I have a 9 year old fixed male named Gizmo and up until about six weeks ago a very senior female named Willow. They got along great but she passed away unexpectedly, which led to Gizmo becoming very needy and lonely. He spent a week looking for her in my apartment and now wants to be with me constantly. He has lost a lot of his energy and willingness to play by himself and doesn't run around like he used to. Whenever he is not eating or sleeping he is pestering me for attention.
I decided to adopt another cat but a scheduled 3 week vacation during which Gizmo had to be boarded at a kennel prevented me from getting another cat right away. I've been back for two weeks now and things have settled down, so yesterday I visited the local no-kill shelter and adopted a three month old female kitten as a companion for Gizmo. I decided on a kitten because Gizmo is high energy for his age and felt very threatened by new cats at the kennel even though they were friendly. I thought a small kitten would be less intimidating for him.
She's very sweet and not shy, uses her litter box fine. I installed her in my bedroom where the cats are normally not allowed (due to waking me up when sleeping and hairballs under the bed). I had planned on doing the slow introduction but he doesn't seem to notice she's there. He's fine with her smell on me and I've rubbed a sock on her and let him smell it. But all that has happened is him looking at the door curiously a few times, but I'm not sure if he realizes something is up. The idea that a tiny cat is in there might blow his mind.
So my question is, how soon should I move to the next step? Should I let him see her without letting them have direct contact? One day seems kind of soon.
I decided to adopt another cat but a scheduled 3 week vacation during which Gizmo had to be boarded at a kennel prevented me from getting another cat right away. I've been back for two weeks now and things have settled down, so yesterday I visited the local no-kill shelter and adopted a three month old female kitten as a companion for Gizmo. I decided on a kitten because Gizmo is high energy for his age and felt very threatened by new cats at the kennel even though they were friendly. I thought a small kitten would be less intimidating for him.
She's very sweet and not shy, uses her litter box fine. I installed her in my bedroom where the cats are normally not allowed (due to waking me up when sleeping and hairballs under the bed). I had planned on doing the slow introduction but he doesn't seem to notice she's there. He's fine with her smell on me and I've rubbed a sock on her and let him smell it. But all that has happened is him looking at the door curiously a few times, but I'm not sure if he realizes something is up. The idea that a tiny cat is in there might blow his mind.
So my question is, how soon should I move to the next step? Should I let him see her without letting them have direct contact? One day seems kind of soon.