My oldest daughter, now 19, adopted Tiger when she was 6. Not to be outdone, her younger sister adopted Princess about 6 months later.
Tiger was always a quiet, somwhat reserved cat. She really never got close to anyone other than my daughter, and they were very close.
Princess was a wild child from the moment we got her. Loved attention from anyone, always on the go. The two of them never really played together a lot, and even when they did, Tiger would run off to the sanctuary of my daughters room after a very short bout of with Princess trying to wrestle with her. It was very much like Tiger was the serious older child, and Princess was the flighty youngster. But Princess never stopped being an active, playful, attention seeker.
About three months ago now, Tiger had to be put to euthanized after she developed some kind of liver problem that her vet was never able to positively diagonse. For the last month we had her, she was very sick. We had to force feed her and my daughter had to hydrate her by IV. She just couldn't make it through it and finally got very ill and her vet said she was in too much pain to let her go on. It was a very sad day for all of us, especially my daughter who was devastated. She kept Tiger's ashes, and has a little "memorial" set up in her room with her favorite pictures of Tiger for them.
While Tiger was sick, she didn't spend too much time outside of my daughter's bedroom. We had moved her food in there in hopes she would start eating again, and her litter box also. Princess had never gone into that room much, and for the most part, she left Tiger alone, but would occasionally go to the door, as if to check up on her.
At first, my daughter didn't want to get another cat. After about a month, she spotted a funny looking calico on the rescue website and said she was ready for a new kitty. When we went to pick up Alice (from Alice Cooper, because of the black eye make-up she has) we were also introduced to her sister, Olivia (from Olivia Newton-John, because she was so sweet). Well the rescue foster told my girls how great the two sisters got along, and how it would be good for them to have each other, and the girls begged me, and they were cute, and anyway - Akice and Olivia joined our family and are as happy as 2 kittens could be.
Princess however, doesn't appear to be so happy with the new kids. It's like all her playfulness is gone. She doesn;t hide, but she has gotten rather inactive (especially compared to her old self) and although she will let you scratch her and rub her belly, she doesn't really seek it out like she used to. She tolerates the kittens, but never plays with them, and hisses whenever they try to interact with her.
In hindsight, maybe the new kittens weren't a good idea. Especially 2 of them, but our intentions were good. Princess always seemed to be so happy go lucky we really thought she would like having new friends to play with! But now it's like she has taken on more of Tiger's old role, and just isn't her crazy old self.
We took several weeks of keeping them seperate with the new kids in our study, so that they could see each other through the french glass doors, and everyone has been giving Princess lots of affection, but she doesn't show much sign of getting back to being her old peppy self. Do you think this will pass? Is there anything else we can do? Or is this just a natural event and Princess may never be the same again?
Thanks. Sorry for the long winded story!
Tiger was always a quiet, somwhat reserved cat. She really never got close to anyone other than my daughter, and they were very close.
Princess was a wild child from the moment we got her. Loved attention from anyone, always on the go. The two of them never really played together a lot, and even when they did, Tiger would run off to the sanctuary of my daughters room after a very short bout of with Princess trying to wrestle with her. It was very much like Tiger was the serious older child, and Princess was the flighty youngster. But Princess never stopped being an active, playful, attention seeker.
About three months ago now, Tiger had to be put to euthanized after she developed some kind of liver problem that her vet was never able to positively diagonse. For the last month we had her, she was very sick. We had to force feed her and my daughter had to hydrate her by IV. She just couldn't make it through it and finally got very ill and her vet said she was in too much pain to let her go on. It was a very sad day for all of us, especially my daughter who was devastated. She kept Tiger's ashes, and has a little "memorial" set up in her room with her favorite pictures of Tiger for them.
While Tiger was sick, she didn't spend too much time outside of my daughter's bedroom. We had moved her food in there in hopes she would start eating again, and her litter box also. Princess had never gone into that room much, and for the most part, she left Tiger alone, but would occasionally go to the door, as if to check up on her.
At first, my daughter didn't want to get another cat. After about a month, she spotted a funny looking calico on the rescue website and said she was ready for a new kitty. When we went to pick up Alice (from Alice Cooper, because of the black eye make-up she has) we were also introduced to her sister, Olivia (from Olivia Newton-John, because she was so sweet). Well the rescue foster told my girls how great the two sisters got along, and how it would be good for them to have each other, and the girls begged me, and they were cute, and anyway - Akice and Olivia joined our family and are as happy as 2 kittens could be.
Princess however, doesn't appear to be so happy with the new kids. It's like all her playfulness is gone. She doesn;t hide, but she has gotten rather inactive (especially compared to her old self) and although she will let you scratch her and rub her belly, she doesn't really seek it out like she used to. She tolerates the kittens, but never plays with them, and hisses whenever they try to interact with her.
In hindsight, maybe the new kittens weren't a good idea. Especially 2 of them, but our intentions were good. Princess always seemed to be so happy go lucky we really thought she would like having new friends to play with! But now it's like she has taken on more of Tiger's old role, and just isn't her crazy old self.
We took several weeks of keeping them seperate with the new kids in our study, so that they could see each other through the french glass doors, and everyone has been giving Princess lots of affection, but she doesn't show much sign of getting back to being her old peppy self. Do you think this will pass? Is there anything else we can do? Or is this just a natural event and Princess may never be the same again?
Thanks. Sorry for the long winded story!
