Cat Introduction Woes

[stewball]

Poor little love.

 

[losna]

That's how they spend a significant portion of every day. Sinbad gazing longingly, and Tempest on her barricade. Sometimes she lets him get halfway up the stairs, and rarely she lets him get all the way to the top. But usually when she does that he blows it by getting super excited and jumping at her.

 

[losna]

One more pic for today! Here he is from inside her room during Tempest viewing time. She is sitting on my feet eating her dinner while i am taking and posting this.

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• losna
• Nov 19, 2015

 

[mservant]

Sinbad looks so cute there @Losna  , but I'm sure if I was Tempest I would be a little anxious that he might be planning something.   Are the clothes on her side of the gate like an additional barricade? 

 

[stewball]

What a sweet little face. How can she resist it. I wouldn't be able to.

 

[losna]

@MServant

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• losna
• Nov 20, 2015

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• losna
• Nov 20, 2015

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• losna
• Nov 20, 2015

 

[losna]

Oh, I forgot ... I meant to add that far from being worried he's up to something, she has been putting in an extraordinary effort to find a way to get along with him. She will often walk right up to the gate with him standing there like that, and stick her face up to it so if he comes down onto the floor he can bump noses with her. Sometimes he does, and they are so sweet, rubbing noses through the gate. Other times he gets so excited and jumps up onto it and tries to go in.

When he does that though, she doesn't hiss any more, she just runs back a few feet. Most of the time he then jumps back out of her room on his own, and then she runs right back up to the gate again.

Sometimes it does go a bit rougher, he gets too excited and we have to catch him and drag him out, and then she is pissy with him for a day or two. But overall, it is going so much better, and she really is trying so hard to get along with him, and to teach him to give her space.

 

[stewball]

@MServant
:lol3:   It's my husband's laundry. Since she's alone up there so often, and she's madly in love with him, he puts his laundry there every day. She loves to burrow in and snuggle it. Lately though he's been so ill that he forgets to take the previous day's out ... After I took that picture, while looking at it, I realized where all his shirts had gotten off to. :rofl:

@Stewball
I have no idea how she can resist him. Look at this face indeed!! I live with him, and I have a hard time believing he's a 10 pound, 2 year old cat and not a kitten. :lol3: :lol3:

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• losna
• Nov 20, 2015

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• losna
• Nov 20, 2015

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• losna
• Nov 20, 2015

Ten pounds isn't heavy. My lotto was ten kilo!

 

[mservant]

 
Oh, I forgot ... I meant to add that far from being worried he's up to something, she has been putting in an extraordinary effort to find a way to get along with him. She will often walk right up to the gate with him standing there like that, and stick her face up to it so if he comes down onto the floor he can bump noses with her. Sometimes he does, and they are so sweet, rubbing noses through the gate. Other times he gets so excited and jumps up onto it and tries to go in.

When he does that though, she doesn't hiss any more, she just runs back a few feet. Most of the time he then jumps back out of her room on his own, and then she runs right back up to the gate again.

Sometimes it does go a bit rougher, he gets too excited and we have to catch him and drag him out, and then she is pissy with him for a day or two. But overall, it is going so much better, and she really is trying so hard to get along with him, and to teach him to give her space.

That all sounds pretty good to me.  Very different place to be than where you were a few months back.   It has been slow but Tempest and Sinbad do sound like they are learning from each other.   

 

[losna]

@MServant Oh do they learn from one another. She has started picking up his 'words' so now half the time we can't tell which cat is the one talking unless we're looking at one of them. There are certain sounds that are still just hers and just his - like her msquee! - but more often than not, when we hear a distant cat sound, now we have to have a 'which cat was that?' conversation. We never would have known she was imitating him that well, if she hadn't done it one time while I was sitting petting Sinbad. She gave one of his loud waily cries, and hubby grouched at me from across the house to shut my cat up. But I knew it hadn't been Sinbad because he'd been happily gnawing on my hand at the time.

She used to let out these loud screeches, that sounded to me for all the world like a jungle bird warning its fellow birds for miles around that a predator was near. Now she copies his attention wanting cries instead, so we can't tell which of them is calling for snuggles any more.

But yeah, they are in so much a better place now for getting along than months ago!! I am really hoping they keep up at this rate so she can join us whenever she wants without being afraid.

