Hello all.
First of all, I'm so happy to have found this site. Even though I've had cats for 20 years, this is the first time I've had to introduce a brand new cat cold turkey (when Pumpkin came, he had been hanging around my house and interacting with my other two for 4 months before I adopted him, so he wasn't a complete stranger).
I think Aspen and Pumpkin are doing fine. Aspen is definitely the dominant one and she still chases Pumpkin but only once a day usually and not every day. I wasn't too worried about Pumpkin being jealous of her because she didn't come sit with me to get petted too much and Pumpkin solicits affection a lot, so I thought if anything Aspen would get jealous.
Well, low and behold, Aspen jumped up on my lap while I was reading yesterday, curled up and took a nap for about 45 minutes. Thank goodness Pumpkin was sleeping in the screen porch and didn't see all this. Then she moved to the ottoman that my feet were up on and slept next to my legs for a total of 2 and a half hours. Pumpkin came in at that point and was giving us some jealous looks, but he laid down about 3 feet away and went to sleep.
I am totally in love with Aspen now. She's being affectionate and is very friendly with everyone. But, I'm not sure how much affection I should show her in order to avoid causing Pumpkin to feel jealous. It's kinda hard not to show her affection when she runs up to you with that cute little chirp. But, she's already proving herself to be dominate over Pumpkin and I don't want him to get anymore stressed out because I'm showing her lots of affection.
Playing with her in a separate room would be difficult because I have an open plan house and if I go in any room and close the door, Pumpking will notice and sit outside of it meowing so he'll know what's going on anyway.
I want to keep the delicate balance that we have now going, so if anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated.
First of all, I'm so happy to have found this site. Even though I've had cats for 20 years, this is the first time I've had to introduce a brand new cat cold turkey (when Pumpkin came, he had been hanging around my house and interacting with my other two for 4 months before I adopted him, so he wasn't a complete stranger).
I think Aspen and Pumpkin are doing fine. Aspen is definitely the dominant one and she still chases Pumpkin but only once a day usually and not every day. I wasn't too worried about Pumpkin being jealous of her because she didn't come sit with me to get petted too much and Pumpkin solicits affection a lot, so I thought if anything Aspen would get jealous.
Well, low and behold, Aspen jumped up on my lap while I was reading yesterday, curled up and took a nap for about 45 minutes. Thank goodness Pumpkin was sleeping in the screen porch and didn't see all this. Then she moved to the ottoman that my feet were up on and slept next to my legs for a total of 2 and a half hours. Pumpkin came in at that point and was giving us some jealous looks, but he laid down about 3 feet away and went to sleep.
I am totally in love with Aspen now. She's being affectionate and is very friendly with everyone. But, I'm not sure how much affection I should show her in order to avoid causing Pumpkin to feel jealous. It's kinda hard not to show her affection when she runs up to you with that cute little chirp. But, she's already proving herself to be dominate over Pumpkin and I don't want him to get anymore stressed out because I'm showing her lots of affection.
Playing with her in a separate room would be difficult because I have an open plan house and if I go in any room and close the door, Pumpking will notice and sit outside of it meowing so he'll know what's going on anyway.
I want to keep the delicate balance that we have now going, so if anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated.
