Resident cat not accepting newbie

jaffacake · Jun 19, 2007

Hi Kerry! Glad you could join us.
I can see how popular you are so I will try to keep this as short as possible

I have had Kitty for about 3 years ( He is an indoor/outdoor cat, about 5 years old ). He came to me as a stray, very thin, not too friendly. He has improved so much. Very independant but loved his cuddles on his terms and to sleep on my bed. I felt we had a really good bond.

Three months ago I took on anouther cat because she was being dumped. She was in a bad way healthwise but very friendly and sweet. She is indoor only and roughly 13 years old.

I started doing the introductions the way everyone recommends. She was in her own room. Shut Kitty in so she could have a wander each day. Swopped scent by stroking. Used Feliway.
After 2 weeks Kitty had seen her about 3-4 times no longer than a few minutes each time. There was a bit of hissing from her but after everytime Kitty would go outside. He stopped sleeping on my bed and spent the night in the hall. Then he stayed out all the time, only coming home for food 3 times a day. This lasted just over 2 weeks.

So, I moved Maisie out of her room and into the office at the back of my flat which has a seperate enterance. After a week Kitty was spending more time here and gradually moved back to my bed. ( Thats when I know he`s happy )

Then I would let him go round to the office with me when I went to see Maisie once every few days. He was happy to go round but after a few minutes he would get cross and want out. They had a few swatts at each other but mostly it was looking or ignoring each other.

A week and a half ago Maisie was quite ill and had to be bathed so I put her in my bedroom to keep warm and so I could keep a better eye on her. Since she`s been in there, the chronic diarrhoea she`s been suffering has stopped. I tried to put her back round in the office a few days ago but she had diarrhoea again and just sat in the rain staring up at the bedroom window. This has me thinking it was caused by stress. So I brought her back into my bedroom.

So now she is very happy and no diarrhoea.
I`ve moved into a very small room so Kitty doesn`t feel shut out but he has only slept on the bed with me a few times. He hasn`t moved out again but he`s not home much and when he is he`s stressy.
As soom as he smells her on me or on a brush he gets mad and stomps off. He shrieks at me if I touch him.
Also for the past few days, if he is in the hall and I go to walk there he shrieks at me and I`m sure he would attack my leg if I didn`t back off.

Sorry, I`m nearly done.
Today, one of my co-workers was talking to someone from the house next door. He was told that Kitty belonged to some people there but they moved and didn`t want to take him so he was given to this other guy that lived there. He already had a cat and the two didn`t get on and Kitty walked out after a few days. ( How he came to be living in my back garden! )

I`m just at a loss here as I feel like Ive tried everything and Kitty is so unhappy and not himself at all. Maybe he is just the kind of cat who can only ever be an 'only cat'? I really don`t want to lose him but I feel bad for Maisie too.

Help!

jcat · Jun 29, 2007

catpsych · Jun 30, 2007

Hi there,
This is very common. Your kitty is not wanting to be touched by you very much because you smell like Maisie and cats recognize each other by scent (not by sight like us humans), so if you smell like Maisie she thinks you are Maisie, so it makes him uneasy. Your kitty is also not coming home as much because the house is begining to smell like Maisie, which translates into "Maisie's Territory" and cats try to avoid confrontation by venturing into each other's territory. The way to solve this issue is to make your kitty believe it is still all his and make Masie smell like him. By you using the Feliway, this is a great step, you're on the right track. In addition to the feliway you'll want to brush your kitty first, then brush Maisie. You can also take a towel, dampen it with a bit of water and playfully rub down your kitty, then take it to Maisie, let her sniff it first, then playfully rub her down with the same towel too. This will deposit your kitty's scent on to Maisie and in the wild cats that are part of the same colony and share a territory will scent mingle and mutually groom each other to deposit their scents on each other, by using the towel trick it will fool your kitty into thinking they have already scent mingled and that Maisie is part of his colony and there is no need to avoid their territory (your home) or each other. The whole scent mingling thing will take about 2 weeks to help. Also, another way to help speed up the introduction process is to purchase a large wire dog kennel, fill it with a small food and water bowl, litterbox, and a kitty bed and stick Maisie in it. Place it in a central location of your home. Through the wires they can sniff each other and become familiar with each other, but without being able to hurt each other. I use this method with my foster kitties and it works great, my two boys (Puna and Simon) will get used to any new comers in about a week, with no fights either! So, this is also another great option to use. I hope this helps, and no worries, your kitty will start to show his face more and more as he gets used to the idea of having another cat in the home. Also, you may want to up the amount of food being given to them, if he feels he's resources are threated by the new Maisie he may look elsewhere for food, so make sure he has plenty.

Well, this should do the trick, good luck!

Kerry

Originally Posted by Jaffacake

Hi Kerry! Glad you could join us.
I can see how popular you are so I will try to keep this as short as possible

I have had Kitty for about 3 years ( He is an indoor/outdoor cat, about 5 years old ). He came to me as a stray, very thin, not too friendly. He has improved so much. Very independant but loved his cuddles on his terms and to sleep on my bed. I felt we had a really good bond.

Three months ago I took on anouther cat because she was being dumped. She was in a bad way healthwise but very friendly and sweet. She is indoor only and roughly 13 years old.

I started doing the introductions the way everyone recommends. She was in her own room. Shut Kitty in so she could have a wander each day. Swopped scent by stroking. Used Feliway.
After 2 weeks Kitty had seen her about 3-4 times no longer than a few minutes each time. There was a bit of hissing from her but after everytime Kitty would go outside. He stopped sleeping on my bed and spent the night in the hall. Then he stayed out all the time, only coming home for food 3 times a day. This lasted just over 2 weeks.

So, I moved Maisie out of her room and into the office at the back of my flat which has a seperate enterance. After a week Kitty was spending more time here and gradually moved back to my bed. ( Thats when I know he`s happy )

Then I would let him go round to the office with me when I went to see Maisie once every few days. He was happy to go round but after a few minutes he would get cross and want out. They had a few swatts at each other but mostly it was looking or ignoring each other.

A week and a half ago Maisie was quite ill and had to be bathed so I put her in my bedroom to keep warm and so I could keep a better eye on her. Since she`s been in there, the chronic diarrhoea she`s been suffering has stopped. I tried to put her back round in the office a few days ago but she had diarrhoea again and just sat in the rain staring up at the bedroom window. This has me thinking it was caused by stress. So I brought her back into my bedroom.

So now she is very happy and no diarrhoea.
I`ve moved into a very small room so Kitty doesn`t feel shut out but he has only slept on the bed with me a few times. He hasn`t moved out again but he`s not home much and when he is he`s stressy.
As soom as he smells her on me or on a brush he gets mad and stomps off. He shrieks at me if I touch him.
Also for the past few days, if he is in the hall and I go to walk there he shrieks at me and I`m sure he would attack my leg if I didn`t back off.

Sorry, I`m nearly done.
Today, one of my co-workers was talking to someone from the house next door. He was told that Kitty belonged to some people there but they moved and didn`t want to take him so he was given to this other guy that lived there. He already had a cat and the two didn`t get on and Kitty walked out after a few days. ( How he came to be living in my back garden! )

I`m just at a loss here as I feel like Ive tried everything and Kitty is so unhappy and not himself at all. Maybe he is just the kind of cat who can only ever be an 'only cat'? I really don`t want to lose him but I feel bad for Maisie too.

Help!

jaffacake · Jun 30, 2007

Thank you!

I will give it a go and pray that it works!

Resident cat not accepting newbie

jaffacake

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jcat

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catpsych

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jaffacake

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