what to do after trapping a stray

[fionasmom]

Your male cat is fixed? It could be something about the hormones he senses with Riley and that will resolve itself once she is spayed....takes about 30 days for hormones to leave the system.

Will he eat on the other side of the screen for treats? If he associates Rylie with something special, it might change his thinking. Using the screen door is a great idea. How long have you been able to do this so far?

Ode to vanilla extract

This sometimes also works if you brush both cats with the same brush or rub the same piece of fabric on them. Scent swapping might also work.

 

[Meowmee]

Thank you for all the support! Here is an update. We have found a vet for Rylie and he told me that she's actually younger than we thought. She is 10 months and will be spayed next week. He gave us lots of pamphlets about kittens so we will be reading up on that.

We found a screen door in our attic and we have using it to introduce our cats and accidentally introduced our dog. The dog introduction didn't go well but that was expected. What was unexpected was how my orange/cream cat is reacting to Rylie. His body posture is stiff and his eyes are dilated. He is laying down and is up close to the screen. Rylie is shy but playful and even laying down and blinking at him but won't get too close to the screen. She did hiss at him a few times as he would jump on the screen and he got scared and ran away. We tried to use food to motivate them but when food's around, Rylie is only into the food and my other cat is not food motivated at all. Any advice? Also, we finally found a neighbor who knows Rylie. She told me that Rylie and my orange/cream cat have the same mother and she is also raising 3 litter mates of my orange/cream cat.

Try doing scent exchange with the cats and the dog. Is your orange cream cat neutered? Try baby food and treats too.

 

[starrynight123]

Thank you for the advice! It's going better now. He is neutered and so is Rylie since yesterday. We did the scent exchange before letting them meet through the screen.

Rylie is so good at communicating to him. She will lay down and then stretch her paw and ask him to play but will also hiss at him when she doesn't like how he behaves. Male cat doesn't seem like he reads social cues very well but he is frightened of her so I don't see them fighting. He's so excited but doesn't know how to play. We let them hang out for 2 days in short increments before she had surgery yesterday.

She also hates to be picked up. It's not like we want to pick her up and make her feel uncomfortable but the other day, she had diarrhea and needed her bottom to be wiped and that was an ordeal. Another issue is that Rylie is ready to get out of that room. It's hard to leave without her also trying to squeeze out. Unfortunately, she was spayed yesterday so another 2 weeks in that room. I don't know if it's worth mentioning but my male cat has also gained weight since Rylie arrived and looks like a giant next to her. He used to weigh 10 lbs and his eyes are more dilated which we rarely saw. Anything we should be doing for him?

Does anyone have any bed recommendations? She doesn't lay down in any of the pet beds but will sleep in the cat tower, shelf or the floor. We got her a new bed but she doesn't like that one either but my other cat loves it. Lol

 

[fionasmom]

The pics look as if they are trying to work it out, which is completely normal. The recent spaying will play into this as well.

Some cats are not crazy about being picked up, but working on that is a good strategy. My avatar, who will sleep on top of me, does not like to be picked up.

As for the bed, you have a very lovely set up there for these cats. They are funny, as you know, and you could buy ever bed on the market and not have the right one. She is not suffering and is choosing her own places to sleep. Some cats do not like a deep bed, like you often see for dogs, but buying all the smaller ones may not be the answer either.

You think that your male is having something related to Rylie coming in the house? Has he gained weight? Eating her food or extra food?