- Joined
- Jan 17, 2006
- Messages
- 574
- Purraise
- 2
Just thought this was interesting. Due to our cats personalities, fast introductions were better than slow ones.
We just got Bunny on Friday. Puppy has an anxiety disorder (yes, both are cats
), so we thought it would be best to do the week-long slow introductions.
Big mistake.
Turns out, our new girl gets lonely. She's used to living with 40 cats and 3 people. The first night was fine. But the second night, she was in her room alone, and she cried ALL NIGHT. I thought Puppy was bad when he's having an anxiety attack. She literally did not stop. At 3:30, I rolled over and looked at Puppy, who was giving me this look like "Why won't she go to bed? Some of us need sleep!" Made me laugh considering the weeks on end he's kept us up.
Additionally, Puppy was very agitated. He kept walking up to her door and hissing because he could hear her back there. He grumbled every time I picked him up and was generally pretty standoffish.
The next day, I let her in our bedroom while Puppy was downstairs. She fell asleep on the bed and stayed there by herself. It seems the smell of another cat actually made her comfortable! I called her foster family, who confirmed that she slept with other cats and would be better off if we did introductions early. We determined Puppy was going to be agitated either way, so better get it over with.
So, last night, we did introductions after 48 hours. Lots of hissing and growling, but no one raised a paw. At one point, they even rolled over and showed their bellies to each other. Puppy appears to be the dominate cat, though Bunny actually claimed his sleeping towel and wouldn't let him up on the bed! Puppy actually is much better now than when they were separated; once he got to sniff her over good and figure out that he was dominate, he calmed down a lot and is back to purring when I pet him. Bunny is just happy to be with everyone else.
Last night, it did take them an hour to figure out their sleeping arrangements on the bed. But once they settled down, they BOTH slept through the night.
Peace at last.
I finally will get to sleep.
We just got Bunny on Friday. Puppy has an anxiety disorder (yes, both are cats
Big mistake.
Turns out, our new girl gets lonely. She's used to living with 40 cats and 3 people. The first night was fine. But the second night, she was in her room alone, and she cried ALL NIGHT. I thought Puppy was bad when he's having an anxiety attack. She literally did not stop. At 3:30, I rolled over and looked at Puppy, who was giving me this look like "Why won't she go to bed? Some of us need sleep!" Made me laugh considering the weeks on end he's kept us up.
Additionally, Puppy was very agitated. He kept walking up to her door and hissing because he could hear her back there. He grumbled every time I picked him up and was generally pretty standoffish.
The next day, I let her in our bedroom while Puppy was downstairs. She fell asleep on the bed and stayed there by herself. It seems the smell of another cat actually made her comfortable! I called her foster family, who confirmed that she slept with other cats and would be better off if we did introductions early. We determined Puppy was going to be agitated either way, so better get it over with.
So, last night, we did introductions after 48 hours. Lots of hissing and growling, but no one raised a paw. At one point, they even rolled over and showed their bellies to each other. Puppy appears to be the dominate cat, though Bunny actually claimed his sleeping towel and wouldn't let him up on the bed! Puppy actually is much better now than when they were separated; once he got to sniff her over good and figure out that he was dominate, he calmed down a lot and is back to purring when I pet him. Bunny is just happy to be with everyone else.
Last night, it did take them an hour to figure out their sleeping arrangements on the bed. But once they settled down, they BOTH slept through the night.
Peace at last.