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- Jan 21, 2021
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Jumanji, my resident cat, has always been the careful sort. When it was just me and her, she was perfectly happy and confident in her space with me, and little bothered her. She's always been wary of unfamiliar people, but that's neither here nor there, for the current situation.
Her relationship with Chips, the new cat, is perfectly amiable, if still a bit wary, on occasion, as they figure out boundaries. They've slept near each other, groomed each other, and there hasn't been any growling since day 4 or 5 of intros (it'll be a month on the 8th of April). They've even played and had some casual swatting matches. I might be seeing something that isn't there, but it feels like Juma feels more wary in her space than she used to, despite Chip not being an overly dominant cat. He's never actually started anything, that I've seen, just responded when she initiated, more or less.
Is there anything I can do to help Jum feel more confident? It doesn't manifest in many ways, honestly. She's hesitant in playing when Chips is pouncing after a wand toy (though she's less excitable about toys, despite being younger; I'm guessing she just doesn't want to end up slamming into him, perhaps?), and she'll sometimes go off and sit on the corner of the couch, when I feel she'd normally come cuddle with me. She also doesn't walk with her tail held high as often as she used to.
It's hardly all the time, as she's cuddling on my lap now as Chips sleeps in the tree, but I'm concerned that she's more or less letting Chips bully her out of things she'd normally do because he's larger than her, despite him never actually confronting her or having intimidating body language. Am I overthinking, and this is just something she'll settle into as they both get comfortable with each other again (they used to live with each other when Jum was young)?
Her relationship with Chips, the new cat, is perfectly amiable, if still a bit wary, on occasion, as they figure out boundaries. They've slept near each other, groomed each other, and there hasn't been any growling since day 4 or 5 of intros (it'll be a month on the 8th of April). They've even played and had some casual swatting matches. I might be seeing something that isn't there, but it feels like Juma feels more wary in her space than she used to, despite Chip not being an overly dominant cat. He's never actually started anything, that I've seen, just responded when she initiated, more or less.
Is there anything I can do to help Jum feel more confident? It doesn't manifest in many ways, honestly. She's hesitant in playing when Chips is pouncing after a wand toy (though she's less excitable about toys, despite being younger; I'm guessing she just doesn't want to end up slamming into him, perhaps?), and she'll sometimes go off and sit on the corner of the couch, when I feel she'd normally come cuddle with me. She also doesn't walk with her tail held high as often as she used to.
It's hardly all the time, as she's cuddling on my lap now as Chips sleeps in the tree, but I'm concerned that she's more or less letting Chips bully her out of things she'd normally do because he's larger than her, despite him never actually confronting her or having intimidating body language. Am I overthinking, and this is just something she'll settle into as they both get comfortable with each other again (they used to live with each other when Jum was young)?