Hello everyone,
First, I believe things are going well enough in the introduction of my 13 yo male to another 8 yo male who I had to adopt when my mother died
I am seeking reassurance and perspective from this group, as this has been stressful as I try to mourn my mother's death, too.
The new cat has been with us for about three weeks, they were isolated for 12 days and then introductions were begun. Fast forward to today, we had four hours of blissful coexistence, resident cat watching new cat play while I plied him with treats. He had relaxed body language. They napped within feet of each other. All good.
At meal time I fed resident cat and tried to feed new cat, but new cat a free feeder (something else I am trying to break). Shortly after resident cat cornered new cat in a bedroom, I was able to separate without much problem, other than resident cat hissing.
My issues: the whole concept of feeding of opposite sides of the door is not working for me. My resident cat is like, Why are you feeding me here when my regular spot is 20 feet away? So I've been feeding treats on the opposite of the door, and that works most of the time. The resident cat can see a teeny bit of new cat.
Also, resident cat will sometimes just stand in front of the door where new cat is...he'll hiss and maybe growl. I get that's cat communication (resident cat is hissy to begin with, he hisses at his humans). Do I try and distract him from this?
Also annoying is when new cat is in his room, he's so unhappy! Cries for a few minutes until he settles down.
How is this going? How am I doing? Any other pointers for me? Thank you in advance!
First, I believe things are going well enough in the introduction of my 13 yo male to another 8 yo male who I had to adopt when my mother died
I am seeking reassurance and perspective from this group, as this has been stressful as I try to mourn my mother's death, too.
The new cat has been with us for about three weeks, they were isolated for 12 days and then introductions were begun. Fast forward to today, we had four hours of blissful coexistence, resident cat watching new cat play while I plied him with treats. He had relaxed body language. They napped within feet of each other. All good.
At meal time I fed resident cat and tried to feed new cat, but new cat a free feeder (something else I am trying to break). Shortly after resident cat cornered new cat in a bedroom, I was able to separate without much problem, other than resident cat hissing.
My issues: the whole concept of feeding of opposite sides of the door is not working for me. My resident cat is like, Why are you feeding me here when my regular spot is 20 feet away? So I've been feeding treats on the opposite of the door, and that works most of the time. The resident cat can see a teeny bit of new cat.
Also, resident cat will sometimes just stand in front of the door where new cat is...he'll hiss and maybe growl. I get that's cat communication (resident cat is hissy to begin with, he hisses at his humans). Do I try and distract him from this?
Also annoying is when new cat is in his room, he's so unhappy! Cries for a few minutes until he settles down.
How is this going? How am I doing? Any other pointers for me? Thank you in advance!
new kitty is so sweet. My resident kitty was already on 50mg of gabapentin and the vet upped it to 100mg twice a day. (What is your cat’s dose?) Resident is also on zyklene. Both are helping. I’d love to give new kittie something - I may start sprinkling some zyklene in his food too. I also have feliways in a few places (agree about effectiveness!). I want this to work! Do you feel like the cats are doing better with the meds? Do you feel like you can see kitty tolerance in the future?
I’m so glad you see peace in the future! I hope the same for me 
Thank you for your support.
