kinda slow and she seems a little sad.
I guess my question is really, should I be worried about this? Do I just need to give it more time? Or is there a way I can sort of teach her to not be such a doormat?
Well after that, our younger cat, Angie, who's about 2, was just heartbroken, she followed me around for a week, meowing all the time (up until then, she was never much of a talker at all, so I knew something was wrong), and she was looking around for Enty a lot. It was just heartbreaking. After a little over a week of that, we decided that maybe it would be best to get another cat, because she was just so lonely, and to be honest, we were a little loney too.
So we got a new baby, a 4 month old male, orange and white. We named him Sherbet. Well Sherbet is a very active little boy, as most kittens are, and right off the bat the two seemed to be getting along fairly well. We didn't even have to separate them for a night. We tried keeping them apart for a couple hours, but they kept trying to meet. There was not one hiss, and as crazy as it sounds, they were actually cuddling the first night. We gave Angie a lot of extra attention so she wouldn't feel slighted by the newcomer, and we thought things would be fine, and for the most part, they are.
But here's the problem. Angie is totally letting Sherbet walk all over her. If she's eating, and he tries to eat her food, she just lets him. If I toss a toy out for her, and Sherbet goes after it, she just backs off and lets him have it. She's just being really passive and that's totally not like her. When Entourage was around, she wouldn't take that kind of stuff. The other thing that's not quite right is that she's not being as affectionate towards me as she was before. I don't know quite how to explain it but she's just acting...kinda slow and she seems a little sad.
I guess my question is really, should I be worried about this? Do I just need to give it more time? Or is there a way I can sort of teach her to not be such a doormat?