- Joined
- Mar 27, 2017
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Hi,
We've been looking through all sorts of forums and blogs for this issue but it seems that this issue isn't very common. The situation: one 7 year old rescue tortie (girl), who must have been through some trauma (very timid, scared, selective cat), but has come around so much - from hiding under chairs to lovely attentive cat, who allows belly rubs and long cuddle sessions (she won't ever be a lap cat though). She is still very playful and as she's alone most of the day when we're at work, so we thought we'd introduce a mate. We found this gentle, lovely 7 months year old silver tortie (girl) and thought we'd give it a go
We've followed all the usual introduction steps and it's been just over a week but we're struggling. One of the main problems - having them eat on either side of the door. The older cat will just not eat and she hides. Within a few days, she has become so suspicious of food that she's running away now when I get her dinner out. She is usually a highly food-driven cat and that's why this really worries me. I have stopped trying to feed her near the new cat's room for now. She also gets suspicious when I am getting treats. Even letting her eat in her normal sport, she doesn't eat all her food (which is very uncommon for her, she'd normally always ask for more). With food out of the equation I am just not sure how to 'appease' her.
The old cat will avoid getting near the door of the new cat. Old cat is mostly outside but now getting worried she'll turn stray for fear of coming inside to the new cat. So, today, we will try to keep her inside and swap between cats 'having' the house to themselves (mostly old cat will have the house as we don't want to leave the kitten unsupervised at this stage). Sadly old cat is not happy in the house though - she will hide somewhere. She hisses and at times growls at us (not just at the other cat/door). We have tried cat pheromones, which doesn't seem to have any effect on old cat. Thankfully new cat doesn't seem fazed by any of this!
Old cat had some good moments and seemed chilled out about it all after day 3/4 - we let her see the new cat. I really hope this wasn't too early and we made it impossible for them to ever get along. There is no aggression though. Old cat is scared and hisses a lot but doesn't attack. She's running away rather than attacking; new cat is also not aggressive at all.
We know people say it may take months for them to get along. But we really don't think that's fair to either cat, old cat in particular. If she's just hiding around the house, not eating, not enjoying her life, it's just not an option.
We just don't want to stress out our old kitty for longer than necessary. Are we too impatient? We just don't want to stress out old cat more than necessary, as said, she has been through trauma. What it comes down to: When do we know there's no hope and we should give up?
Any insights/experiences/suggestions would be so so welcome!
Thanks so much,
Bettie
We've been looking through all sorts of forums and blogs for this issue but it seems that this issue isn't very common. The situation: one 7 year old rescue tortie (girl), who must have been through some trauma (very timid, scared, selective cat), but has come around so much - from hiding under chairs to lovely attentive cat, who allows belly rubs and long cuddle sessions (she won't ever be a lap cat though). She is still very playful and as she's alone most of the day when we're at work, so we thought we'd introduce a mate. We found this gentle, lovely 7 months year old silver tortie (girl) and thought we'd give it a go
We've followed all the usual introduction steps and it's been just over a week but we're struggling. One of the main problems - having them eat on either side of the door. The older cat will just not eat and she hides. Within a few days, she has become so suspicious of food that she's running away now when I get her dinner out. She is usually a highly food-driven cat and that's why this really worries me. I have stopped trying to feed her near the new cat's room for now. She also gets suspicious when I am getting treats. Even letting her eat in her normal sport, she doesn't eat all her food (which is very uncommon for her, she'd normally always ask for more). With food out of the equation I am just not sure how to 'appease' her.
The old cat will avoid getting near the door of the new cat. Old cat is mostly outside but now getting worried she'll turn stray for fear of coming inside to the new cat. So, today, we will try to keep her inside and swap between cats 'having' the house to themselves (mostly old cat will have the house as we don't want to leave the kitten unsupervised at this stage). Sadly old cat is not happy in the house though - she will hide somewhere. She hisses and at times growls at us (not just at the other cat/door). We have tried cat pheromones, which doesn't seem to have any effect on old cat. Thankfully new cat doesn't seem fazed by any of this!
Old cat had some good moments and seemed chilled out about it all after day 3/4 - we let her see the new cat. I really hope this wasn't too early and we made it impossible for them to ever get along. There is no aggression though. Old cat is scared and hisses a lot but doesn't attack. She's running away rather than attacking; new cat is also not aggressive at all.
We know people say it may take months for them to get along. But we really don't think that's fair to either cat, old cat in particular. If she's just hiding around the house, not eating, not enjoying her life, it's just not an option.
We just don't want to stress out our old kitty for longer than necessary. Are we too impatient? We just don't want to stress out old cat more than necessary, as said, she has been through trauma. What it comes down to: When do we know there's no hope and we should give up?
Any insights/experiences/suggestions would be so so welcome!
Thanks so much,
Bettie
