Hello all,
We live in a building with two apartments on each floor; and the two doors are right next to each other. Our cat is very happy to roam outside all night and each morning he waits patiently for us to let him back in. Our cat looks most like an asian tabby, and he is altered. His name is Irving
Recently a neighbor moved in with an altered male siamese cat named Dino. Irvine and Dino first saw each other outside in our large garden/courtyard. They both looked uncomfortable and my wife was standing between them. Both cats seemed to relax after a bit, when suddenly, Dino ran aggresively toward Irving and Irving ran for his life. Since that moment, Irving has been terrified of Dino. If they run into each other in the hall, Dino seems calm and approachable, but Irving Immediatley runs for his life, if possible, or hisses and arches his back if an escape isn't available.
The big problem is that now, Irving is always very nervous about going down the stairs to the outside door, and sometimes he disappears for up to 3 days, presumedly because he sees Dino and is afraid to hang around or some such. When he returns from such an absence, Irving tends to be kind of freaked out for a whole day or so. He acts very strange, like he wants something, but nothing we do satisfies him, and he will occasionally get upset for no reason and nip at us or let us know in no uncertain terms that we're not understanding what he's asking for. He also is undoubtedly being fed by others when he's away, and suddenly wants people food and wet food, where he had always been very satisfied with his dry food previously.
We really have no idea what to do. Any articles I've found have to do with introducing a new cat to the household, and most of the strategies really don't seem to apply to our situation.
Does anybody have any solutions for this one? We're really beside ourselves.
Thanks in advance!
--k
We live in a building with two apartments on each floor; and the two doors are right next to each other. Our cat is very happy to roam outside all night and each morning he waits patiently for us to let him back in. Our cat looks most like an asian tabby, and he is altered. His name is Irving
Recently a neighbor moved in with an altered male siamese cat named Dino. Irvine and Dino first saw each other outside in our large garden/courtyard. They both looked uncomfortable and my wife was standing between them. Both cats seemed to relax after a bit, when suddenly, Dino ran aggresively toward Irving and Irving ran for his life. Since that moment, Irving has been terrified of Dino. If they run into each other in the hall, Dino seems calm and approachable, but Irving Immediatley runs for his life, if possible, or hisses and arches his back if an escape isn't available.
The big problem is that now, Irving is always very nervous about going down the stairs to the outside door, and sometimes he disappears for up to 3 days, presumedly because he sees Dino and is afraid to hang around or some such. When he returns from such an absence, Irving tends to be kind of freaked out for a whole day or so. He acts very strange, like he wants something, but nothing we do satisfies him, and he will occasionally get upset for no reason and nip at us or let us know in no uncertain terms that we're not understanding what he's asking for. He also is undoubtedly being fed by others when he's away, and suddenly wants people food and wet food, where he had always been very satisfied with his dry food previously.
We really have no idea what to do. Any articles I've found have to do with introducing a new cat to the household, and most of the strategies really don't seem to apply to our situation.
Does anybody have any solutions for this one? We're really beside ourselves.
Thanks in advance!
--k