Hi, everyone.
I have one male cat, Fred Mertz who is about 4 years old and has lived with us, with no other cats for a little over 2 years. Lately he's been acting a little lonely so I adopted a 10 month old female named Stella.
Right now I have Stella in an extra large wire dog crate with all the necessary things in a fairly quiet room but she can still see into the living area with the door open. Fred Mertz has been quite the curious fella and likes to look at her. If she makes any noise he has to go investigate what she's doing. Sometimes he goes in there and sniffs around her crate, sometimes he just goes and looks at her. Stella hissed at him yesterday but today there has been no hissing, but she has growled at him and when she growls Fred puffs his coat out but never does anything ugly, just looks at her, but for the most part they've been pretty quiet. Fred Mertz will leave her alone and come back to the rest of the house and resume his place on the sofa or cat tree. I've tried going and sitting with them and petting them together but Fred always leaves when I walk in. I haven't let them meet without anything between them and will close the door to her room when I leave and go to bed at night.
Am I doing this right? I understand that this will take time and to have patience, I just don't want anyone to be stressed or get hurt in the process.
Thank you for all your help!
I have one male cat, Fred Mertz who is about 4 years old and has lived with us, with no other cats for a little over 2 years. Lately he's been acting a little lonely so I adopted a 10 month old female named Stella.
Right now I have Stella in an extra large wire dog crate with all the necessary things in a fairly quiet room but she can still see into the living area with the door open. Fred Mertz has been quite the curious fella and likes to look at her. If she makes any noise he has to go investigate what she's doing. Sometimes he goes in there and sniffs around her crate, sometimes he just goes and looks at her. Stella hissed at him yesterday but today there has been no hissing, but she has growled at him and when she growls Fred puffs his coat out but never does anything ugly, just looks at her, but for the most part they've been pretty quiet. Fred Mertz will leave her alone and come back to the rest of the house and resume his place on the sofa or cat tree. I've tried going and sitting with them and petting them together but Fred always leaves when I walk in. I haven't let them meet without anything between them and will close the door to her room when I leave and go to bed at night.
Am I doing this right? I understand that this will take time and to have patience, I just don't want anyone to be stressed or get hurt in the process.
Thank you for all your help!
