Can we get Lucy to give Henry a break?!

We brought Lucy (8 week old female) home a week ago last night and are trying to "smooth things over" between her and Henry (2 yo male) as best we can. When they finally met, they both puffed up, he hissed and they ran off. All to be expected.

The next morning, they were playing "kitty chase" and "I'm hiding in the grocery bag." I say playing because that's what I hope it is. There's no hissing or growling (usually), and they do the cartoon thing of she chases her into the room, he chases her out, etc. For being new siblings, they seem to be getting along OK. He seems to enjoy playing with her (stalking her?) because he will seek her out when he could otherwise be hiding.

Here's my concern. She just won't leave Henry alone! He seems to like to play with her sometimes, but he is an adult and wants so peace and quiet. Well, she just won't give it to him. She follows and picks and follows and bites and won't leave him alone. He came to us declawed, an when she swats him one with her claws, he really feels it!

We live in a relatively small house, and are keeping Lucy confined to the laundry room when we're gone and while we sleep (one-on-one time with Henry), but when we're there and awake she wants to be out with others. And can she howl. LOL!

So here's my dilemma. Henry needs personal time, but Lucy needs family time. And I don't think there's a point in having a cat if you're going to keep her confined to the laundry room all the time. Especially when she howls and that bothers everyone including Henry. So what can I do?

All the options going through my mind: Find a screen or gate (that she can't climb, since she's already mastered one we set up) so that when she wants to jump on big brother but he just wants a break, we can put that up and separate them (but they'll still have us around). It will have to be something smooth and strong that she can't jump over or stick her little claws into.

OR should we confine her to "her room" when he's had enough? I feel bad about that, because it is a very small room (maybe 6x6, with a washer and dryer in it).

OR, is there a way that we can train her to learn when enough is enough. Which really should be Henry's job, but we feel like we should help him out since he's our oldest son.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

Awwwww i would let her out to play because all she wants to do is be Henrys play pal

Honestly, and i'm speaking from experience here, when Henry's had enough he'll let Lucy know, even if he has no claws Henry will give Lucy a quick bop on the head to put her in her place if she goes too far.

She's only a baby and will setttle down, but i bet if Henry could speak he would say he loved her company

Heres what my Rosie had to put up with when Sophie was a kitten and she would miss her if she wasn't here now.

I'm not certain about cats, since mine had been together for a while when I got them, but I would think it may be best to let them sort this out. My experience with dogs has been that this is for the better- I had a golden retriever who was extremely tolerant, loving, and peaceful, even when this 15 pound mutt that took up with us for a while starting nipping and biting at him. My golden put up with it for about a week, then all of the sudden grabbed the other dog by the neck, flipped him over, and held him there while growling. The little dog quickly learned that my golden was in charge, and there was never a problem between them again (if anything the mutt suddenly thought the golden was the greatest dog ever). I know cats are very different animals, but it seems that even the most docile creature will finally say "enough is enough" and teach the other a thing or two.

While working with Pug Rescue, and doing the amount of dogsitting that we do, we have had quite a few puppies in and out. Some of our adult dogs have just barely tolerated them, while some have acted almost like parents to the puppy. My pug loves puppies and kittens, and he is very fatherly toward them. He loves to play with them, but when he has had enough, he will let them know. He usually just holds the puppy down with one paw. If that doesn't work, he uses a little nip, just like the mother would. I think that your two will eventually fall into an easy rhythm, but it might take Henry giving Lucy a real good swat. Once he does she will learn when enough is enough. Until then, I would continue to keep them separated while you are gone.

I am going through the samething right now. I have 3 older cats Flame 10yr persian ,Yowser 8 yr siamese and Jade 3 yr siamese. Just added a new tortie female siamese Lily to the kitty family I have had her 7 weeks now.so shes close to 4 months old. And shes a kitten and she wants to play and play. The older cats will play for awhile and when they have had enough they will let her know.
Sometimes though she keeps trying to get them to play and they just want to snooze. I try to distract her which is easy. I play with her kitty toys. Go figured.... Her favorite toy is a potatoe! Dropped one on the kitchen floor one evening and she went nuts playing with it on the floor rolling it around batting it. So now I keep one down for her to play with LOL. She will calm down in time kittens like to play hard and then there out like a light for a few hours sleeping.

