Our resident is a 2 year old spayed female named Gertie. She was abandoned at 6 months of age and wound up on our front porch. After 3 months of feeding her outside, my wife and I decided to make her into a full time house cat. She just loves us, but is petrified of any strangers that come into our house.
The newcomer is a 7 month old male that we had neutered 2 weeks ago. I found him hiding under an abandoned car on a job site wearing a collar. He had been left behind by the people who were evicted from the rental house I was working on. His name is Gus. After a trip to the vet, I brought him home and turned him out with Gertie. Big mistake, she was not impressed. Gus just laid there while Gertie kept punching him in the face. I picked up Gus and put him in the spare bedroom. With the help of The Catsite, my wife and I learned about new cat intro. Door closed, feed Gertie close to door, going good. Open door, put gates in between, not going good. Gertie trying to knock over gates to get to Gus. Close door for 2 more weeks. Rubbed sock all over Gus, no problem with sock laying next to Gertie's food. Gertie doing good again, starting to purr, unlike before. Open door again, things going much better. Gertie no longer aggressive towards gate or Gus. Waited 2 more weeks, letting Gertie in Gus room, letting Gus roam house while Gertie sleeping. So today, we decided to let Gus out with Gertie for a short time. Things went good at first. After a few minutes Gertie started getting agitated. She started getting aggressive towards Gus, and he just lays there scared. Before things got to out of hand, I picked him up and put him in the safe room. She did punch him hard twice though before I picked him up. Does anybody have any suggestions that might help Gertie accept Gus, or is it just a waiting game and try again in a couple of weeks.
The newcomer is a 7 month old male that we had neutered 2 weeks ago. I found him hiding under an abandoned car on a job site wearing a collar. He had been left behind by the people who were evicted from the rental house I was working on. His name is Gus. After a trip to the vet, I brought him home and turned him out with Gertie. Big mistake, she was not impressed. Gus just laid there while Gertie kept punching him in the face. I picked up Gus and put him in the spare bedroom. With the help of The Catsite, my wife and I learned about new cat intro. Door closed, feed Gertie close to door, going good. Open door, put gates in between, not going good. Gertie trying to knock over gates to get to Gus. Close door for 2 more weeks. Rubbed sock all over Gus, no problem with sock laying next to Gertie's food. Gertie doing good again, starting to purr, unlike before. Open door again, things going much better. Gertie no longer aggressive towards gate or Gus. Waited 2 more weeks, letting Gertie in Gus room, letting Gus roam house while Gertie sleeping. So today, we decided to let Gus out with Gertie for a short time. Things went good at first. After a few minutes Gertie started getting agitated. She started getting aggressive towards Gus, and he just lays there scared. Before things got to out of hand, I picked him up and put him in the safe room. She did punch him hard twice though before I picked him up. Does anybody have any suggestions that might help Gertie accept Gus, or is it just a waiting game and try again in a couple of weeks.
