Hi-
I haven't post for a while but I love this board so I'm back! I have two female cats - for ease, I'll call them C1 (4 years old) and C2 (2.5 years old). C1 we got three years ago and lived with her alone in a NY apartment apartment. C1 is definitely an alpha cat. A year after getting C1, we moved to a VA apartment where she was the only cat for six months. At that point, we got C2 who was a year old (she's now 2.5). We've now lived with them in the same apartment for 1.5 years. We have two floors and C2 only stays upstairs. C2 is a little bit of a scaredy cat, but she mostly stays up there because C1 won't let her come downstairs. C1 will chase after C2 if we're not around to manage things a bit. C2 is so happy-go-lucky, very resilient, and just a very happy cat. I think the reason the two cats haven't integrated well is because it was C1's "home" first and she's protective of it. We did a long integration process, but it just didn't work out perfectly. C1 will still chase after C2 quite a bit and we have to watch over them, but their relationship has gotten better in the last six months.
I'm writing because we're moving to a new apartment about the same size as the current one but all one floor in a week, and I want to seize this opportunity to integrate them again and hopefully help them to get along. I think my biggest question is, when we move in and am allowing them to get acquainted to the space, do we lock them in one bedroom together or let them get acquainted in separate rooms? Any advice would be really appreciated!
Thank you!
I haven't post for a while but I love this board so I'm back! I have two female cats - for ease, I'll call them C1 (4 years old) and C2 (2.5 years old). C1 we got three years ago and lived with her alone in a NY apartment apartment. C1 is definitely an alpha cat. A year after getting C1, we moved to a VA apartment where she was the only cat for six months. At that point, we got C2 who was a year old (she's now 2.5). We've now lived with them in the same apartment for 1.5 years. We have two floors and C2 only stays upstairs. C2 is a little bit of a scaredy cat, but she mostly stays up there because C1 won't let her come downstairs. C1 will chase after C2 if we're not around to manage things a bit. C2 is so happy-go-lucky, very resilient, and just a very happy cat. I think the reason the two cats haven't integrated well is because it was C1's "home" first and she's protective of it. We did a long integration process, but it just didn't work out perfectly. C1 will still chase after C2 quite a bit and we have to watch over them, but their relationship has gotten better in the last six months.
I'm writing because we're moving to a new apartment about the same size as the current one but all one floor in a week, and I want to seize this opportunity to integrate them again and hopefully help them to get along. I think my biggest question is, when we move in and am allowing them to get acquainted to the space, do we lock them in one bedroom together or let them get acquainted in separate rooms? Any advice would be really appreciated!
Thank you!
