Hello,
I am new to these forums and found your site looking for answers.
I would like to lay out a bit of history here to insure that everyone gets a full picture. Our current cat, Boo (also known as Boopod to which we have nicknamed her), is a 5 year-old, three-legged cat with one of her back legs missing. Her tight umbilical chord cut-off circulation, and the leg had to be amputated when she was a kitten. She was a rescue from our local adoption center, and according to them, she is a pure-bred American Short-Hair.
The people who had given her up claimed that she had potty problems (to which she does not), and only peed once outside the litter-box before giving her up. In addition, the shelter said the house was massive with large amount of space, and she lived with one other cat and a dog. They said she had no problems interacting with any of the other animals or humans, but the shelter thought it may have been because she was lonely.
After 3-4 months (we adopted her this last summer), she began to open up to us and has been the most clingy cat in the world. She follows us like a magnet, wakes us up if we sleep too long, and also loves cuddling with us. I can't even go to the bathroom without her worrying about me pooping. We do not hate this at all, we love it, and my fiancee is in love with her personality because she's extremely dog-like (his dog died last November).
However, three days ago, we ended up taking home another cat, named Maxie. Maxie is de-clawed orange male tabby. We aren't sure what his breed is, but he's a huge, slender, and tall. We call him a gentle regal giant.
Unfortunately, to put things in perspective, Maxie was a twice give up. There is nothing wrong with him, but his original owners had him for 5 years, and were the cruel people who declawed him and made him solely an outdoor cat. In addition, the jerks they were, the husband of the family got a new job in another state across the country and decided to "drop him off" to our neighbors (about the same time we got Boo) who worked with the husband. The first family literally got up and abandoned him, and left all his things with our neighbors.
Our friends, who are also our neighbors (and the wife who is my fiancee's coworker), were not 100% ready to take him in. They waited for a so-called "trail period" with Maxie, but the original owners got up and left.
They like cats, but the wife is very allergic. She didn't realize how bad her allergies were and as Maxie got closer and more comfortable with them after 3 months, she started to get rashes.
With no one to turn to, and with them admitting that Maxie was "too much work" and they didn't have time to give him "attention", they gave him up to us.
The first night was terrible, as he felt like he was getting abandoned, well a second time. It was incredibly hard to watch because of his meowing and we tried to comfort him. Luckily, we had taken care of him during our neighbor's vacation trips, so he has received a lot of compassion from us.
We placed him in his own private room, with a litter-box, food, and bedding. We put a diffuser in there to keep him nice and settled. He used the litter-box fine the first night, but accidentally peed on the bed the 2nd night. We believe he has a UTI because we saw droplets of blood, and now we are going to take him to the vet ASAP.
As for introductions with our resident cat, Maxie has taken up to Boopod's smell so well. He has no adverse reactions and in fact, doesn't bother with the sock we placed in the room with Boopod's smell. The room was riddled with her pheromones, and he honestly has been pawing at her from under the door while rolling and purring. This was after 3-4 days.
In terms of Maxie's personality he is extremely loving in a shy way, he hides for sometime, but that doesn't mean he won't let you pet him. He eventually comes out and starts to love everything and is pretty clingy himself in his own aloof sort-of-way.
***
My problem comes from Boo, we tried to do the sock method with her, and praise her when she has not adverse reactions. We encouraged her to sniff and even lick the spots. And whenever she doesn't hiss or fight it, we reward her with praise and treats. We don't yell or scream when things aren't looking well, we just ignore the bad reactions we don't like, and praise the good ones. We do the same for the both of them.
But her personality has gravely changed. Now, even if I change my clothes and wash my hands thoroughly after petting Maxie she will hiss at me if I try to pick her up (like I usually do), pet her, or even love her while eating. She has been avoiding the hallway to which Maxie is next to, and we had to place another litter-box so she wouldn't get an accident from not wanting to go to the other litter-box down the hall. We even put a 2nd diffuser in the room to calm Boo down.
But for the past 4 days she has been reluctant of me and my fiancee. She hasn't been greeting us like she normally does. It's almost like she's grumpy. We have been doing the introductions as slow as possible (they haven't met at all yet), and we have been swapping smells very gradually. We act normal, and let the days pass just like a normal work week.
However, Boo just doesn't seem ready, and we can't understand this because she lived with other animals and is in fact, very clingy to anyone and everyone, but once she gets to know them. It takes her time to open up. We don't plan on rushing.
Our major concern is just we want her to be comfortable and bumbling like she always is, and we don't want her to change because of a new cat. We feel really sorry for Maxie and don't want to have to end up re-homing him a 4th time because no one loves him and has no home. Or worse be killed for no reason.
Our last option would to be giving him up to my mother who has another cat who once lived with another male cat (who died last October, my favorite cat).
I really want these two cats to live peacefully because I believe, from their depressing backgrounds and their funny and adorably clingy personalities, they would get along really well. In fact, help each other.
