We have a one year old female cat named Iris, and we wanted to her get her a friend to play with because she is very attached to me, and when I leave during the day my boyfriend says she cries afterwards. She was around her litter mates when she was a baby but hasn't been around cats since. So we adopted a 4 month old boy kitty named Oliver, he is super affectionate, playful and sweet. Iris is not that much of a touchy feely cat, she does not sit in our laps and if we pet her too much the teeth come out. But she is still affectionate in her own way, she sleeps with us in the bed and gets super happy when I come home and wake up in the mornings. Anywho..
We brought home Oliver yesterday, so it's still early in the intro game with them but so far not so good. She has seen Oliver, and is not happy about it. We have him in a spare bathroom right now, when she sees him through the crack of the door if we open it slightly she will sit there and stare at him. He accidentally slipped by us last night and got out, and Iris started growling and hissing at him. I knew that was going to happen for a while, but I just don't know to what extent and I'm scared we're going to have to bring him back to where we got him if in a few days Iris doesn't calm down. She not only is getting aggressive towards him, but she bit my boyfriend really hard when he was trying to put him back in the bathroom.
I tried last night to take the blanket he has been laying on and put it near her, she sniffed it and hissed at the blanket. He slept in the bathroom last night. I tried this morning to feed her her wet food outside of the bathroom door because I saw that maybe that could help, but as soon as she heard him moving around in the bathroom she backed away from her food and didn't eat at all. So I put her food back in the kitchen and took his blanket and put it in the kitchen too, a few feet away which she sniffed but still wouldn't touch her food. She usually vacuums up her food in the mornings when I give it to her.
My question is..do I have to keep him locked up in the bathroom for weeks? It hurts me so much knowing he wants to be with us but can't be unless we go in there with him. We are trying to take it slow with them, but then I have people I know say just let him out, because they will never get used to each other through a door cracked open. I just don't want him to get hurt!
We brought home Oliver yesterday, so it's still early in the intro game with them but so far not so good. She has seen Oliver, and is not happy about it. We have him in a spare bathroom right now, when she sees him through the crack of the door if we open it slightly she will sit there and stare at him. He accidentally slipped by us last night and got out, and Iris started growling and hissing at him. I knew that was going to happen for a while, but I just don't know to what extent and I'm scared we're going to have to bring him back to where we got him if in a few days Iris doesn't calm down. She not only is getting aggressive towards him, but she bit my boyfriend really hard when he was trying to put him back in the bathroom.
I tried last night to take the blanket he has been laying on and put it near her, she sniffed it and hissed at the blanket. He slept in the bathroom last night. I tried this morning to feed her her wet food outside of the bathroom door because I saw that maybe that could help, but as soon as she heard him moving around in the bathroom she backed away from her food and didn't eat at all. So I put her food back in the kitchen and took his blanket and put it in the kitchen too, a few feet away which she sniffed but still wouldn't touch her food. She usually vacuums up her food in the mornings when I give it to her.
My question is..do I have to keep him locked up in the bathroom for weeks? It hurts me so much knowing he wants to be with us but can't be unless we go in there with him. We are trying to take it slow with them, but then I have people I know say just let him out, because they will never get used to each other through a door cracked open. I just don't want him to get hurt!