Hello everybody!
I'm new to this forum so I'm very pleased to be here. I need help and I've checked out the archives to see if this information has been answered. So far nothing so please forgive me if I rehash already covered territory. I'm also sorry that this is a long story.
I've been working on introducing new cat (1 yr old stray and recently spayed female named Pumpkin -- tortoiseshell) to my old cat (4 yr old spayed female named Boo). I did what the vet suggested by slowly introducing them to each other by keeping them separate for a while, etc... I finally introduced them in a supervised, non threatening (ie., not feeding time) way. Pumpkin, who is the =most= affectionate cat to humans I've ever met, became very aggressive with my old cat.
I decided, since no blood was shed, to let them work things out. I kept them separated with occassional "meetings." Then I decided to let them out by themselves unsupervised. Boo became very unhappy -- peed in places she shouldn't, cried to me, was jumpy all the time and stuck as close to me as she could. I decided the new cat had to find a new ownder. Unfortunately I didn't find somebody. I had Pumpkin spayed...now the tables have turned.
Boo (old cat) will fight back and chase the other cat off. In fact, Pumpkin is showing signs of becoming submissive to her. But I don't know how to leave them alone together because I tried that for a couple hours while I was out shopping and when I opened the door, Boo shot out of it!!! She's an indoor cat and has never done that before (except once or twice when I had been away for extended trips).
I'm still keeping them separated when I'm away although they are around each other when I'm home. Does anybody have suggestions on how I should proceed? Should I just bite the bullet and let them get used to each other 24/7?
Sorry for the long post but the relationship between them keeps moving around!!
Thanks so much for your patience.
Wendy
I'm new to this forum so I'm very pleased to be here. I need help and I've checked out the archives to see if this information has been answered. So far nothing so please forgive me if I rehash already covered territory. I'm also sorry that this is a long story.
I've been working on introducing new cat (1 yr old stray and recently spayed female named Pumpkin -- tortoiseshell) to my old cat (4 yr old spayed female named Boo). I did what the vet suggested by slowly introducing them to each other by keeping them separate for a while, etc... I finally introduced them in a supervised, non threatening (ie., not feeding time) way. Pumpkin, who is the =most= affectionate cat to humans I've ever met, became very aggressive with my old cat.
I decided, since no blood was shed, to let them work things out. I kept them separated with occassional "meetings." Then I decided to let them out by themselves unsupervised. Boo became very unhappy -- peed in places she shouldn't, cried to me, was jumpy all the time and stuck as close to me as she could. I decided the new cat had to find a new ownder. Unfortunately I didn't find somebody. I had Pumpkin spayed...now the tables have turned.
Boo (old cat) will fight back and chase the other cat off. In fact, Pumpkin is showing signs of becoming submissive to her. But I don't know how to leave them alone together because I tried that for a couple hours while I was out shopping and when I opened the door, Boo shot out of it!!! She's an indoor cat and has never done that before (except once or twice when I had been away for extended trips).
I'm still keeping them separated when I'm away although they are around each other when I'm home. Does anybody have suggestions on how I should proceed? Should I just bite the bullet and let them get used to each other 24/7?
Sorry for the long post but the relationship between them keeps moving around!!
Thanks so much for your patience.
Wendy