Hi guys! This is super, super long and has a bit of a backstory so please bear with me. I'd like some second opinions and maybe some suggestions for introductions because I really care about my girl's comfort level/security, but I also think that she's young enough that having a companion around would really benefit her.
I posted here probably a little more than a year ago when I rescued my now 1.5 year old cat, Dinah. I was worried about some concerning behavior by a former housemate and how it was affecting her. Turns out I was right to be worried: she was locking Dinah in the bathroom all day after I left the house and not allowing her to play with the other animals in the apartment, or be in the common living areas at all. I also discovered that she'd locked Dinah in my bedroom while I was away for a family emergency, and not given her food or water for between 3-5 days, although she'd agreed to feeding her. I came home and my bedroom was dark, the door was shut, and all of the food and water bowls I'd set out -- cause I kind of figured she might pull something like this, I set up a few extra -- were dry/had been flipped over.
At the time my cat was about 5 or 6 months, and was also actively interested in playing with the other resident cat - though she was kept sequestered from her, and only really played with her via this cool toy that had balls on either side and fit under a door? She loved that, though. Within two months of finding out about all of this, I gave my notice and found a much better living situation for the two of us, but she was still dealing with all of that stuff between the ages of 4 and 8 months, and I worry a bit about her socialization, now.
As far as dealing with people: She's totally cool with my best friend and her fiance, because they both present themselves as non-threatening: they acknowledge her if they pass her or she comes in to peek at them, and will play with her, but don't focus all of their energy and eye-contact at her, as they're not really like, 'cat people' so to speak. Both love animals, but prefer dogs. I think it probably also helps that half of the furniture in our apartment 'smells' like my best friend. So she's basically a piece of our furniture that moves around. When friends come over, she will usually hide until the front door is closed and then she'll trot out with her tail high, and sniff everyone very, very thoroughly. She is very curious, and likes to investigate anything or anyone new that we bring into her space. She's also friendly, just doesn't like to be picked up in general or pet without warning. The people who tend to distress her have loud/overbearing energies or personalities, but she has never attacked anyone, or hissed at them even. Her ears have gone back when people ignore her body language and try to scoop her up like a lap cat but it's not like she's not giving off warning signs, and I figure that's probably pretty normal. Generally she isn't distressed about new people as long as they don't get up in her face and immediately try to pet her / pick her up / talk to her / make intense eye contact with her.
Her behavior with animals: She was in an open room with other cats when I adopted her, and as a 4-month old kitten didn't have issues with engaging in play / cohabitating with other cats. Since then, she hasn't had experience with cats aside from the door-play that went on with my former housemate's cat, although before the sequestering began, she was consistently trying to play-chase her and ambush her. She's only super recently been made aware of the existence of dogs, because my best friend had to bring hers over for a couple of nights. It didn't go well at first (she's a very small cat, and the dog is a very tall, old pitt bull) but the dog was kept in the other bedroom and Dinah was given free run of the house, since it's her territory. After a couple of hours, she got curious and would peek into the bedroom and scope out the dog whenever someone opened or closed the door. By the next morning, she was sticking her paws underneath the door gap and feeling around the way cats do when you're like in the bathroom and they want in?
She has super long whiskers, and so is super sensitive to loud or sudden noise, and pretty much all smells. She hates, hates, hates when any of the various washers in our apartment are going, and is pretty vocal about it. It makes it difficult to reinforce things with treats and food because she doesn't like treats at all, and she is very, very picky about food. I've only found one wet type she's okay with eating so far. She also super does not like Feliway, and won't go anywhere near any place I've sprayed with it. She does love to play. Her play drive hasn't changed at all from when she was a kitten, she could totally go for hours. Her favorites are the Da Bird wand toys cause she loves to pounce on things, and those yellow dish gloves which she steals literally all the time, cause they make a good noise or something? She picks them up, tosses them in the air with her head and then catches them again with her paws.
I'm at a point in my life where I can adopt another kitten, and I think it would be very good for her to have a companion. This is basically the only time in my life I've had a single cat, and I know she's happy with me, but I feel like she could be much happier, especially when I'm not around, and given her high play drive. I think she may be bored, and I don't want that for her. Ideally I'd like a kitten between 2-5 months, and a boy, both to avoid dominance issues and because all of the cats I had growing up were male, and for the most part, very calm and unconcerned. My mom lives in another state, but fosters abandoned feral kittens for a shelter near her home, and agreed that I should adopt a cat who is younger than her, because she will be less threatened by a smaller, younger cat coming into her space.
I guess making this decision is scary for me because I can't forget the way things went for Dinah re: the terrible housemate, after her adoption, and because so many of the 'introduction tricks' that I've seen mentioned with food/treats/catnip/Feliway don't work for her. I did have to return a kitten (before Dinah) that I had rescued, and already bonded with over two months, because I and the no-kill shelter I adopted from discovered that this same housemate had lied during the adoption interviews/questionnaires about her cat and her cat's history. It was really, really sad for me and in the back of my mind, I keep thinking about what will happen if the two of them don't adjust to one another or get along. I am totally prepared to make the adjustment and introductions as slowly as needed for both cats, so that things do go as smoothly as possible with the least amount of stress for both of them.
Is there anything I could do, in advance of adoption, that might help prepare my cat for a life change like this? Also, since this post is so long, I should add some pictures of my little bug for you guys! Thank you so much for reading.
I posted here probably a little more than a year ago when I rescued my now 1.5 year old cat, Dinah. I was worried about some concerning behavior by a former housemate and how it was affecting her. Turns out I was right to be worried: she was locking Dinah in the bathroom all day after I left the house and not allowing her to play with the other animals in the apartment, or be in the common living areas at all. I also discovered that she'd locked Dinah in my bedroom while I was away for a family emergency, and not given her food or water for between 3-5 days, although she'd agreed to feeding her. I came home and my bedroom was dark, the door was shut, and all of the food and water bowls I'd set out -- cause I kind of figured she might pull something like this, I set up a few extra -- were dry/had been flipped over.
At the time my cat was about 5 or 6 months, and was also actively interested in playing with the other resident cat - though she was kept sequestered from her, and only really played with her via this cool toy that had balls on either side and fit under a door? She loved that, though. Within two months of finding out about all of this, I gave my notice and found a much better living situation for the two of us, but she was still dealing with all of that stuff between the ages of 4 and 8 months, and I worry a bit about her socialization, now.
As far as dealing with people: She's totally cool with my best friend and her fiance, because they both present themselves as non-threatening: they acknowledge her if they pass her or she comes in to peek at them, and will play with her, but don't focus all of their energy and eye-contact at her, as they're not really like, 'cat people' so to speak. Both love animals, but prefer dogs. I think it probably also helps that half of the furniture in our apartment 'smells' like my best friend. So she's basically a piece of our furniture that moves around. When friends come over, she will usually hide until the front door is closed and then she'll trot out with her tail high, and sniff everyone very, very thoroughly. She is very curious, and likes to investigate anything or anyone new that we bring into her space. She's also friendly, just doesn't like to be picked up in general or pet without warning. The people who tend to distress her have loud/overbearing energies or personalities, but she has never attacked anyone, or hissed at them even. Her ears have gone back when people ignore her body language and try to scoop her up like a lap cat but it's not like she's not giving off warning signs, and I figure that's probably pretty normal. Generally she isn't distressed about new people as long as they don't get up in her face and immediately try to pet her / pick her up / talk to her / make intense eye contact with her.
Her behavior with animals: She was in an open room with other cats when I adopted her, and as a 4-month old kitten didn't have issues with engaging in play / cohabitating with other cats. Since then, she hasn't had experience with cats aside from the door-play that went on with my former housemate's cat, although before the sequestering began, she was consistently trying to play-chase her and ambush her. She's only super recently been made aware of the existence of dogs, because my best friend had to bring hers over for a couple of nights. It didn't go well at first (she's a very small cat, and the dog is a very tall, old pitt bull) but the dog was kept in the other bedroom and Dinah was given free run of the house, since it's her territory. After a couple of hours, she got curious and would peek into the bedroom and scope out the dog whenever someone opened or closed the door. By the next morning, she was sticking her paws underneath the door gap and feeling around the way cats do when you're like in the bathroom and they want in?
She has super long whiskers, and so is super sensitive to loud or sudden noise, and pretty much all smells. She hates, hates, hates when any of the various washers in our apartment are going, and is pretty vocal about it. It makes it difficult to reinforce things with treats and food because she doesn't like treats at all, and she is very, very picky about food. I've only found one wet type she's okay with eating so far. She also super does not like Feliway, and won't go anywhere near any place I've sprayed with it. She does love to play. Her play drive hasn't changed at all from when she was a kitten, she could totally go for hours. Her favorites are the Da Bird wand toys cause she loves to pounce on things, and those yellow dish gloves which she steals literally all the time, cause they make a good noise or something? She picks them up, tosses them in the air with her head and then catches them again with her paws.
I'm at a point in my life where I can adopt another kitten, and I think it would be very good for her to have a companion. This is basically the only time in my life I've had a single cat, and I know she's happy with me, but I feel like she could be much happier, especially when I'm not around, and given her high play drive. I think she may be bored, and I don't want that for her. Ideally I'd like a kitten between 2-5 months, and a boy, both to avoid dominance issues and because all of the cats I had growing up were male, and for the most part, very calm and unconcerned. My mom lives in another state, but fosters abandoned feral kittens for a shelter near her home, and agreed that I should adopt a cat who is younger than her, because she will be less threatened by a smaller, younger cat coming into her space.
I guess making this decision is scary for me because I can't forget the way things went for Dinah re: the terrible housemate, after her adoption, and because so many of the 'introduction tricks' that I've seen mentioned with food/treats/catnip/Feliway don't work for her. I did have to return a kitten (before Dinah) that I had rescued, and already bonded with over two months, because I and the no-kill shelter I adopted from discovered that this same housemate had lied during the adoption interviews/questionnaires about her cat and her cat's history. It was really, really sad for me and in the back of my mind, I keep thinking about what will happen if the two of them don't adjust to one another or get along. I am totally prepared to make the adjustment and introductions as slowly as needed for both cats, so that things do go as smoothly as possible with the least amount of stress for both of them.
Is there anything I could do, in advance of adoption, that might help prepare my cat for a life change like this? Also, since this post is so long, I should add some pictures of my little bug for you guys! Thank you so much for reading.