Hi JennyAnnieDots

I completely agree with rosiemac. When the smallest of kittens showed up in our backyard, being the suckers we are took the little guy in. At the time he was only about 4wks old. Polo our male resembling a maine coon age 11, at first found this tiny being to be a large pain in the butt. But Max didn't give up he pursused Polo night and day. After several days Polo finally gave in much to Max's delight. Max really looked upon Polo as a mentor. When Polo had enough of the little rugrat though, he let him know as gently as he could. Max learned when to back off. Until Polo became ill and passed away last July, Max took it very hard. We ended up adopting another cat to help Max deal with his grief. Of course now the shoe is on the other foot, its Max's turn to deal with a kitty hanging all over him just as he once did with Polo.

Leilani

I think you need to give it more time, it's only been a week afterall. Henry will soon let Lucy know if she's getting too annoying!

How much are you playing with Lucy yourself? Maybe you could give her a few extra minutes of really hard play to tire her out more? In my experience laser pointers are great for this, you can sit down with a glass of wine whilst Lucy chases the red dot all around the place!

Susan - love the picture of Rosie putting up with baby Sophie!

Originally Posted by gardenandcats

I am going through the samething right now. I have 3 older cats Flame 10yr persian ,Yowser 8 yr siamese and Jade 3 yr siamese. Just added a new tortie female siamese Lily to the kitty family I have had her 7 weeks now.so shes close to 4 months old. And shes a kitten and she wants to play and play. The older cats will play for awhile and when they have had enough they will let her know.
Sometimes though she keeps trying to get them to play and they just want to snooze. I try to distract her which is easy. I play with her kitty toys. Go figured.... Her favorite toy is a potatoe! Dropped one on the kitchen floor one evening and she went nuts playing with it on the floor rolling it around batting it. So now I keep one down for her to play with LOL. She will calm down in time kittens like to play hard and then there out like a light for a few hours sleeping.

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Ditto, ditto, triple ditto!

Napoleon has obviously been socialized with other cats, possibly even dogs. He loves Cassie but to the point of being annoying little brother.

We had to really kind of *train* him to stop him being so curious and obsessed with Cassie. We had to play with him more regularly and when we saw him going to bother her, try to distract him by using a laser pointer or crumpling up a piece of paper (which he can't RESIST). We've b ecome a little lax, and they've been fighting a lot lately. The good news is that Cassie is willing to fight back, she swats him on the head when she doesn't want to be bothered. They've had more positive interactions like kissing noses and even sleeping on the bed together with us at night (though they are separate by legs usually).

But when it gets bad, I'll try to distract them. My only concern was Cassie being stressed out by their interactions but she seems to be getting along OK. She will rebound and be out playing in no time. Just give it time but try employing those distraction methods. Your kitty is a mere baby...she will learn in due time

home.slice, your video says it all. Did you take that at house? LOL! I'll be patient and let the two of them work it out--while we're home. Thanks to everyone who responded. Each response gave me a little more confidence that it will be possible for them to be friends.

Henry's now taken to laying on his back, all four legs in the air, batting at Lucy while she stands at his head. I guess he's not at all threatened by her!

Thanks again to everyone.

Hehe! That little video clip is funny, as long as the kitty was ok! (as I'm sure it was)

Actually that isn't my cats, although the orange one just IDENTICAL to Gremlin. My kitten is the same size as the block/white on in the video as well so I got a huge kick out of it when I found the clip online.

It reminds me exactly of what my cats do to keep my up at night.

Originally Posted by JennyAnnieDots

Henry's now taken to laying on his back, all four legs in the air, batting at Lucy while she stands at his head. I guess he's not at all threatened by her!

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Thats brilliant!!! From reading that, Henry's loving every minute of Lucys company, so i honestly don't think you have anything to worry about