Normal For Cat Introductions?

[FeralHearts]

Wanted to give you all an update on Mia and Charlie.

Mia has all her shots now and gained weight - a bit too much so I have to reduce her food until she comes out of slug mode. Her health has greatly improved though.

No much improvement sadly on the mingling front. She still spends 99% of her time in her safe room. She has learned to open the door now so for the most part I leave it open. I block Charlie upstairs with me at night to give her some time to explore if she wants.

Her improvements: She climbed a bit up her tree , is no longer freaked out by me cleaning the litter, knocks on the door, or most new voices as long as they are quiet. She's quite chatty and talks to me when I go into her safe room. Edit to add: and she plays with toys!!!

Every morning Charlie comes down and harasses her. I can't tell sometimes if he is trying to play or being his dominate self. She runs into the basement, hops the two tower kitty gate and hides for most of the day. If I'm there with them - she stays. Now I leave him blocked off until after she eats so she has some time before he he sees her.

In the evening he stays upstairs and when he comes down he lays beside her. Sometimes he looks scared of her. Sometimes he pretends to bite her and changes his mind with his mouth open. lol He does this in slow motion - it's almost funny. sometimes he is so peaceful beside her it's so very sweet.

When I come home from work - she knows the sound of dinner being prepared and will come straight up from wherever she was hiding.

KarenKat Yes, Thankfully it does look violent, but not violent - if that makes sense. It startles me mostly as Charlie will be fine and then just turn all of a sudden. I don't react outwardly other than to say "no" very sternly when he bites me instead. That seems to be helping his behavior. I'm glad to read that your's did the same with the "chasing back thing" as well as @duncanmac 's kitty. Makes it feel at least okay and normal.

As for cat away time - atm that's not possible. Mia's sister is now in the house in another area recovering from an accidental poisoning from the neighbors. Scary situation. This leaves Braveheart outside alone - so my efforts, caretaking and feeding are all "on high" right now. Sat I'll get to got out for a few hours to help my friend with his homework for a class he's taking at work - so that will be some time away.

@GhostieCat I can see that Mia is feeling more ready - you're right - you can tell when they are. She's being very cautious, but i see the small steps she is taking to "safe room Independence". With Mia and Charlie it's been two and a half months of her inside but the first month was her recovery, so I can't really count that.

@duncanmac She has some more space now that the door is always open so that's good. Charlie still tries to push her back but she is slowly making progress. The gate up at night giving her full access downstairs seems to be helping and Charlie seems very relaxed about that idea. :-)

Thanks so much for the continued help with this. It's been a really rough nearly three months now.

 

[KarenKat]

Thanks for the update! Sounds like things are going very slow, but still progressing onwards. Sounds like you are a very good caretaker!

 

[FeralHearts]

Thank you KarenKat I'm tryingto be the best for them all. I don't want to screw it up and have them sick, stressed or unhappy.

The merger is veryyyyy slow indeed...it's like watching paint dry. Very very slow drying paint lol that all of a sudden changes into wacky colors. You guys are right though - so far no bloodshed so I'm continuing to take that as a victory.

Mia is so loving. She climbs on me the second I go into her room, lays down and kneads me, licks my forehead and chats. We play with toys for a bit too. Slowly she is more and more relaxed. I'm hoping that will translate to Charlie getting more relaxed too.

Braveheart I worry about being alone right now. I have to solve that asap.

Then I will deal with the issue of getting three cats to get along with mr.resident kitty. I worry too that Mia, W.L and Braveheart will forget eachother even though they are litter mates and sisters. Everything I've read on separation like this is inconclusive.

Edit to add: one surprising thing is that Charlie never tries to take Mia's food. For some reason I thought with him being so dominate he would - but he doesn't at all.

 

[FeralHearts]

Baby steps.

I think I misnamed Mia - I should have called her Wonder Woman or a female version of Hercules.

This tiny cat... I had to block her off to do something and she was frightened of a storm outside. Now, as she has sorted out how to open the louver bi-folding door, I had to place a 5-gallon water container (full) in front of it. She moved that thing like her life depended on it!!! Wow. Watched her do it in astonishment.

She has now moved up one more height on her cat tree. Sometimes she will sleep now 3 feet and a bit up inside the little house on it. GO MIA!!!!

She still doesn't venture out of the safe room much, though, at night when I am asleep - who knows. Maybe. She still high tails it t the basement when frightened.

Charlie is very stressed out still. He's made a little progress with her, but not much. He's mostly staying upstairs now, which makes me sad.

I think there was an incident while I was at work yesterday, can't be sure, but I think White Lable got out for a bit. She ventured out this morning by pushing open the makeshift wall. I went to put her back in and she hopped right over it. I guess she's feeling a bit better. :-)

I did hold her an carry her in to see Mia this morning. (I don't let them touch or anything yet as W.L still needs her shots etc.) I was sad again. They are littermates and spend the last 5+ years outside together. She let out a little hiss at Mia. Mia looked at her like "whyyyy?" I'm hoping once I am allowed to e-intro those two they will remember each other.

Braveheart and W.L have there first shots and checkups on Sept 10. So Braveheart will be in soon as well.

 

[FeralHearts]

Poor Mia. Not sure what else I can do to encourage her to come out of her safe room.

I feel so badly. She sits in her room and doesn't come out 99.99999% of the time. She waits for me to come in and play. *sigh*

Is there anything I can do to help encourage her?

If I physically try to bring her out - she fights me and wants to run back in.

The door in open 24/7 and has been for weeks and weeks.

Charlie doesn't help matters most days but....