Okay, a bit of background first that helps this make more sense. Our 6yr old male Oskar was a "garbage can kitty". He was rescued from a dumpster after (the rescue is assuming) he was attacked by a dog as a small kitten, before someone knocked him on the head and tossed him into a dumpster to die. A good samaritan heard his cries and took him to a local vet. Vet treated and saved him, but he was left with some form of brain damage accordingly. He functions at a reasonable level, albeit a very instinctual one. We adopted him at about 12 weeks of age.
Enter Bastet who became his very best buddy for a few months. We finally had her spayed at 10m of age as we simply couldn't handle the caterwauling any longer(wanted to let her get to a year so she could physically mature, as she had NO chance to get outside). They were very strongly bonded, and where you saw one, you saw the other.
Her spay was 2 days ago(she is healing well). We brought her home with a cone, and his first reaction was to hiss at her and smack her. As she didn't tolerate the cone well, we put a onsie on her. Again same reaction from Oskar. She since learned how to slip out of the onsie very quickly even though it was snug. He approached her nose to nose, but she flinched back, hissed at him. Now? It is like having 2 strange cats in the house. He doesn't seem to recognize her, and she has learned to be afraid of him
Again, I am looking for ideas to help them "get to know" each other again. Play right now is out for a few days until she heals. We have NO space to keep them separated either. Do you think this will correct itself over time? Is there anything I can do to help further this along faster? They are both acting absolutely heartbroken over having lost their bonded friend.
Enter Bastet who became his very best buddy for a few months. We finally had her spayed at 10m of age as we simply couldn't handle the caterwauling any longer(wanted to let her get to a year so she could physically mature, as she had NO chance to get outside). They were very strongly bonded, and where you saw one, you saw the other.
Her spay was 2 days ago(she is healing well). We brought her home with a cone, and his first reaction was to hiss at her and smack her. As she didn't tolerate the cone well, we put a onsie on her. Again same reaction from Oskar. She since learned how to slip out of the onsie very quickly even though it was snug. He approached her nose to nose, but she flinched back, hissed at him. Now? It is like having 2 strange cats in the house. He doesn't seem to recognize her, and she has learned to be afraid of him
Again, I am looking for ideas to help them "get to know" each other again. Play right now is out for a few days until she heals. We have NO space to keep them separated either. Do you think this will correct itself over time? Is there anything I can do to help further this along faster? They are both acting absolutely heartbroken over having lost their bonded friend.