Cat Introduction Woes

[losna]

@Stewball She does allow him to get closer now than she ever has - on her terms. This week has been sort of a breakthrough on that.

If she's come out and is sitting on the sewing table on the landing, she will sometimes sit there until he gets all the way up - on Monday she even stayed there as he scaled the gate to get closer to her and only took off once his head reached the level of her head! This morning she sat on the sewing table gobbling the treats I was handing her as he was crawling around my feet, and she even came all the way out of her room with him sitting right there a little bit later to beg for more!

If we carry her out though, she flees in panic at the merest sight of him and not even treats will distract her.

Letting her move at her own pace is clearly the way to go, she makes more progress when we just encourage her to come out and give rewards than if we try to initiate interactions.

But I am heartened. Seeing her actually come out of her room this morning, while he was sitting right there, was amazing.

Of course, I also had a funny moment when she ripped the treat bag right out of my hand and stole some extras by sticking her head completely inside it and chowing down.

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• losna
• Jul 30, 2015

When she realized I was pulling the bag off her head she grabbed a HUGE mouthful of treats and ran off with her prize to greedily devour them.

 

[mservant]

 

  Go Tempest!    What a character.  Sounds like she just wants to be in control.  Going well I think - apart from the managine to steal the treats bit! 

LoL, I love it when they get a bit of food they want all to them self and run off to hide with it.  Mouse does that when he gets one of his Thrive fish snacks - like one of us humans is about to go steal it off him and eat it instead....   not. 

    (Have to admit we pretend to from time to time though, just to wind him up).

 

[losna]

You should see her with her duck foot. She carries that thing around with her everywhere, as though to  keep it safe.

She's actually clearly in a playful mood today -she just started chucking balls at Sinbad.

 

[mservant]

LoL, maybe she thinks if she chucks balls at him he'll chase them and head in the oposite direction to where she is - hope she's figured he will then come back for more. 

 

[losna]

It's even better than that. He plays fetch. She throws the balls (and little mice) over the gate, they tumble down the stairs, he chases them and brings them to line them up in front of the gate. If I don't spot it and toss them back in to her, she'll eventually run out of toys she's willing to throw and the game stops until Sinbad gets bored and wanders off - at which point she'll sneak out and reclaim them.

I am really heartened by their interactions these days; even if she still isn't ready to see him without a gate between them, she interacts with him all the time now and spends a lot of time on the sewing table and landing.

Though I am still bewildered by her occasional hither/thither game of drawing his attention so he runs up to her to interact, hissing until he goes away, then getting his attention again to hiss once he gets close...

 

[mservant]

They sound so cute together.  So many cats live in the same space and just skirt about each other without any intentional play so this sounds really lovely.  From what you describe I think I could sit and watch them for hours. 

 

[losna]

I totally do. I've started bringing my chromebook up so I can do my writing while sitting on the landing with them.

  I've tried filming, but the gate really blocks most of it out, so there's no interesting results.

They are both really interactive, affectionate cats. I think once she'd ready to be with him, they will probably play with each other a lot. Given how much they interact now through the gate, and how much time they both spend playing in general.

 

[losna]

Setback time. I guess we were due.

Hubby and I just woke up by wild screams as Sinbad and Tempest flew around the house fighting.

This time, for the first time, Sinbad was actually screaming as well. Previously it has always just been her trying to get him to back off. This is also the first time they have clashed like this outside her room - meaning for the first time ever she was outside her room and not tuned to his every sound.

Is that good or bad? I don't know.  A fight, but it could only have happened if she were feeling more comfortable, comfortable enough to not be paying attention to him as though he were a predator trying to eat her for lunch.

Now she is hiding and won't even come out for my husband, and he is slinking around the house crying, and I'm starting to get sick from the adrenaline rush of that very unpleasant awakening.

Will keep you all updated on how they recover.

 

[Columbine]

Setbacks happen. Try not to get too focused on it. It's very interesting that Sinbad was being vocal too...maybe Tempest actually had HIM on the run for once. Just go back a step and keep working with them. They will accept each other in time. It's even possible that a bit of redirected aggression ([article="32390"]​[/article]) came into play. Who knows. I'd suggest that they don't have free access to each other overnight until you're much more sure of their interactions.

Hang in there. You (and they) will get through this.

 

[losna]

@Columbine Yes, we have had many, many setbacks! I thought that it'd be days at the very least until she was out of her room again - up until now every time they spat she's remained camped out in hiding under the overstuffed chair for days, if not a week or two or more.

But not today! Treat time was the same as it always is, with no aggression or fear at all from either of them and she was out waiting for their arrival on the sewing table like usual, even playing the wiggly paw game afterward to try and get her bonus interaction treats - if I hadn't been woken up by fight screams I never would have known anything had happened based on their behavior a scant 2 hours later.

Yet another display that she has crossed some sort of threshold of comfort.  I optimistically want to say that I'll  be surprised if she's still gated this time next year.

