Been feeling overwhelmed with the introduction even though it's only been 24 hours so I wanted to make a thread where I could post updates and questions. My residents Finn (4.5 years) and Anya (2.5 years) have a fantastic relationship, though Finn is a very territorial and high-energy cat while Anya is very submissive and skittish. Yesterday I adopted Jonathan (3 months) who is full of spunk! He's an absolute sweetheart and I'm so happy to have him as part of my little family.
Anya has been very nonplussed with the new scent and meows from the spare room, but Finn is not happy! Hissing and swiping under the door, tense every time he hears a sound... it's so stressful for the both of us!
Yesterday was a bit of a disaster when Jonathan managed to escape his room and Finn cornered him, hissing and spitting. I got them split up and Jonathan back into his safe room, and Finn spent the rest of the day sulking in his cat tree. Today I think went a little better. I put a Sentry calming collar on Finn, and he spent the day going about his normal routine. Only had an incident after I left Jonathan's room and Jonathan was meowing, and Finn charged the door and hissed and swat. A bit after that he came over and sat on my lap purring so I'm hoping this means he's not as stressed as yesterday. Even one less hiss per day will be a victory! I was worried about redirected aggression, but he and Anya are still getting along fine and I even saw them allogrooming today.
I'm thinking tomorrow I'll do some scent swapping. Is it best to do visual desensitization once the hissing under the door has ceased completely?
I'm so scared they'll never get along! Hopefully I can look back at this thread in a month and see that they've made progress.
Anya has been very nonplussed with the new scent and meows from the spare room, but Finn is not happy! Hissing and swiping under the door, tense every time he hears a sound... it's so stressful for the both of us!
Yesterday was a bit of a disaster when Jonathan managed to escape his room and Finn cornered him, hissing and spitting. I got them split up and Jonathan back into his safe room, and Finn spent the rest of the day sulking in his cat tree. Today I think went a little better. I put a Sentry calming collar on Finn, and he spent the day going about his normal routine. Only had an incident after I left Jonathan's room and Jonathan was meowing, and Finn charged the door and hissed and swat. A bit after that he came over and sat on my lap purring so I'm hoping this means he's not as stressed as yesterday. Even one less hiss per day will be a victory! I was worried about redirected aggression, but he and Anya are still getting along fine and I even saw them allogrooming today.
I'm thinking tomorrow I'll do some scent swapping. Is it best to do visual desensitization once the hissing under the door has ceased completely?
I'm so scared they'll never get along! Hopefully I can look back at this thread in a month and see that they've made progress.