- Joined
- Sep 28, 2021
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About 2 months ago, we brought in a 5 month old female kitten (Pixie) and introduced her to our (then) 1.2 year old male cat (Bentie). I found her in our backyard when she was around 3.5 months and she was really skinny so I fed her for a few days, since she kept coming back. Shortly after, I noticed that she never left our yard and would always be there waiting for me to feed her, pet her and of course, play with her.
Our resident cat could smell her under the door and drove us crazy meowing for her, as if he wanted to be friends with her and play together. So we decided to take her in, since this is more or less the same story with our resident cat - he wouldn't leave the yard and always tried to come inside. Introduction took about 1 month and now they're enjoying each other's company. We still have some issues to solve though.
1. Food
Bentie is a 5.7 kg cat and Pixie is only 3.1 kg (smaller in build though) but she eats more than he does. No matter how much we feed her, she always wants more. She gobbles down her food so she can eat Bentie's food as well, who's a slow eater btw. Sometimes she even leaves her meal and goes after his. He's not protesting and just leaves his bowl to her, sniffing for more food nearby. For the past few weeks, we've been feeding them the same amount of food and it's still not enough for her.
How should we handle this situation? Is it because she was starving as a kitten and now she's making up for it? Is if normal for her age to eat THAT much? Should I increase the amount of food I'm currently giving her if she asks for more?
Some more info:
- She was spayed at 5 months (2 months ago)
- She eats 3 meals per day (2x dry and 1x wet)
- We feed them Orijen Cat & Kitten (dry) and one can of Farmina N&D Pumpkin (various flavors)
- She gets no more than 3 anti hairball treats per day
- She's very active and plays with Bentie for 1-2 hours / day, has at least 20 mins play sessions with us and also spends a lot of time playing by herself with various toys
- She's exclusively indoors
- Our vet gave her a clean bill of health 2 weeks ago
- No issues with the litterbox
2. Play Sessions
It's more difficult to play with Bentie but we try to engage him with feather wands and it works. However, he takes his time studying the movement of the toy before pouncing and 99% of the time, Pixie will pounce before him and "steal" all the fun. No matter how much we play with her and exhaust her, as soon as we try to play with Bentie, she comes running to catch the toy before he does.
So, every time she does that, he stops being interested in the toy and fixes his gaze onto her, meows in a very distinct tone, grabs her by the neck and mounts her. This is how he used to show dominance when she first joined us but has since stopped and now only does it every time he feels she's stealing his toys. He doesn't do it when we pet her or give attention to her, only when she rushes to play with something he finds interesting.
They're not fighting though, she just dismisses him and continues to play and he gets more frustrated, so he mounts her a dozen more times until he realizes that she's not getting it and eventually, he leaves her alone and goes to another room.
I don't want him to be jealous or us not giving him the attention he was used to, but I can't seem to work out that part. Since we're two, we tried playing with each cat in separate rooms simultaneously but both cats realize there's someone else playing in the other room, so they stop playing and meow at the door.
Any advice would greatly help us! Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post!
Our resident cat could smell her under the door and drove us crazy meowing for her, as if he wanted to be friends with her and play together. So we decided to take her in, since this is more or less the same story with our resident cat - he wouldn't leave the yard and always tried to come inside. Introduction took about 1 month and now they're enjoying each other's company. We still have some issues to solve though.
1. Food
Bentie is a 5.7 kg cat and Pixie is only 3.1 kg (smaller in build though) but she eats more than he does. No matter how much we feed her, she always wants more. She gobbles down her food so she can eat Bentie's food as well, who's a slow eater btw. Sometimes she even leaves her meal and goes after his. He's not protesting and just leaves his bowl to her, sniffing for more food nearby. For the past few weeks, we've been feeding them the same amount of food and it's still not enough for her.
How should we handle this situation? Is it because she was starving as a kitten and now she's making up for it? Is if normal for her age to eat THAT much? Should I increase the amount of food I'm currently giving her if she asks for more?
Some more info:
- She was spayed at 5 months (2 months ago)
- She eats 3 meals per day (2x dry and 1x wet)
- We feed them Orijen Cat & Kitten (dry) and one can of Farmina N&D Pumpkin (various flavors)
- She gets no more than 3 anti hairball treats per day
- She's very active and plays with Bentie for 1-2 hours / day, has at least 20 mins play sessions with us and also spends a lot of time playing by herself with various toys
- She's exclusively indoors
- Our vet gave her a clean bill of health 2 weeks ago
- No issues with the litterbox
2. Play Sessions
It's more difficult to play with Bentie but we try to engage him with feather wands and it works. However, he takes his time studying the movement of the toy before pouncing and 99% of the time, Pixie will pounce before him and "steal" all the fun. No matter how much we play with her and exhaust her, as soon as we try to play with Bentie, she comes running to catch the toy before he does.
So, every time she does that, he stops being interested in the toy and fixes his gaze onto her, meows in a very distinct tone, grabs her by the neck and mounts her. This is how he used to show dominance when she first joined us but has since stopped and now only does it every time he feels she's stealing his toys. He doesn't do it when we pet her or give attention to her, only when she rushes to play with something he finds interesting.
They're not fighting though, she just dismisses him and continues to play and he gets more frustrated, so he mounts her a dozen more times until he realizes that she's not getting it and eventually, he leaves her alone and goes to another room.
I don't want him to be jealous or us not giving him the attention he was used to, but I can't seem to work out that part. Since we're two, we tried playing with each cat in separate rooms simultaneously but both cats realize there's someone else playing in the other room, so they stop playing and meow at the door.
Any advice would greatly help us! Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post!
