This might sound crazy, but lately I've been feeling guilty for bringing Chloe home. I didn't have Mattie for very long before I brought Chloe home (5 weeks), but Mattie was such a different cat before Chloe entered the picture. I was looking at pictures of her from before Chloe came home and she is so much more relaxed and happy in them.
I did a slow-ish introduction by seperating them, and things are of course much better than they used to be. They will play together (which is good because it gets Mattie to exercise), but mostly Mattie just avoids her and stays under the bed now. She used to hardly ever go under the bed. I feed them together if I can watch them to make sure they don't steal each other's food, I give both lots of love, and I try to give Mattie her space. I have a Feliway diffuser. I haven't tried Rescue Remedy yet but I plan to. They are co-existing just fine, I'm not worried at all when I leave them alone together. Chloe has been here for over a month now. (By the way, Chloe is 4 months old and Mattie is about 1-1.5 years old).
It's just that Matilda isn't the same. I miss the old Mattie. What are the odds that she'll come around and go back to being her old self? She wasn't the friendliest, most-outgoing cat before but she was not nearly as reclusive. I feel like I made a bad decision for Mattie. She's clearly not as happy. Then again, I don't have any other choice...Chloe is part of the family too, ya' know?
I did a slow-ish introduction by seperating them, and things are of course much better than they used to be. They will play together (which is good because it gets Mattie to exercise), but mostly Mattie just avoids her and stays under the bed now. She used to hardly ever go under the bed. I feed them together if I can watch them to make sure they don't steal each other's food, I give both lots of love, and I try to give Mattie her space. I have a Feliway diffuser. I haven't tried Rescue Remedy yet but I plan to. They are co-existing just fine, I'm not worried at all when I leave them alone together. Chloe has been here for over a month now. (By the way, Chloe is 4 months old and Mattie is about 1-1.5 years old).
It's just that Matilda isn't the same. I miss the old Mattie. What are the odds that she'll come around and go back to being her old self? She wasn't the friendliest, most-outgoing cat before but she was not nearly as reclusive. I feel like I made a bad decision for Mattie. She's clearly not as happy. Then again, I don't have any other choice...Chloe is part of the family too, ya' know?