Hello! I've come here before for help with my eldest cat, Freya, since I was a brand new cat mommy when I got her. With my new kitten, Mimi, I haven't had as much trouble and had more experience taking care of her since I've had Freya.
Anyhow, we've had Freya with us for a year and... almost three months?? We brought her in when she was eight or nine weeks~ My mother was very upset by the idea of me taking Freya with me when I was ready to move out and decided she wanted her own kitten, which I was ecstatic about because I had noticed Freya had gotten very listless lately and heard that another cat might perk her up. Plus, whenever we would bring her to visit my grandparent's cat, she would have a ball playing with him. So, after a few months of thought and planning, we decided to take a leap and get another. Fortunately, Freya's sister had been rehomed to my friend's parents and she became pregnant before they could fix her, so as we helped rehome the kittens, I took one of them in.
Mimi fit in perfectly! She had no trouble integrating with a new cat, but, boy, Freya did. I expected this, since this was another cat coming into Freya's territory, and tried to make the meetings gradual and not so sudden because I didn't want to frighten Freya. After about a week of keeping Mimi in my room and brief visits between the two, I finally let her out and well... let's just say, Freya is getting along much better with her now than before. Still, Freya will hiss and growl at times at Mimi. She even growls at me! She's only hissed once or twice at me, but I always back off before it gets to that point.
She is very distant with both me and my mother still, but I'm very careful to show that I still love her. I'll always stop and pet her and talk to her if I see her and I'll call for her if I see her standing near my door to my room. But, where she used to come for lovins and cuddles nearly all the time, she has stopped almost altogether. She only comes once a night, if I'm lucky, and if she sees Mimi in the room, she'll immediately jump up and run off. If I pick her up anywhere near Mimi, she whines and growls at me and will not let me love on her if Mimi is anywhere near unless Freya is sleepy.
My question is, what do I do?
I know it can take cats a long time to adjust, but I'm afraid Freya will be like this forever since I brought in Mimi. Both the girls are very attached to me, preferring to come to me rather than my mom, so I feel like Freya might be mad or jealous when she sees Mimi cuddling up with me? It's very silly, but Freya is my baby girl! I love both the girls equally, but since Freya came into my life when I needed her the most, I'm very attached to her. My mom said Freya likes her more than me now and that hurt my feelings, as silly as that is! But, where Freya won't let me cuddle or love on her anymore, I can do that with Mimi with no problem. She's a sweet girl who I love to bits.
Anyhow, I'm very sorry for how long this is, I just wanted to get the explanation out of the way. Freya is fixed and a year and five months old, while Mimi is not yet fixed and is only.... I believe three months old?
Also, my mother was wondering: even though cats are spayed, can they still go into "heat", perse? Like phantom heat, I guess? I told her I don't think it's possible, but she was curious, haha.
Anyhow, we've had Freya with us for a year and... almost three months?? We brought her in when she was eight or nine weeks~ My mother was very upset by the idea of me taking Freya with me when I was ready to move out and decided she wanted her own kitten, which I was ecstatic about because I had noticed Freya had gotten very listless lately and heard that another cat might perk her up. Plus, whenever we would bring her to visit my grandparent's cat, she would have a ball playing with him. So, after a few months of thought and planning, we decided to take a leap and get another. Fortunately, Freya's sister had been rehomed to my friend's parents and she became pregnant before they could fix her, so as we helped rehome the kittens, I took one of them in.
Mimi fit in perfectly! She had no trouble integrating with a new cat, but, boy, Freya did. I expected this, since this was another cat coming into Freya's territory, and tried to make the meetings gradual and not so sudden because I didn't want to frighten Freya. After about a week of keeping Mimi in my room and brief visits between the two, I finally let her out and well... let's just say, Freya is getting along much better with her now than before. Still, Freya will hiss and growl at times at Mimi. She even growls at me! She's only hissed once or twice at me, but I always back off before it gets to that point.
She is very distant with both me and my mother still, but I'm very careful to show that I still love her. I'll always stop and pet her and talk to her if I see her and I'll call for her if I see her standing near my door to my room. But, where she used to come for lovins and cuddles nearly all the time, she has stopped almost altogether. She only comes once a night, if I'm lucky, and if she sees Mimi in the room, she'll immediately jump up and run off. If I pick her up anywhere near Mimi, she whines and growls at me and will not let me love on her if Mimi is anywhere near unless Freya is sleepy.
My question is, what do I do?
I know it can take cats a long time to adjust, but I'm afraid Freya will be like this forever since I brought in Mimi. Both the girls are very attached to me, preferring to come to me rather than my mom, so I feel like Freya might be mad or jealous when she sees Mimi cuddling up with me? It's very silly, but Freya is my baby girl! I love both the girls equally, but since Freya came into my life when I needed her the most, I'm very attached to her. My mom said Freya likes her more than me now and that hurt my feelings, as silly as that is! But, where Freya won't let me cuddle or love on her anymore, I can do that with Mimi with no problem. She's a sweet girl who I love to bits.Anyhow, I'm very sorry for how long this is, I just wanted to get the explanation out of the way. Freya is fixed and a year and five months old, while Mimi is not yet fixed and is only.... I believe three months old?
Also, my mother was wondering: even though cats are spayed, can they still go into "heat", perse? Like phantom heat, I guess? I told her I don't think it's possible, but she was curious, haha.
We got Freya spayed as soon as she was old enough, too.
