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WELP. Trying not to get discouraged but things have been very back and fourth lately. Trending towards worse if anything, honestly. Sometimes they are good, relaxed, hanging out near each other with no issue, taking turns playing with the same toy, and other times they are really on edge. Today Bitsy seemed much more upset with Moose than usual when I let him out of his base camp, hissing and growling at him even when he wasn’t that close. This maybe my fault as I tried the “shirt trick” last night — cleaned the baseboards, pet Bitsy with a worn shirt, then Moose, then rubbed down the baseboards to try to establish a more prominent “family scent”. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that and just ended up destroying more familial scent than adding, I don’t know. She was also extra upset when checking out his “base camp” today.
Where before it seemed as though Moose’s confidence couldn’t be shaken, despite the occasional hissing and growling and huffing from Bitsy, he does recently seem to be more insecure and jumpy around her. He will flinch when she comes too close and has even pre-emptively bonked her when she comes close without hissing or growling. Whenever she tries to sniff him lately he makes a sad squeaky noise and recoils/moves away, sometimes with a defensive paw up. I hate that he seems fearful of her all of the sudden after being so unbothered and persistent in trying to win her affection for so long. I had them both playing with a wand toy the other night and everything seemed to be going well and then he just ran up and bonked her on the head randomly, which pissed her off and caused her to stalk him while growling/hissing.
So… with all this in mind I am trying even harder to help them build positive associations with each other. I stopped feeding them meals together because Moose goes pretty bonkers at feeding time which annoys Bitsy, but I am going to start doing that again with the help of the baby gate (he usually jumps the baby gate immediately when I use it, but he won’t if he has food on the side he’s supposed to be on). I can’t feed them churu type treats constantly so am now using their dry food as treats as well (Bitsy hates most treats but fortunately likes her kibble), and will give them a kibble when they are relaxing near each other without issue or complaints. This is a very new approach so I can’t know if it works yet but it seemed to calm them down after a not so desirable interaction earlier. I am going to try out “cat music” too. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Moose has been out in the rest of the apartment with Bitsy a lot most days, with them only separated for long stretches of time while I sleep or when I’m not home.
Omg. I also just realized I unplugged their feliway friends plug-in yesterday morning because I had to leave the house for longer than usual and am just paranoid about stuff like that sometimes, especially since it’s getting low, and I forgot to put it back in when I got home. Maybe it was helping a lot more than I thought it was???? I’m going to observe them with it left off for another day or two so I can decide if picking up more when we see the vet next week is worth it.
Where before it seemed as though Moose’s confidence couldn’t be shaken, despite the occasional hissing and growling and huffing from Bitsy, he does recently seem to be more insecure and jumpy around her. He will flinch when she comes too close and has even pre-emptively bonked her when she comes close without hissing or growling. Whenever she tries to sniff him lately he makes a sad squeaky noise and recoils/moves away, sometimes with a defensive paw up. I hate that he seems fearful of her all of the sudden after being so unbothered and persistent in trying to win her affection for so long. I had them both playing with a wand toy the other night and everything seemed to be going well and then he just ran up and bonked her on the head randomly, which pissed her off and caused her to stalk him while growling/hissing.
So… with all this in mind I am trying even harder to help them build positive associations with each other. I stopped feeding them meals together because Moose goes pretty bonkers at feeding time which annoys Bitsy, but I am going to start doing that again with the help of the baby gate (he usually jumps the baby gate immediately when I use it, but he won’t if he has food on the side he’s supposed to be on). I can’t feed them churu type treats constantly so am now using their dry food as treats as well (Bitsy hates most treats but fortunately likes her kibble), and will give them a kibble when they are relaxing near each other without issue or complaints. This is a very new approach so I can’t know if it works yet but it seemed to calm them down after a not so desirable interaction earlier. I am going to try out “cat music” too. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Moose has been out in the rest of the apartment with Bitsy a lot most days, with them only separated for long stretches of time while I sleep or when I’m not home.
Omg. I also just realized I unplugged their feliway friends plug-in yesterday morning because I had to leave the house for longer than usual and am just paranoid about stuff like that sometimes, especially since it’s getting low, and I forgot to put it back in when I got home. Maybe it was helping a lot more than I thought it was???? I’m going to observe them with it left off for another day or two so I can decide if picking up more when we see the vet next week is worth it.
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