Little bit of background information: We have our 3 year old male cat and a new 7 month old female kitten, both fixed. They got introduced to each other about 2 months ago. Their introduction went quite well. Now they hang out together and chase each other around the house with only a few arguments (the kitten gets overwhelmed and growls or hisses at our 3 year old. They eat together and sleep with us in the bedroom. So I'd like to think their introduction went well...? But recently I've noticed some behavioural changes in our 3 yr old cat so I was hoping to get some advice.
Changes: Our 3 year olds play has decreased A LOT. It used to be really easy for us to get him to play. He'd play with string toys and laser pointers and chase us, or we'd throw toys and he'd pounce on them etc.. really easy play. Ever since getting the kitten its almost impossible to get him to play. We've tried all his old favourite games, new toys, more catnip and separating them. We'll take the kitten into the bed room and play with her in there while one of us tries to play with the 3 yr old out in the living room. Its SO hard to pique his interest anymore. He doesn't seem to want to play anything, we've tried a variety of toys, making them look like mice or flying feathers. He's not even interested in the laser pointer any more and he used to go crazy for it. Does any one have any ideas about how to help him want to play again? Is this because of the new cat? Will he get back to normal after some more time?
The other thing I've noticed is he's getting really bad about meowing at us for food HOURS before his meal time. They get fed at 9am and 6pm and we're feeding food that the vet has recommended to us (diet food for the 3yr old and regular kitten food for the little one) Today we kind have hit our wits end with him. He started meowing and nuzzling us for food starting at 2pm.... he even got a bit aggressive when I picked him up (something he normally likes) and bit me. So I tried to play with him but like I wrote above, no interest in play. He just sat by his food bowl. Then since he wouldn't stop meowing we decided to put him in the bedroom with the lights out to hopefully calm him down. Then when he quieted down we found he had pooped in our laundry basket... He has access to the litter boxes (which were pretty clean) so we're really baffled as to why his behaviour was so bad today...
Does any one have any advice or ideas for my boyfriend and I? We want both the cats to be happy.
PS. His latest vet visit was 4 months ago and he had a clean bill of health besides being overweight but he's now on diet food and almost back to his normal weight.
Changes: Our 3 year olds play has decreased A LOT. It used to be really easy for us to get him to play. He'd play with string toys and laser pointers and chase us, or we'd throw toys and he'd pounce on them etc.. really easy play. Ever since getting the kitten its almost impossible to get him to play. We've tried all his old favourite games, new toys, more catnip and separating them. We'll take the kitten into the bed room and play with her in there while one of us tries to play with the 3 yr old out in the living room. Its SO hard to pique his interest anymore. He doesn't seem to want to play anything, we've tried a variety of toys, making them look like mice or flying feathers. He's not even interested in the laser pointer any more and he used to go crazy for it. Does any one have any ideas about how to help him want to play again? Is this because of the new cat? Will he get back to normal after some more time?
The other thing I've noticed is he's getting really bad about meowing at us for food HOURS before his meal time. They get fed at 9am and 6pm and we're feeding food that the vet has recommended to us (diet food for the 3yr old and regular kitten food for the little one) Today we kind have hit our wits end with him. He started meowing and nuzzling us for food starting at 2pm.... he even got a bit aggressive when I picked him up (something he normally likes) and bit me. So I tried to play with him but like I wrote above, no interest in play. He just sat by his food bowl. Then since he wouldn't stop meowing we decided to put him in the bedroom with the lights out to hopefully calm him down. Then when he quieted down we found he had pooped in our laundry basket... He has access to the litter boxes (which were pretty clean) so we're really baffled as to why his behaviour was so bad today...
Does any one have any advice or ideas for my boyfriend and I? We want both the cats to be happy.
PS. His latest vet visit was 4 months ago and he had a clean bill of health besides being overweight but he's now on diet food and almost back to his normal weight.