I am new to these forums and found your site looking for answers.
I would like to lay out a bit of history here to insure that everyone gets a full picture. Our current cat, Boo (also known as Boopod to which we have nicknamed her), is a 5 year-old, three-legged cat with one of her back legs missing. Her tight umbilical chord cut-off circulation, and the leg had to be amputated when she was a kitten. She was a rescue from our local adoption center, and according to them, she is a pure-bred American Short-Hair.
The people who had given her up claimed that she had potty problems (to which she does not), and only peed once outside the litter-box before giving her up. In addition, the shelter said the house was massive with large amount of space, and she lived with one other cat and a dog. They said she had no problems interacting with any of the other animals or humans, but the shelter thought it may have been because she was lonely.
After 3-4 months (we adopted her this last summer), she began to open up to us and has been the most clingy cat in the world. She follows us like a magnet, wakes us up if we sleep too long, and also loves cuddling with us. I can't even go to the bathroom without her worrying about me pooping. We do not hate this at all, we love it, and my fiancee is in love with her personality because she's extremely dog-like (his dog died last November).
However, three days ago, we ended up taking home another cat, named Maxie. Maxie is de-clawed orange male tabby. We aren't sure what his breed is, but he's a huge, slender, and tall. We call him a gentle regal giant.
Unfortunately, to put things in perspective, Maxie was a twice give up. There is nothing wrong with him, but his original owners had him for 5 years, and were the cruel people who declawed him and made him solely an outdoor cat. In addition, the jerks they were, the husband of the family got a new job in another state across the country and decided to "drop him off" to our neighbors (about the same time we got Boo) who worked with the husband. The first family literally got up and abandoned him, and left all his things with our neighbors.
Our friends, who are also our neighbors (and the wife who is my fiancee's coworker), were not 100% ready to take him in. They waited for a so-called "trail period" with Maxie, but the original owners got up and left.
They like cats, but the wife is very allergic. She didn't realize how bad her allergies were and as Maxie got closer and more comfortable with them after 3 months, she started to get rashes.
With no one to turn to, and with them admitting that Maxie was "too much work" and they didn't have time to give him "attention", they gave him up to us.
The first night was terrible, as he felt like he was getting abandoned, well a second time. It was incredibly hard to watch because of his meowing and we tried to comfort him. Luckily, we had taken care of him during our neighbor's vacation trips, so he has received a lot of compassion from us.
We placed him in his own private room, with a litter-box, food, and bedding. We put a diffuser in there to keep him nice and settled. He used the litter-box fine the first night, but accidentally peed on the bed the 2nd night. We believe he has a UTI because we saw droplets of blood, and now we are going to take him to the vet ASAP.
As for introductions with our resident cat, Maxie has taken up to Boopod's smell so well. He has no adverse reactions and in fact, doesn't bother with the sock we placed in the room with Boopod's smell. The room was riddled with her pheromones, and he honestly has been pawing at her from under the door while rolling and purring. This was after 3-4 days.
In terms of Maxie's personality he is extremely loving in a shy way, he hides for sometime, but that doesn't mean he won't let you pet him. He eventually comes out and starts to love everything and is pretty clingy himself in his own aloof sort-of-way.
***
My problem comes from Boo, we tried to do the sock method with her, and praise her when she has not adverse reactions. We encouraged her to sniff and even lick the spots. And whenever she doesn't hiss or fight it, we reward her with praise and treats. We don't yell or scream when things aren't looking well, we just ignore the bad reactions we don't like, and praise the good ones. We do the same for the both of them.
But her personality has gravely changed. Now, even if I change my clothes and wash my hands thoroughly after petting Maxie she will hiss at me if I try to pick her up (like I usually do), pet her, or even love her while eating. She has been avoiding the hallway to which Maxie is next to, and we had to place another litter-box so she wouldn't get an accident from not wanting to go to the other litter-box down the hall. We even put a 2nd diffuser in the room to calm Boo down.
But for the past 4 days she has been reluctant of me and my fiancee. She hasn't been greeting us like she normally does. It's almost like she's grumpy. We have been doing the introductions as slow as possible (they haven't met at all yet), and we have been swapping smells very gradually. We act normal, and let the days pass just like a normal work week.
However, Boo just doesn't seem ready, and we can't understand this because she lived with other animals and is in fact, very clingy to anyone and everyone, but once she gets to know them. It takes her time to open up. We don't plan on rushing.
Our major concern is just we want her to be comfortable and bumbling like she always is, and we don't want her to change because of a new cat. We feel really sorry for Maxie and don't want to have to end up re-homing him a 4th time because no one loves him and has no home. Or worse be killed for no reason.
Our last option would to be giving him up to my mother who has another cat who once lived with another male cat (who died last October, my favorite cat).
I really want these two cats to live peacefully because I believe, from their depressing backgrounds and their funny and adorably clingy personalities, they would get along really well. In fact, help each other.
hno:
