We are three weeks into fostering a beautiful, friendly but extremely energetic Russian Blue boy, 2 y.o., 2 weeks since allowing supervised together time withour older 4 y.o. but much smaller and much more laid back female tabby. For the first week of supervised introductions together, our resident Tabby was the aggressor most of the time and we thought that once they adapted (and I emphasize we have been trying to nip confrontations in the bud, reward and praise them in their non fighting together time, etc etc) they could get along well because the newbie showed no aggression other than reciprocating with play fighting. But now that the newbie has acclimitized to our place, he has become more confident and while his own aggression seems more play oriented, he has much higher energy than our girl, is heavier and more muscular, and repeatedly tackles her like an NFL linebacker... the two of them then somersaulting through the air from his tackle, and then the two chasing each other and swiping at each other at top speed.
My wife wants to call off the adoption plan- for us to merely keep fostering the newbie, mostly separated, until we can find a new foster for him. I was inclined to give it more time but really, She has good points- that it wouldnt be best for either our resident cat or the newbie, who needs more freedom to be himself, to not accept this. He's a real nice cat who deserves a good home- we won't force him back into a shelter no matter what (he had a rough time not being adopted for a while due to his having the same urinary tract diet issue as our resident) we will keep him home and care for him as well as we can while not expanding the together time anymore, just keeping it minimal and cutting it off before any fights. We will have to bring him to adoption events.
I am a softie and wanted to try this a bit longer before declaring failure.. but my wife feels this is getting too dangerous and stressful for our tabby and confess she is probably right- even if they eventually become buddies, they will play fight when we are not around and she is simply not physically up to handling such body blows, and his energy level seems way too high for her. This Russian Blue would make a fantastic single cat and would probably do well with another more his physical and energy equal. He was actually bullied in the adoption-center pet store where he was residing for some weeks before when able to roam around fairly freely, but now he has become a bully owing to his superior size and strength.
We got into this knowing full well it might just be a foster even though we really wanted to adopt him. I'm sure many of you who foster regularly while havng resident pets already, have figured out better ways to accept the bonding and separation issues. Do you reduce the together time when you know that you aren't going to adopt?
Well, that's our situation- anyone is welcome to disagree or if you have experienced a similar dilemma, I appreciate all viewpoints.
My wife wants to call off the adoption plan- for us to merely keep fostering the newbie, mostly separated, until we can find a new foster for him. I was inclined to give it more time but really, She has good points- that it wouldnt be best for either our resident cat or the newbie, who needs more freedom to be himself, to not accept this. He's a real nice cat who deserves a good home- we won't force him back into a shelter no matter what (he had a rough time not being adopted for a while due to his having the same urinary tract diet issue as our resident) we will keep him home and care for him as well as we can while not expanding the together time anymore, just keeping it minimal and cutting it off before any fights. We will have to bring him to adoption events.
I am a softie and wanted to try this a bit longer before declaring failure.. but my wife feels this is getting too dangerous and stressful for our tabby and confess she is probably right- even if they eventually become buddies, they will play fight when we are not around and she is simply not physically up to handling such body blows, and his energy level seems way too high for her. This Russian Blue would make a fantastic single cat and would probably do well with another more his physical and energy equal. He was actually bullied in the adoption-center pet store where he was residing for some weeks before when able to roam around fairly freely, but now he has become a bully owing to his superior size and strength.
We got into this knowing full well it might just be a foster even though we really wanted to adopt him. I'm sure many of you who foster regularly while havng resident pets already, have figured out better ways to accept the bonding and separation issues. Do you reduce the together time when you know that you aren't going to adopt?
Well, that's our situation- anyone is welcome to disagree or if you have experienced a similar dilemma, I appreciate all viewpoints.
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