- Joined
- Nov 29, 2021
- Messages
- 1
- Purraise
- 1
Hi everyone, I am coming with a request for help/ advise. Here is the situation.
I have 3 cats. Two residents: Olaf (6 years old) and Elsa (3 years old). We didn't plan to have more, but while on holidays we found a kitten on the street. He ended up coming home with us. We named him Ivan, he is currently 6 months old.
After arriving we separated him in the kitchen. He was not very healthy, it took around 3 weeks until he got better. After that, we started exchanging the smells. There was no hissing, just curiousity on both sides. Then we bought a plexi glass, so cats could look at each other, but with no interaction yet. It took around 2 weeks. Ivan is young, so he is very energetic and excited everytime he sees the other cat. One week ago we started introducing them to each other face to face. And here is where the problem starts. Everytime we open the door, Ivan is so excited to meet his new "friends" that he literally starts jumping on them and chasing them around. It seems to be a play for him. Olaf and Elsa are not so excited though. When he is calm, they follow him around, but as soon as he attempts to play with them, they are running away, hissing and growling. He doesn't stop though, so in the end they are so irritated that they hiss and growl even when he is just passing around. We hoped it will get better after a few days, but it doesn't. We are afraid Olaf and Elsa will start associating his presence with the need of running away from him. We tried to distract him when he does that, but literally nothing is working - as soon as one of them is around, it's the only thing that matters for him. Is there something we can do? We are terrified we will need to find a new home for Ivan, which would honestly break my heart...
I have 3 cats. Two residents: Olaf (6 years old) and Elsa (3 years old). We didn't plan to have more, but while on holidays we found a kitten on the street. He ended up coming home with us. We named him Ivan, he is currently 6 months old.
After arriving we separated him in the kitchen. He was not very healthy, it took around 3 weeks until he got better. After that, we started exchanging the smells. There was no hissing, just curiousity on both sides. Then we bought a plexi glass, so cats could look at each other, but with no interaction yet. It took around 2 weeks. Ivan is young, so he is very energetic and excited everytime he sees the other cat. One week ago we started introducing them to each other face to face. And here is where the problem starts. Everytime we open the door, Ivan is so excited to meet his new "friends" that he literally starts jumping on them and chasing them around. It seems to be a play for him. Olaf and Elsa are not so excited though. When he is calm, they follow him around, but as soon as he attempts to play with them, they are running away, hissing and growling. He doesn't stop though, so in the end they are so irritated that they hiss and growl even when he is just passing around. We hoped it will get better after a few days, but it doesn't. We are afraid Olaf and Elsa will start associating his presence with the need of running away from him. We tried to distract him when he does that, but literally nothing is working - as soon as one of them is around, it's the only thing that matters for him. Is there something we can do? We are terrified we will need to find a new home for Ivan, which would honestly break my heart...