- Joined
- Oct 13, 2018
- Messages
- 140
- Purraise
- 146
Hi everyone!
About a month ago, I rehomed Gracie (new cat) with my sister, who's cat-mom to Larry (resident cat), a big, oafy gentle giant. We've been following all the cat-introduction guidelines -- we read all the articles on this site (+ many others!) and have been taking it very s-l-o-w-l-y, per Jackson Galaxy and all the other experts.
Both cats are now mostly OK with each other -- they will eat side by side, have treats side by side, and after an initial sniff will usually ignore each other during supervised joint-playtimes.
EXCEPT...
Larry likes to chase. Anytime Gracie starts walking upstairs (to the second floor from the main floor), Larry immediately bolts after her and she panics. He's not aggressive with her and doesn't attack her, he just seems to love the "game" of chasing. Gracie, though, winds up scared, usually under a bed, and Larry will sit in the room and just watch/wait. As soon as she gets brave enough to slowly venture out, he follows and starts chasing again. Eventually, we separate them and Gracie goes back to her base camp.
So, I have a few questions:
* Though Gracie will sometimes make one short guttural sounds when the chase is underway, she doesn't wail or scream and neither does Larry. Is this a sign that she is *not* as scared as we think she is? They run so fast that we can never see whether her ears go back, but there's never any physical contact or blood spilled or fur flown. He just seems to chase her into a corner and then sit there.
* Is there any way to deter the chase instinct in Larry? It's usually triggered by the stairs, and we can't figure out why... but Gracie's base camp is on the second floor, so we can't block the stairs off.
* Would multi-cat FeliWay be worth a try?
Right now, post-chase, we go back a step in the introduction process and keep them apart (we have a pet gate, so they can see/smell/hear/touch each other through it easily and they're totally fine with that) for a couple of days... then we try again... then it goes fine for a while... then inevitably another chase happens.
Should we actually be exposing them to each other *more* rather than less?
Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance! :-)
About a month ago, I rehomed Gracie (new cat) with my sister, who's cat-mom to Larry (resident cat), a big, oafy gentle giant. We've been following all the cat-introduction guidelines -- we read all the articles on this site (+ many others!) and have been taking it very s-l-o-w-l-y, per Jackson Galaxy and all the other experts.
Both cats are now mostly OK with each other -- they will eat side by side, have treats side by side, and after an initial sniff will usually ignore each other during supervised joint-playtimes.
EXCEPT...
Larry likes to chase. Anytime Gracie starts walking upstairs (to the second floor from the main floor), Larry immediately bolts after her and she panics. He's not aggressive with her and doesn't attack her, he just seems to love the "game" of chasing. Gracie, though, winds up scared, usually under a bed, and Larry will sit in the room and just watch/wait. As soon as she gets brave enough to slowly venture out, he follows and starts chasing again. Eventually, we separate them and Gracie goes back to her base camp.
So, I have a few questions:
* Though Gracie will sometimes make one short guttural sounds when the chase is underway, she doesn't wail or scream and neither does Larry. Is this a sign that she is *not* as scared as we think she is? They run so fast that we can never see whether her ears go back, but there's never any physical contact or blood spilled or fur flown. He just seems to chase her into a corner and then sit there.
* Is there any way to deter the chase instinct in Larry? It's usually triggered by the stairs, and we can't figure out why... but Gracie's base camp is on the second floor, so we can't block the stairs off.
* Would multi-cat FeliWay be worth a try?
Right now, post-chase, we go back a step in the introduction process and keep them apart (we have a pet gate, so they can see/smell/hear/touch each other through it easily and they're totally fine with that) for a couple of days... then we try again... then it goes fine for a while... then inevitably another chase happens.
Should we actually be exposing them to each other *more* rather than less?
Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance! :-)