Come and Pet the Kitty
We got a new cat Friday.
The old cat is not pleased. She is hissing. Stalking. Hiding.
The new cat just wants to play. She milk treads my scalp as I sleep. She makes a scarf of herself across my throat. She is very loving.
Can anyone give any tips on how to make a cranky old cat and a spunky new cat get along?
posted by Mona Buonanotte @ 7:58 AM
8 comments
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8 Comments:
I don't think you can really make them get along. Make sure they both get plenty of space. There will be conflict, eventually, they'll just define their relationship. Love or hate..whatever.
it takes a little while....
The Eggspurts on Cat Behavior say to keep them in separate rooms with separate food, water and litterboxes until they get curious about each other and then you're supposed to give each an old towel or a blanket. After several more days, your switch the blankets and they get used to each others smells.
I've tried the Eggspurts way. I prefer to just toss them together and holler "Sort it out yourselves!" which has meant that our oldest cat will not longer come in the house.
I have never had any luck with doing this, so i have no idea. Two of our cats hissed at each other for 12 years, until the older one died.
I've always done the "put them together with lots of room" technique. It's worked for the integration of five cats into our Queen Cat's house, over the course of years. Some squabbles are inevitable. *s* Time and patience is all I can suggest.
What I wound up doing after the $50 Feliway diffuser didn't work was, pet one cat. I made sure I got a good face rub or two on my hands with cat 1. Then I pet Cat 2--first spreading my hands all over cat 2's body (to get the smell from cat 1 on cat 2), then scritch around the ears and eventually pick up a couple of face-rubs on my hands again. I repeat a couple times a day.
Things have gotten much quieter here, even tho they're not perfect.
Our cranky older cat stays outside all day, while the kitties romp. We fling the kitties into the girl's room at night and close the door, and the cranky one comes inside, free to roam.
If it doesn't get better in a few months, it's not gonna! Try peting and rubbing your hands on the old one and quickly do that to the kitten and go back and forth, transferring both their scents and yours onto each others so there might be acceptance understood by mixing all the scents.
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