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- Nov 22, 2016
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SO and I have a 5 year old cat, call her Oldie (female). We live in a 2BR apartment.
We just adopted a 3 month old kitten, call him Newbie (male).
Over the past few weeks, we have put Newbie in one of the bathrooms, all to himself. He has his own litter box, food bowls, water, bed, etc.
It's gotten to the point now where they're used to the sight of each other (we have a gate set up now), and occasionally they can eat on opposite sides of the gate without Oldie hissing or growling at Newbie. So we decided to allow them to meet.
So far it's been mixed. Whenever Newbie is out and about, Oldie will try to find some high place and watch from afar. If they're both on the ground and Newbie walks past Oldie, she'll usually hiss and growl a little. However, Newbie does not care one bit about being hissed or growled at: He just wants to play. So he's always doing the butt-wiggle-gonna-pounce-NOW thing and blasting himself towards Oldie at superluminal speeds, and it freaks. her. out.
Cue the loud meowing, the intense hissing, the paw-slapping, etc. I'm really worried Newbie is going to get himself hurt if this sort of thing keeps happening. How do I help prevent him from divebombing at Oldie all the time? Do I just let it happen and have him learn the hard way, or do I keep telling him not to do it, only to make him want to do it more?
I tried distracting them with toys whenever he gets into pounce-position, but the problem is that both cats like the same toys. If we dangle strings, suddenly Newbie just *has* to go for the same string Oldie's playing with, so he'll run towards her and she'll freak out.
Could definitely use some more ideas!
We just adopted a 3 month old kitten, call him Newbie (male).
Over the past few weeks, we have put Newbie in one of the bathrooms, all to himself. He has his own litter box, food bowls, water, bed, etc.
It's gotten to the point now where they're used to the sight of each other (we have a gate set up now), and occasionally they can eat on opposite sides of the gate without Oldie hissing or growling at Newbie. So we decided to allow them to meet.
So far it's been mixed. Whenever Newbie is out and about, Oldie will try to find some high place and watch from afar. If they're both on the ground and Newbie walks past Oldie, she'll usually hiss and growl a little. However, Newbie does not care one bit about being hissed or growled at: He just wants to play. So he's always doing the butt-wiggle-gonna-pounce-NOW thing and blasting himself towards Oldie at superluminal speeds, and it freaks. her. out.
Cue the loud meowing, the intense hissing, the paw-slapping, etc. I'm really worried Newbie is going to get himself hurt if this sort of thing keeps happening. How do I help prevent him from divebombing at Oldie all the time? Do I just let it happen and have him learn the hard way, or do I keep telling him not to do it, only to make him want to do it more?
I tried distracting them with toys whenever he gets into pounce-position, but the problem is that both cats like the same toys. If we dangle strings, suddenly Newbie just *has* to go for the same string Oldie's playing with, so he'll run towards her and she'll freak out.
Could definitely use some more ideas!
