Hello All,
I am new to the site, and have come really in despair trying to get advice after talking to almost everyone I know about cats.
So to start our first cat is a female Burmese (Prin) who we have had since a kitten, and is now almost 2 years old. We wanted to get her a friend so got another female Burmese kitten (Ori) who we have now had for around a month. Both are house cats and the original cat had been a lone cat, which may have made things difficult, however she did visit other cats on a fairly frequent (bi-monthly) basis when we visited my parents for various things.
We did the research and read the articles, and initially separated the rooms and kept them separate and scent swapped. Half a week in we started letting them see each other through a crack in the door which seemed to go well, so after a full week we tried to introduce them face to face.
and this really is where the nightmare started. It seemed to go well with some sniffing but then the original cat attacked and we separated. The next time there was no sniffing and the next time there was literally fur flying. We then went back to square one. After about two weeks of that the original cat managed to get into the "safe" room and again there was fur flying before we could break it up (and I was an unfortunate casualty getting mauled when breaking it up).
So we went back to the start again. Throughout this we also swap the rooms etc to let the little one have a bit of a run about. At the advice of our vet we put the original cat into a cat carrier and place this next to the cat fence. The problem is as soon as the kitten sees the original cat she hides under the bed in her room literally as far away as possible and we cant get her to come out.
My plan was to do the cat carrier exercise on a frequent basis until it all settled down and the original isn't trying to dig out and be aggressive and the kitten feels comfortable but all she does is hide so I have no idea how I can achieve this.
I really would appreciate any advice as almost no one I has talked to has had a bad introduction and the advice online I can find doesn't cover this. It is stressing me and my partner out, especially as we have grown to love both cats now.
I am new to the site, and have come really in despair trying to get advice after talking to almost everyone I know about cats.
So to start our first cat is a female Burmese (Prin) who we have had since a kitten, and is now almost 2 years old. We wanted to get her a friend so got another female Burmese kitten (Ori) who we have now had for around a month. Both are house cats and the original cat had been a lone cat, which may have made things difficult, however she did visit other cats on a fairly frequent (bi-monthly) basis when we visited my parents for various things.
We did the research and read the articles, and initially separated the rooms and kept them separate and scent swapped. Half a week in we started letting them see each other through a crack in the door which seemed to go well, so after a full week we tried to introduce them face to face.
and this really is where the nightmare started. It seemed to go well with some sniffing but then the original cat attacked and we separated. The next time there was no sniffing and the next time there was literally fur flying. We then went back to square one. After about two weeks of that the original cat managed to get into the "safe" room and again there was fur flying before we could break it up (and I was an unfortunate casualty getting mauled when breaking it up).
So we went back to the start again. Throughout this we also swap the rooms etc to let the little one have a bit of a run about. At the advice of our vet we put the original cat into a cat carrier and place this next to the cat fence. The problem is as soon as the kitten sees the original cat she hides under the bed in her room literally as far away as possible and we cant get her to come out.
My plan was to do the cat carrier exercise on a frequent basis until it all settled down and the original isn't trying to dig out and be aggressive and the kitten feels comfortable but all she does is hide so I have no idea how I can achieve this.
I really would appreciate any advice as almost no one I has talked to has had a bad introduction and the advice online I can find doesn't cover this. It is stressing me and my partner out, especially as we have grown to love both cats now.