 

[donutte]

Trying to acclimate my older cats (all teenagers) to a pair of new kittens has been interesting. And a chihuhua that I got the day before the kittens. Lucky (who looks like he could be the kittens' relative) has acclimated the most. Maple is the least as she's been hiding because she doesn't like Sugar (the dog). She really only met the kittens this past week, and she just growls at them. Sara is kinda warming up to them, but for the most part likes to be left alone.

This is Lucky (my 16-year-old) and Oscar though (one of the boys). Took this yesterday (was having too much fun with filters). Heartwarming doesn't begin to describe it.

Snapshot_20150801_47.JPG

• donutte
• Aug 2, 2015

 

[Columbine]

@Columbine
Yes, we have had many, many setbacks! I thought that it'd be days at the very least until she was out of her room again - up until now every time they spat she's remained camped out in hiding under the overstuffed chair for days, if not a week or two or more.

But not today! Treat time was the same as it always is, with no aggression or fear at all from either of them and she was out waiting for their arrival on the sewing table like usual, even playing the wiggly paw game afterward to try and get her bonus interaction treats - if I hadn't been woken up by fight screams I never would have known anything had happened based on their behavior a scant 2 hours later.

Yet another display that she has crossed some sort of threshold of comfort.  I optimistically want to say that I'll  be surprised if she's still gated this time next year.

Great news! Maybe something did spook them in the night, and that's all there was to it. Come on Tempest - get brave and trust Sinbad a little

 

[mservant]

I wonder if Tempest did get brave and come out of her safe space which is how things kicked off?  I guess no one but the kitties will ever know, but at least they both seem to have survived the experience better than their resident humans.  It's a major breakthrough that she is not back hiding.  Even cats that get on well and live quite happily around each other can have serious spats from time to time so for both of them to get through this event and be back in their existing behaviours and routines just hours later is quite something.

 

[stewball]

I wonder if Tempest did get brave and come out of her safe space which is how things kicked off?  I guess no one but the kitties will ever know, but at least they both seem to have survived the experience better than their resident humans.  It's a major breakthrough that she is not back hiding.  Even cats that get on well and live quite happily around each other can have serious spats from time to time so for both of them to get through this event and be back in their existing behaviours and routines just hours later is quite something.

Although whisky and blighty love each other like brothers and wash each other, they also have their fights. Sometimes I have to clap my hands hard to stop them as it gets a bit intense.

 

[losna]

@MServant She does very occasionally make the brave attempt to creep into our room to cuddle on the bed with us.  He is oddly polite when it happens in the middle of the night (I have frequent insomnia so am often awake late to see it). He will sit up in excited attention but stay in the bed, ears pricked and alert. When she steps over the threshold into the bedroom, he jumps down and walks - it's one of the few times he walks toward her rather than charging - toward her. But his approach is too much for her and always sends her fleeing. Or best guess is that's what happened - she came down to snuggle too, Sinbad met her at the door and it turned into a chase/fight.

My husband has started sleeping in her room Friday nights. For several reasons, not the least of which is an attempt to show her how nice it is to snuggle with people to sleep.

  But the recent comfort level shift she's been displaying started the day after the first time he did that. He hadn't intended it to be a weekly thing, but it was really that noticeable how she reacted to it that he's kept it up. And she can keep a calender - every Friday night she gets all excited like a little schoolgirl and chirps and squeaks happily as bed time approaches. (her meow sounds like msquee or mkwee, sometimes there's a double k sound at the end when she's really excited. it's really cute and funny)

After we separated them, he grabbed his afghan and pillows and curled up to go back to sleep in her room. I was still awake when she realized he was staying in there as adrenaline makes me sick, so I heard her excited cry. It was so adorable.

 

[mservant]

She sounds so cute..  

    Better not repeating the DH going to sleep with her if the kitties have a battle though as with your pair they are bound to make an instant association and Tempest will become as regular with the night time battles as she is with the cute paw games and the treats. 

Sounds like a likely start to what happened, Tempest making her way through to the bedroom and being met differently. 

 

[losna]

Oh, he naps with her randomly, specifically so there is no association with anything. Morning, afternoon, evening, when she's good, bad, cute, etc. He varies it so there's no pattern for them. It's just a treat she can enjoy.

These little gremlins learn very quickly, so we have learned to avoid setting patterns we don't want to repeat.

 

[Columbine]

I hope you had a more peaceful night last night! Are things still back on track? :cross:

 

[losna]

@Columbine Yeah! Sinbad had nightmares last night, but he has chronic nightmares so it's unrelated. Tempest has been out on the sewing table all morning, SInbad is alternating between camping out to watch her and attempting power snuggles with me. He's also begging for food, but the vet said I was overfeeding him a wee bit so alas, no more food for him. He is attempting to make me feel guilty every time I'm in the kitchen by giving me pathetic looks and slinking over to lick his thoroughly empty bowl.

But things are back to normal. That fight sounded like the fiercest fight they've ever had, but unlike all the others, it really seems to have just been a blip that is already gone.

 

[Columbine]

Aww, poor Sinbad with his nightmares (for him ). So pleased that all is going well still. Its bananas time!