New to The Cat Site

Hello! My name is Jackie, and I've been browsing the message boards on this site for a while now. I finally decided it was time to make an account! My fiancé and I are pet parents to 2 loving felines. I'm hoping to post on here quite a bit and make new cat-loving friends!   

This is Mew. She is a domestic shorthair that we rescued from an animal shelter. She is a very loving cat, and has quite the personality. She currently is not a fan of the new kitten, but we're giving her time and space until she adjusts. 

  PS. Those were boxes from when we moved across the country. She was loving it. 

This is Meko. I'm not entirely sure of the breed. We saw an ad online for "free kittens" so we decided to go investigate. The house that had the kittens was very run down, and not an ideal living condition for humans let alone young kittens. We rescued him from that house and we're very glad we did. He fits in with our little family PERFECTLY. He has his first vet visit on tuesday. I'm also happy to say that all of the other kittens in that house also went to loving homes.  

 

So that's my little family. I hope you enjoyed the pictures, and I look forward to getting to know some of you. 

Welcome to the site.

I'm sorry that Mew doesn't care for Meko but as you can imagine, it can be very challenging for Mew (who has "owned" your entire home as well as having had all of your love and attention) to now have to share her home and your affection with an outsider. 

Have you had to keep the two isolated or has Mew simply been brooding and/or hissing if Meko comes too close? 

Mew has hissed as him, so we did separate them. We currently keep Meko in the bedroom with his own litter box, food, water, etc and Mew has the rest of the apartment. We are also going to start feeding them together but on opposite sides of a door. It was recommended in a video I found talking about introducing cats to one another. 

Yes, that would probably be a good idea. 

When you think they're ready to meet face to face, you could also put one of them in a pet carrier. 

I have introduced kittens to my multiple cat household and usually the hissing is just a dominance thing ... i.e. I'm senior kitty and you're the junior kitty and don't you forget it because what I say goes!

This is Princess Tabitha as she was when she was a kitten some 6 years ago. I brought her home to meet the boys, Bob (the bob-cat, so named because he's a Manx mix with a bob-tail), Jasper Baby (Bob's brother), and Scraps. 


Jasper Baby and Scraps ran away and hid.

Bob stuck his face into the kitten's and HISSED ... and I thought that was pretty much the end of it. 

I let Tabitha out of her carrier and throughout the weekend, two of the boys continued to hide while Bob would occasionally hiss at the kitten. On the following Monday, I went to work and came home to find Tabitha cowering in a narrow space behind a bookcase. Someone had bitten her and she had a bloody scrape on her left front paw. 

I took Tabitha to the vet who cleaned the injury and told me that it was just superficial. 

When I got home, I had a choice ... should I isolate Tabitha or let the cats sort it out. 

I decided to see how the rest of the day went.

That night, Tabitha climbed the ramp of floor pillows to my bed that I had put together over the previous weekend. Bob and Jasper Baby were waiting for her at the top of the bed. Scraps was still in hiding.

Pictured here are Bob (foreground) and his brother, Jasper Baby. 


Tabitha climbed up the ramp of pillows and JB raised a paw and swatted her so hard that she went tumbling nose over tail down the ramp. Being a very brave kitten, she didn't mew in protest or run away. She picked herself up and headed back up the ramp. I held my breath waiting to see if I needed to intervene.

Jasper Baby grinned and raised his paw. Swatting little kitties was fun ... but just before Tabitha reached the bed, Bob shoved his face into JB's and HISSED.

JB's open mouthed smile drooped. He lowered his paw and sighed before bending over to lick Tabitha's head. Bob joined his brother in also socially grooming the little kitten and all was well. 

In time, Tabitha became Jasper Baby's best friend. She also became friends with all of the other cats.

Here is Tabitha (as a kitten) with Bob. 


Here she is is cuddling with Jasper Baby. JB was just waking up from a nap. If he was a person, I would have offered him a cup of coffee. As i was, he had a "cup of Tabitha." You can see Bob in the background. 


Here is Tabitha with a much aggrieved Scraps. Scraps was taking a nap before Tabitha decided to play pouncy pounce on his back. 


Scraps and Tabitha did become good friends. Here they are greeting Jasper Baby who was looking for someplace to nap. 


This is Tabitha as an adult.

Beautiful cats! 

Mew and Meko just ate dinner. Mew could smell Meko through the door and hissed but still managed to eat a little bit. She is also not angry towards us. I consider this a successful start. I know it will definitely take some time. 

Welcome jackiebagels, welcome Mew and welcome Meko. Your gonna love it here.

jackiebagels said:

 
Beautiful cats! 

Mew and Meko just ate dinner. Mew could smell Meko through the door and hissed but still managed to eat a little bit. She is also not angry towards us. I consider this a successful start. I know it will definitely take some time. 

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That's promising. I hope things will work out. Keep us informed.

David

welcome to you and your beautiful kitties