Lavender and Bamboo

[LavandBam]

Hi all! I adopted a 2.5 year old tabby named lavender back in October. She was incredibly shy and scared and while she has come along way, she is still often wary of people (she still will hide when people come over and won’t allow us to pick her up). About 3 weeks ago I adopted a second shelter cat named Bamboo. He is a lot bigger than her and is incredibly lanky. He warmed up to us and all our visitors immediately and he is very affectionate and playful. We took the introduction very slowly and have kept bamboo in his own room for the past few weeks. More and more we have let them interact with each other (after the scent swapping and positive association building first). We let bamboo come down in a carrier a handful of times and allowed lavender to smell him while we played with her, gave her treats, and pets. Then we graduated to short no carrier supervised interactions. The first two of these went okay as lavender mainly just sat somewhere and watched bamboo roam. If bamboo got too close to her she would hiss but would not sway him or run away. However, on the third interaction lavender decided to swat bamboos face and then he began trying to play with her. He ended up running her in a few circles until eventually she was trapped in a corner screaming and hissing her head off. We grabbed bamboo and separated them for 24 hours. After the 24 hours was up we started over and only brought bamboo down in the carrier again, but now lavender just runs into the other room and hides. It’s been a few days of this and it just feels like utter and complete regression. Someone please help! These are two beautiful and loving cats that deserve a home. I’m not expecting them to become besties, but if we can get to a point where they can peacefully and happily cohabitate, that would be so amazing. Thank you so much in advance!

 

[vansX2]

Hi all! I adopted a 2.5 year old tabby named lavender back in October. She was incredibly shy and scared and while she has come along way, she is still often wary of people (she still will hide when people come over and won’t allow us to pick her up). About 3 weeks ago I adopted a second shelter cat named Bamboo. He is a lot bigger than her and is incredibly lanky. He warmed up to us and all our visitors immediately and he is very affectionate and playful. We took the introduction very slowly and have kept bamboo in his own room for the past few weeks. More and more we have let them interact with each other (after the scent swapping and positive association building first). We let bamboo come down in a carrier a handful of times and allowed lavender to smell him while we played with her, gave her treats, and pets. Then we graduated to short no carrier supervised interactions. The first two of these went okay as lavender mainly just sat somewhere and watched bamboo roam. If bamboo got too close to her she would hiss but would not sway him or run away. However, on the third interaction lavender decided to swat bamboos face and then he began trying to play with her. He ended up running her in a few circles until eventually she was trapped in a corner screaming and hissing her head off. We grabbed bamboo and separated them for 24 hours. After the 24 hours was up we started over and only brought bamboo down in the carrier again, but now lavender just runs into the other room and hides. It’s been a few days of this and it just feels like utter and complete regression. Someone please help! These are two beautiful and loving cats that deserve a home. I’m not expecting them to become besties, but if we can get to a point where they can peacefully and happily cohabitate, that would be so amazing. Thank you so much in advance! View attachment 408893View attachment 408894

I had similar situation many years ago. I had a 3 yr. old Neutered Male. Then I added a Spayed 3 yr. old Female. The fury began. I never separated the two. Both had their claws. Both were Maine Coon cats. For the most part they they kept away from each other. They coexisted. The female initially wanted to be friends. But it was the Males house first.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Keep Bamboo in the carrier, for now, but block off the other rooms so that Lavender learns that she can stay in the same room with Bamboo safely. When you begin to allow Bamboo back out, be ready to distract him the moment he begins to fixate on Lavender. It's great that he seems to be intent on playing with her, but not that he doesn't understand her not wanting to. I'd suggest a good wand toy, as it is easy to get one between the two of them, and get Bamboo's attention. OH, and let Lavender have alone time with the wand toy! The act of "hunting, catching, and killing" her prey will boost her morale, and make her more confident.