Hi. I am new here. Please be kind. I am a lifelong cat lover and have almost always had one or more cats. Until recently I had three cats: 12-year-old female, 11-year-old male, and 2-year-old female. The older two were kittens when my now adult daughter was a young girl and are more bonded to her. She had moved out over a year ago but didn't feel like she could take the cats until she bought a house. She lived nearby and visited them a lot. The 2-year-old is my baby. I've had her since she was 10 weeks old and she is bonded to me and sleeps with me and so on. She didn't have a lot of interaction with the older cats, but she had their company when I was busy. My daughter recently bought a house and was ready to take the older cats and I was concerned about my baby not having any other cat company. I also didn't want her to get used to being the only cat. So, I adopted a cat from a shelter the day before my daughter took the other two. I had wanted a similar circumstance, maybe a senior who still had a little occasional playfulness left, but I read that for it to work the new cat needed to be the same age or younger. I did not want to start over with a kitten. I found a 2-year-old female described as playful. It took us about nine days to do the introductions before I could let them be together. Taking the course we did was successful and they accepted each other.
It has now been just over six weeks since I adopted new kitty. I am a nervous wreck and exhausted. I have never known a more high energy cat. She is absolutely exhausting. I have been playing with her 45-60 minutes three times a day and it's not enough. (If I shorten the sessions, then I just have to do more sessions). The two girls get along, but my first cat is more reserved. She is playful but measured, thoughtful, plans her attacks on toy prey. New kitty barrels into everything with the exuberance of a puppy. She stampedes down the stairs and practically flies into the wall. She does not seem anxious, quite the opposite - confident, self-assured. She is so intense. She plays until she is open-mouthed panting like a dog and as soon as she catches her breath, she wants more. She loves the mouse on a wand and wire toy. She goes after her toy prey as though the fate of the feline species depended on it. When she is bored, she chases first kitty until there is a melee. No claws, no biting, no fighting, no aggression. She is just trying to force my other kitty to play hard and though first kitty wants to play with her (like I do), it's never enough and new kitty is so boisterous, we are both overwhelmed. My first kitty has started scratching herself around her ears a lot, is doing that twitching they do when their ears itch and she is losing hair on her head. Some days she has to hide or stay on guard. She actually picked a neutral safe position she favors. Other times, they are together. My first kitty is often trying to tap second kitty on the head when she approaches as if to say - Down, girl. She tries to groom new kitty's head and establish some calm bonding habits. New kitty cooperates if she has recently woken up or just eaten a meal and is ready to nap. Days like Saturday, where I had to take a break and not do the first session of the day because I was so tired and overstimulated, first kitty got barreled into and chased so many times that she retreated and sought protection from me. She NEVER had to do this before. She even got pushed off a high level of the cat tower and got the wind knocked out of her because of the rough play. I could go on and on describing this. We are both trying so hard. First kitty never had to deal with anything like this with the seniors. She never had to defend herself or hide. She doesn't walk around the house the same way. It's like it's not her home anymore. She is most relaxed when I like down on the couch and drape a blanket over my legs and she goes under there and naps.
I keep picturing new kitty in an active household with high-energy people, maybe kids or a dog, who can each give her a little of what she needs and where no one will be overwhelmed. She is a wonderful, special girl that makes me laugh so much. So good-natured. So much personality. At a different stage or circumstance of life, I think I would have been thrilled to find her. At this stage and this circumstance, I feel like first kitty and I are not enough for her and we are both going to have nervous breakdowns. I am overwhelmed.
It has now been just over six weeks since I adopted new kitty. I am a nervous wreck and exhausted. I have never known a more high energy cat. She is absolutely exhausting. I have been playing with her 45-60 minutes three times a day and it's not enough. (If I shorten the sessions, then I just have to do more sessions). The two girls get along, but my first cat is more reserved. She is playful but measured, thoughtful, plans her attacks on toy prey. New kitty barrels into everything with the exuberance of a puppy. She stampedes down the stairs and practically flies into the wall. She does not seem anxious, quite the opposite - confident, self-assured. She is so intense. She plays until she is open-mouthed panting like a dog and as soon as she catches her breath, she wants more. She loves the mouse on a wand and wire toy. She goes after her toy prey as though the fate of the feline species depended on it. When she is bored, she chases first kitty until there is a melee. No claws, no biting, no fighting, no aggression. She is just trying to force my other kitty to play hard and though first kitty wants to play with her (like I do), it's never enough and new kitty is so boisterous, we are both overwhelmed. My first kitty has started scratching herself around her ears a lot, is doing that twitching they do when their ears itch and she is losing hair on her head. Some days she has to hide or stay on guard. She actually picked a neutral safe position she favors. Other times, they are together. My first kitty is often trying to tap second kitty on the head when she approaches as if to say - Down, girl. She tries to groom new kitty's head and establish some calm bonding habits. New kitty cooperates if she has recently woken up or just eaten a meal and is ready to nap. Days like Saturday, where I had to take a break and not do the first session of the day because I was so tired and overstimulated, first kitty got barreled into and chased so many times that she retreated and sought protection from me. She NEVER had to do this before. She even got pushed off a high level of the cat tower and got the wind knocked out of her because of the rough play. I could go on and on describing this. We are both trying so hard. First kitty never had to deal with anything like this with the seniors. She never had to defend herself or hide. She doesn't walk around the house the same way. It's like it's not her home anymore. She is most relaxed when I like down on the couch and drape a blanket over my legs and she goes under there and naps.
I keep picturing new kitty in an active household with high-energy people, maybe kids or a dog, who can each give her a little of what she needs and where no one will be overwhelmed. She is a wonderful, special girl that makes me laugh so much. So good-natured. So much personality. At a different stage or circumstance of life, I think I would have been thrilled to find her. At this stage and this circumstance, I feel like first kitty and I are not enough for her and we are both going to have nervous breakdowns. I am overwhelmed.