Hi all,
Sorry to type in a long post as my first, but i'm not sure where to turn!
We've been trying really hard to handle our cat and kitten introductions properly. We finally let them see themselves face to face and things were a bit rough. My cat did alot of hissing and seemed to want to get away from the kitten as much as possible. It is very painful for me to see this as I feel like i've lost a friend. Sh growls at me, and will rarely let me touch her even though one of the biggest things I read was to pay lots of attention to your cat.
Today has been a better day. The kitten came by when I tired playing with the cat. The cat hissed and snarled, but even took a sniff of the kittens tail when it got too close. She then ran away into the kitchen. Today marks the first day that my cat has slept on the chair instead of the top of the couch since the kitten has arrived. As I type this, the kitten is asleep on the couch and the cat is asleep on the chair about 8 feet away. It's a relief to see, and I hope it means progress. This has been a very tough experience.
There are a few concerns that I will list:
1- She is not playing much at all. The one nice thing about our cat was that she was needy and always wanted to be played with (strings, balls, etc). She won't play much right now or for the past 3 days. Will her playful spirit return?
2- She is not eating as much as before. Is this just stress related?
3- Before this afternoon, she would spend most of the time staring out the window from the top of the couch lying down. Is she scared to be too low? It seems that she is trying to be stuck up and not look at us on the couch. Does she hate us?
4 - For me this is the saddest thing. A few times a week, our cat would jump into bed with us and sleep with us. Every morning she would come in when the alarm clock would go off and lick me for a while. This morning was the first that she didn't. The kitten follows us into bed as well, and I don't believe she is ready to hop into bed with the kitten. Is it possible that my cat will return and perform her old "wake up calls", or will she give up now? I woke up this morning and held her in the living room. She performed her same "wake up" tasks on me after that.
Anyways, again sorry for the long post. I just want to see if my cat will return to herself someday. Like I mentioned earlier, it almost seems like we lost a friend, and I was just hoping to be reassured/told that we screwed up
. It seems like progress is being made, but I can't entirely tell.
Thanks so much.
Adam
Sorry to type in a long post as my first, but i'm not sure where to turn!
We've been trying really hard to handle our cat and kitten introductions properly. We finally let them see themselves face to face and things were a bit rough. My cat did alot of hissing and seemed to want to get away from the kitten as much as possible. It is very painful for me to see this as I feel like i've lost a friend. Sh growls at me, and will rarely let me touch her even though one of the biggest things I read was to pay lots of attention to your cat.
Today has been a better day. The kitten came by when I tired playing with the cat. The cat hissed and snarled, but even took a sniff of the kittens tail when it got too close. She then ran away into the kitchen. Today marks the first day that my cat has slept on the chair instead of the top of the couch since the kitten has arrived. As I type this, the kitten is asleep on the couch and the cat is asleep on the chair about 8 feet away. It's a relief to see, and I hope it means progress. This has been a very tough experience.
There are a few concerns that I will list:
1- She is not playing much at all. The one nice thing about our cat was that she was needy and always wanted to be played with (strings, balls, etc). She won't play much right now or for the past 3 days. Will her playful spirit return?
2- She is not eating as much as before. Is this just stress related?
3- Before this afternoon, she would spend most of the time staring out the window from the top of the couch lying down. Is she scared to be too low? It seems that she is trying to be stuck up and not look at us on the couch. Does she hate us?
4 - For me this is the saddest thing. A few times a week, our cat would jump into bed with us and sleep with us. Every morning she would come in when the alarm clock would go off and lick me for a while. This morning was the first that she didn't. The kitten follows us into bed as well, and I don't believe she is ready to hop into bed with the kitten. Is it possible that my cat will return and perform her old "wake up calls", or will she give up now? I woke up this morning and held her in the living room. She performed her same "wake up" tasks on me after that.
Anyways, again sorry for the long post. I just want to see if my cat will return to herself someday. Like I mentioned earlier, it almost seems like we lost a friend, and I was just hoping to be reassured/told that we screwed up
Thanks so much.
Adam