Not sure what to do.

sherrylynne

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
38
Purraise
47
Location
Calgary. Ab. Ca.
Okay, a bit of background first that helps this make more sense. Our 6yr old male Oskar was a "garbage can kitty". He was rescued from a dumpster after (the rescue is assuming) he was attacked by a dog as a small kitten, before someone knocked him on the head and tossed him into a dumpster to die. A good samaritan heard his cries and took him to a local vet. Vet treated and saved him, but he was left with some form of brain damage accordingly. He functions at a reasonable level, albeit a very instinctual one. We adopted him at about 12 weeks of age.
Enter Bastet who became his very best buddy for a few months. We finally had her spayed at 10m of age as we simply couldn't handle the caterwauling any longer(wanted to let her get to a year so she could physically mature, as she had NO chance to get outside). They were very strongly bonded, and where you saw one, you saw the other.
Her spay was 2 days ago(she is healing well). We brought her home with a cone, and his first reaction was to hiss at her and smack her. As she didn't tolerate the cone well, we put a onsie on her. Again same reaction from Oskar. She since learned how to slip out of the onsie very quickly even though it was snug. He approached her nose to nose, but she flinched back, hissed at him. Now? It is like having 2 strange cats in the house. He doesn't seem to recognize her, and she has learned to be afraid of him :(
Again, I am looking for ideas to help them "get to know" each other again. Play right now is out for a few days until she heals. We have NO space to keep them separated either. Do you think this will correct itself over time? Is there anything I can do to help further this along faster? They are both acting absolutely heartbroken over having lost their bonded friend.
 

ladytimedramon

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Apr 29, 2020
Messages
808
Purraise
772
On the onesie - make sure it has a drawstring neck. I thought Delilah's was snug. Next morning she was out of it. The ones with drawstring necks she couldn't get out of. Or pin the neckline or add your own drawstring. I really can't help on the rest - I only have 1 cat and she's my first.
 

EmersonandEvie

Mom to Evie, Emerson and Dexter
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 25, 2017
Messages
1,691
Purraise
2,769
Location
Northeast Georgia
She smells funny to Oskar. Rub her down with a shared blanket or towel that they use to get "their" scent back on her. It will get better over time- she is also quite sore from her spay, so keeping her separated from him for a few days while her incision heals wouldn't hurt either.
 

susanm9006

Willow
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
13,153
Purraise
30,222
Location
Minnesota
Its going to be fine in a few days. He is hissy because she smells funny and she is hissy because she is sore and being at the vet is scary and he is hissing at her. So give her a few quiet days to herself to recover and start to smell and feel like herself again. Then try an intro to one another over a treat or meal and just ignore if there is a hiss as sometimes they just need to get it out of their systems.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

sherrylynne

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
38
Purraise
47
Location
Calgary. Ab. Ca.
Drat! According to that article, looks like I did pretty much everything wrong :( At least I managed to get them playing with a teaser toy sitting about 6" apart tonight. Hoping that will ultimately translate to them learning to at least get along again, even if their bond never comes back like it was before. Thanks everyone!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7

sherrylynne

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
38
Purraise
47
Location
Calgary. Ab. Ca.
And as for the onesie she manages to pull one leg up into it and push it through the snug neckline, then the next leg. Then simply wiggles out through the back end *insert eye roll here* She is too darned smart for her own good.
 

lisahe

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
6,150
Purraise
4,969
Location
Maine
This thread is a couple weeks old now but I'm wondering how things went, S sherrylynne ! It sounds like Oskar and Bastet were doing well so I hope they're friends again!

We're going through this now -- it started on May 10, when we brought Edwina back from having a tooth pulled -- so I've been looking for as many ideas and hints as I can find, in case I need them! It's good to see all the reassurances here. I already read the good Catsite article with all the comments, plus many more and we've allegedly been doing all the right things. We had a couple setbacks, one on Saturday because we left Edwina unattended for about a minute too long and Ireland charged. The other, on Sunday, was worse: Edwina screeched when I pulled off her painkiller patch, which made Ireland growl and screech outside the door, freaking Edwina (and me) out. They didn't make contact but they were scared of everything for nearly a day and seemed to think I was a nasty torturer.

On the bright side, I think/hope/praytothecatgods that small bits of progress in the last day (thanks, in large part to tuna water and PureBites!) mean we're at least starting to turn the corner! As with Bastet and Oskar, both Ireland and Edwina seem heartbroken, too! Their people definitely are as well.
 
Top