Helping out a friend and a cat.

Hello everyone.

I am here because I really need your support, makes me feel like I am not alone or screwing anything up. Here is the deal. My freind is going out of country for 5 months and she had this cat for more than 10 years. Naturally, she doesn't want to give up her cat and she can't take the cat with her. So, being a good friend and understanding her situation (I've been there before where I lost 2 cats because I had to go to England), I am helping her out. So I will be taking care of her kitty while she's gone.

But, as some of you already know, I have two cats, Chichi and Wesley. They are both one and a half years old, while Eow, the new cat is 10. I am mostly worried about Chichi, I don't expect her to take this whole thing very well. I remember when I brought Wesley in last year, it was much stressful for the cats and myself. And they were both kittens of opposite sex! Now they live together fine, but they are not very close. I can see Chichi doesn't like other cats and acts very aloof and skiddish around them. She is much happier and more affectionate still when I put Wesley in another room. I am just a little worried that's all

thanks for listening.

Just make sure you follow one of the introduction guides and take it slow. Also, be sure there are some high-up spaces for Chichi to jump on if she wants to be alone. Giving her a place to be alone will help her feel safer if she gets nervous around the new kitty.

You might also want to invest in a couple of the Comfort Zone w/ Feliway plug ins and some Rescue Remedy. Both are de-stressers and work well.

Stephanie

Hmmmmm, interesting. I will look it up.

So Friday night I got the cat and she was staying in a storage room I have in the back. On Saturday there was a party at my house of about 20 people and I thought that it would be too frightening for the cat. So I asked my neighbour if he could just keep her for Saturday night in an isolated room upstairs. Now the storage room is about the size of a regular room and I keep my cats there whenever I need them to be isolated for some reason. So my plan was, since I couldn't keep all three of them in the storage room, Eow would go upstairs and my cats will go to the storage.

But the moment I took Eow upstairs I realize I made a mistake. Not only she was really pissed off about being in a cage for even 2 minutes and transfered yet to another strange room, my neigbour has a dog that was barking all day and actually also slept in the same room as the cat, Chichi refused to go anywhere near the storage room and when I picked her up and took here there by the door, she hissed and growled and eventually flipped out on me and ran away. If I didn't have such a quick reflexes, I would have been scratched up. "There goes the pleasant association with the new cat out the window", I thought. I ended up keeping my cats in my bedroom while the party was going, instead.

I wasn't able to take Eow back untill late Sunday evening. The poor thing was curled up under the bed, scared to pieces. Taking her back to my place wasn't pleasant for both of us but I had to do what I had to do. After all, I am the one responsible for this cat. Gee, I've never heard a cat cry in such a misery when being put into a cat carier , I hope I never have to take her to the vet. So she is back in my place now, in the storage room. She seems to be ok. Looks like she's been eating and drinking and using her litter box the whole time (both in my storage room and in my neighbor room). And when I come there to pet her, she purrs. So that's good news.

Meanwhile I've been exchanging the cat beds between my cats' and Eow's (they just happen to have the same kitty comforters they sleep in). When I took Eow's bed and gave it to my cats, Wesley was really curious about it. He sniffed it for a while and then layed down in it Chichi sniffed it too later on, but ever since the new cat is there, she's been hissing at Wesley a lot for some reason.