 

[losna]

More good signs:

While I was feeding Tempest today, she ran up to the gate where Sinbad was and started pawing at him and playing through the gate. This naturally caused him to zip up and dart into her room ... and I had one hand free as the other had her food dish so couldn't catch him before he had her cornered. She was clawing and screeching, he was pinning her down and trying to groom her. When I got a hand on him, she zipped into hiding beneath her chair. He naturally just sat there, thinking they'd been playing.

We expected she'd be pissed at him for the day. But nope - she was out and interacting with him again at the gate within 10 minutes.

Does this mean she has at least figured out that he's not trying to hurt her/be aggressive?

 

[Columbine]

I think it does Go Tempest! This really is a great sign for their relationship

 

[mservant]

I think it does

Go Tempest! This really is a great sign for their relationship

Tempest might be a bit miffed that Sinbad thinks she needs a wash and that she had his smell on her for a while, but maybe she's figuring out that she can still show him who's boss and brush him off if she wants to - and her human servants are there to help.  

 

[losna]

I think it's more the latter than the former, @MServant. She is completely incapable of physically getting him to move. 6 pounds to 10 pounds - at nearly twice her size once he gets on top of her there's nothing she can do to budge him. We will periodically hold off intervening immediately to see how their interaction progresses - and thus far she has proven incapable of getting free on her own. But given that she lets him get really close when hubby is around, I'm positive she knows that we'll come grab him.

That said, she does make it plain that she's the dominant cat, and he behaves subordinate right up until he hits the excitement point where his brain is left on the floor and he charges in for snuggles. If he could only get a handle on that trigger moment, they'd be getting along already.

 

[stewball]

I was looking at his pictures again. He really is beautiful.I'd love to have him especially as he's a lap cat.

 

[losna]

I was looking at his pictures again. He really is beautiful.I'd love to have him especially as he's a lap cat.

He is a really great cat. We went to the shelter to adopt Tempest, but met him too and couldn't resist getting them both.

 

[losna]

The 'bonding via meat stick' work continues. Tempest has figured out it is food. Sinbad has not. Which ends up being really sweet ... because she will play with it, then gnaw on it to eat for a bit, and when she's had enough, she actually tries to teach him that it is food!

It is so adorable to watch... she will sit by the gate so she can see him clearly. She begins by swinging a paw out to get his attention, then she tries to show him it's food by taking some bites. When that fails, she tries to trick him into eating by making it look enticing - she wraps her paws around it and moves it up and down and back and forth until he attacks it. This repeats itself a few times until she becomes frustrated that he isn't getting it. At that point I take the jerky stick and put it away.

But it seems to be working. They're still at the 'standoff' sort of stage overall, but the jerky stick playtime does seem to be building some kind of comraderie that I hope will over time become the bridge to bring them able to co-exist.

 

[Columbine]

Aww...that's SO sweet :heart3: It sounds like Tempest really WANTS to make friends, but just can't handle Sinbad's charging tackles

 

[losna]

Aww...that's SO sweet

It sounds like Tempest really WANTS to make friends, but just can't handle Sinbad's charging tackles

Yeah. It has been clear for a while that she is trying so hard to make friends with him, she just needs to know that if she wants him to back off he will, and until she has that confidence she will remain afraid of him. Sometimes I wish I could speak cat because if I could just make him understand that!! 

It is really painful to watch and have no idea how to help them. He wants to love her so so much and can't understand that she is afraid of him, and she is trying so so hard to find a way to be friends but can't make him understand how to back away when she needs space.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
The 'bonding via meat stick' work continues. Tempest has figured out it is food. Sinbad has not. Which ends up being really sweet ... because she will play with it, then gnaw on it to eat for a bit, and when she's had enough, she actually tries to teach him that it is food!

It is so adorable to watch... she will sit by the gate so she can see him clearly. She begins by swinging a paw out to get his attention, then she tries to show him it's food by taking some bites. When that fails, she tries to trick him into eating by making it look enticing - she wraps her paws around it and moves it up and down and back and forth until he attacks it. This repeats itself a few times until she becomes frustrated that he isn't getting it. At that point I take the jerky stick and put it away.

But it seems to be working. They're still at the 'standoff' sort of stage overall, but the jerky stick playtime does seem to be building some kind of comraderie that I hope will over time become the bridge to bring them able to co-exist.

do you think it might help sinbad to switch the end of the meat stick that tempest was just gnawing on over to his side of the gate? maybe he'd smell that tempest was chewing on it, and that it smells kind of tasty?