Hi everyone! I’m new to this group, but I’m glad I found it. I need help. I’m a cat mom of 4 years. We have an orange tabby of roughly 6/7 years. She was a feral and is sweet as could be. I call her my little introvert, but she loves love, brushing, pets, and food! Lol! We also have a boy tuxedo who just turned 3. He was found when only a few weeks old. We’re all he’s ever known. The two are perfect and very bonded. I had no issues. Until my boyfriend discovered a shelter cat, girl 3 1/2 years, who looks very much like my boy. He thought it would be cute to have 2 tux’s. We kept her in my office for a week. Before introductions we even gave her a bath to wash away the shelter smell. She’s fine with us. We introduced at breakfast time, with her at a distance. My girl, the feral, was like “whatever” and went back to eating. My boy froze. Long story short, new cat stalks and attacks my boy. He’s terrified of her. New cat has been in shelters for most of her life, so I know living in a home is new for her, and she has SO much energy!! She’s very type A, acting like she runs the place, and hissed at the other cats. The other night I took my boy to my office so my BF would have the rest of the house to play with new cat and wear down her energy. While in my arms walking into the office, he immediately started hissing and growling, and new cat wasn’t even there. She was on another floor. Needless to say, we went into the bedroom instead. We keep new cat in another bedroom at night, and I refuse to have her roaming free unless I’m there to supervise. Her attacks start with a stare down. He freezes, then, as if I’m slow motion, he slowly turns around and tail down creeps away, as slow as possible. It’s like watching a sloth. New cat just watches, eyes locked on him, then eventually attacks. He is so scared. You can see it in his eyes. I feel like my pleasant and perfect home life is over. I don’t know to do. We also have those pheromone diffusers, but they don’t seem to be doing anything. I should also add that the girl at the shelter told us “she probably won’t be friend for your other cats. She would do well in an area of the house by herself”. In the maybe 20 min we were at the shelter, I saw her hiss and swat at another cat. BF didn’t care. He was adamant on adopting her. I love the idea of saving a shelter animal, but I feel like we got the wrong one.
Is there hope? Does anyone have any suggestions? I’m miserable. My boy is miserable. And I know my girl feels the stress too. Thanks for listening
Is there hope? Does anyone have any suggestions? I’m miserable. My boy is miserable. And I know my girl feels the stress too. Thanks for listening