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Hello, I am really looking for some hope more than advice here... but I'll gladly take the advice. I am quite experienced with cats but this one is tough.
So, I have a calico cat, Ori, 3 years old. She is my boyfriend's cat. She was always an only cat.
I am trying to introduce a new kitten, Lotus, a foster I intend to adopt, and I have taken things as slow as I could, but it is so slow that I am losing hope it will ever work.
Lotus has had a safe space, the mezzanine, for himself and a foster kitten friend, Pollux for 3 months now. He went from a 2 m/o kitten to a 5 m/o kitten. He was feral, so the mezzanine was a good place for his socialization, which took a LOT of time. Way more than any kitten I ever had. He had to get a foster friend to come out of his shell. He is good know, he won't cuddle but he loves pets and he is really sweet.
During all this time Ori could see and hear the kittens from the living room but didn't want anything to do with them. She would sometimes go up the mezzanine stairs (with a closed lid on top) and growl and hiss, we would pet her, reassure her, give her treats (that she refused), and she would go away angry.
When we tried to pet her with the kitten's smell on our hands she would hiss and leave. Still does.
We tried to feed her close to the mezzanine but she flat out refused and stopped eating wet food for as long as we tried to get her to eat close to the kittens.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, we decided the kittens were getting to big for the mezzanine and we want them to come down in the rest of the appartement with us. So we opened the lid and waited for the kittens to come down on their own. It took literal weeks, during which Ori would go up, see the kittens, hiss and growl, go back down. Sometimes she spent some time up there just laying on the stair and we figured she was okayish ? Just asserting who was the boss...
During this time I also did scent swaps by putting clothes with the kitten's smell where she usually sleeps, but she would just hiss, go away and avoid said places until the kitten's smell faded away.
Now, a few days ago, Lotus started coming down the stairs ! He's been exploring slowly, but Ori is NOT happy. He comes down when she is not in the living room but when she realizes that he is here she stares, hisses, growls and if he turns his back to go away she will chase him.
To prevent this, I try to engage her with pets (she hisses), to give her treats (she is not food motivated, she doesn't really like any cat treat, even not under stress), the only thing that kinda works is the laser, she will chase after it for a short time, but quickly loses interest and goes back to Lotus.
So things don't escalate I usually put Lotus back in the mezzanine at some point.
So, please tell me, am I doing things right ? Is there anything more I can do ? Is there hope for Lotus and Ori to, at least, tolerate each other at some point ?
Thank you for reading my very long post, sorry for not making shorter but I feel like everything is important ? Anyway, thank you again for reading and for your answers.
So, I have a calico cat, Ori, 3 years old. She is my boyfriend's cat. She was always an only cat.
I am trying to introduce a new kitten, Lotus, a foster I intend to adopt, and I have taken things as slow as I could, but it is so slow that I am losing hope it will ever work.
Lotus has had a safe space, the mezzanine, for himself and a foster kitten friend, Pollux for 3 months now. He went from a 2 m/o kitten to a 5 m/o kitten. He was feral, so the mezzanine was a good place for his socialization, which took a LOT of time. Way more than any kitten I ever had. He had to get a foster friend to come out of his shell. He is good know, he won't cuddle but he loves pets and he is really sweet.
During all this time Ori could see and hear the kittens from the living room but didn't want anything to do with them. She would sometimes go up the mezzanine stairs (with a closed lid on top) and growl and hiss, we would pet her, reassure her, give her treats (that she refused), and she would go away angry.
When we tried to pet her with the kitten's smell on our hands she would hiss and leave. Still does.
We tried to feed her close to the mezzanine but she flat out refused and stopped eating wet food for as long as we tried to get her to eat close to the kittens.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, we decided the kittens were getting to big for the mezzanine and we want them to come down in the rest of the appartement with us. So we opened the lid and waited for the kittens to come down on their own. It took literal weeks, during which Ori would go up, see the kittens, hiss and growl, go back down. Sometimes she spent some time up there just laying on the stair and we figured she was okayish ? Just asserting who was the boss...
During this time I also did scent swaps by putting clothes with the kitten's smell where she usually sleeps, but she would just hiss, go away and avoid said places until the kitten's smell faded away.
Now, a few days ago, Lotus started coming down the stairs ! He's been exploring slowly, but Ori is NOT happy. He comes down when she is not in the living room but when she realizes that he is here she stares, hisses, growls and if he turns his back to go away she will chase him.
To prevent this, I try to engage her with pets (she hisses), to give her treats (she is not food motivated, she doesn't really like any cat treat, even not under stress), the only thing that kinda works is the laser, she will chase after it for a short time, but quickly loses interest and goes back to Lotus.
So things don't escalate I usually put Lotus back in the mezzanine at some point.
So, please tell me, am I doing things right ? Is there anything more I can do ? Is there hope for Lotus and Ori to, at least, tolerate each other at some point ?
Thank you for reading my very long post, sorry for not making shorter but I feel like everything is important ? Anyway, thank you again for reading and for your answers.
