Hello cat lovers,
I am here to ask for some advice and opinions, apart from what I've read on the internets, on introducing a 9 year old American Shorthair female cat to my 4 year old male Maine Coone.
A little background information:
I adopted Dante in January last year at a shelter. He is very much a "momma's boy" and can hardly stand to be more than six feet away from me or god forbid on the other side of a door.
We moved to Seattle, Washington in May and he stayed with a friend for a little while until my roommate, Bill, who is allergic to cats, was off the lease.
The replacements are a younger couple who have a 9 year old female cat named Charlotte who is very timid. We did the whole blanket swap thing, traded their scratching posts out for a day, allowed them to sniff tufts of eachother's hair from grooming, etc.
Charlotte has shown nothing but disdain since day one. New roommates wanted to go ahead and introduce them, and so far no fights have broken out (yet). Dante is pretty affable and nonchalant but Charlotte still hisses and spits every time she sees him and even stares him down sometimes(which usually results in him running at her). He also likes to sneak up on her sometimes and pounce which usually makes her very upset, for good reason.
I've stopped letting them out together too much for now in the interest of not stressing Char out too much except for a daily treat (when they are both distracted by wet catfood, they can sort of be friends).
How can I get this relationship to happen? I'm tempted to just let them work it out for themselves, but I would like this to be a gentle introduction, if at all possible.
I am here to ask for some advice and opinions, apart from what I've read on the internets, on introducing a 9 year old American Shorthair female cat to my 4 year old male Maine Coone.
A little background information:
I adopted Dante in January last year at a shelter. He is very much a "momma's boy" and can hardly stand to be more than six feet away from me or god forbid on the other side of a door.
We moved to Seattle, Washington in May and he stayed with a friend for a little while until my roommate, Bill, who is allergic to cats, was off the lease.
The replacements are a younger couple who have a 9 year old female cat named Charlotte who is very timid. We did the whole blanket swap thing, traded their scratching posts out for a day, allowed them to sniff tufts of eachother's hair from grooming, etc.
Charlotte has shown nothing but disdain since day one. New roommates wanted to go ahead and introduce them, and so far no fights have broken out (yet). Dante is pretty affable and nonchalant but Charlotte still hisses and spits every time she sees him and even stares him down sometimes(which usually results in him running at her). He also likes to sneak up on her sometimes and pounce which usually makes her very upset, for good reason.
I've stopped letting them out together too much for now in the interest of not stressing Char out too much except for a daily treat (when they are both distracted by wet catfood, they can sort of be friends).
How can I get this relationship to happen? I'm tempted to just let them work it out for themselves, but I would like this to be a gentle introduction, if at all possible.
