I just moved into a new apartment with my two-year-old cat Maggie, and my new roommate has a 16-year-old Siamese named Blossom. We kept the cats totally separate at first, letting only one out at a time, since the apartment is new to both of them and moving stressed both of them out. Maggie hisses when she sees Blossom, which is normal for her to a new cat, but she generally likes other cats and has gotten along with every cat I've lived with previously just after a few days. Blossom can barely see, and has attacked my cat everytime we try to introduce them. We're not sure about Blossom's long-range hearing or sense of smell either. Maggie has never tried to attack or go after Blossom, and just seems absolutely terrified of her. Most of the time Blossom just chases Maggie into my room, stopping at the threshold and walking away.
Yesterday I had Maggie outside on her leash for her daily "walk", and when we came back to the screen door, Blossom was sitting at it, and they sat on either side and hissed at each other until they had calmed down and were just sitting there. I told my roommate to pick Blossom up so we could come inside and Blossom went berzerk and attacked my roommate. My roommate put her in her room for the rest of the day.
I know that moving is hard on cats, and Blossom is old, and we've beent trying to make this as easy as possible on both of them. But we think that Blossom is frightened by the fact that she can't see Maggie, and maybe can't hear or smell her that well, and we don't know what to do about it beyond what we've already done.
Yesterday I had Maggie outside on her leash for her daily "walk", and when we came back to the screen door, Blossom was sitting at it, and they sat on either side and hissed at each other until they had calmed down and were just sitting there. I told my roommate to pick Blossom up so we could come inside and Blossom went berzerk and attacked my roommate. My roommate put her in her room for the rest of the day.
I know that moving is hard on cats, and Blossom is old, and we've beent trying to make this as easy as possible on both of them. But we think that Blossom is frightened by the fact that she can't see Maggie, and maybe can't hear or smell her that well, and we don't know what to do about it beyond what we've already done.