'old' cat fearful of new cat - advice please!

spookylukey

Have a look at this link....

http://wizz-catz.co.uk/introducing.html

It is from a cat behaviouralist who runs her own rescue and is top advice. It is VERY early days yet and can take weeks to successfully introduce cats to each other, hope Norman and his little sister are friends soon.

Edited to add:

Forgot to say about Feliway http://www.feliway.uk.com/feliway_uk.nsf/Page?OpenForm It comes in a spray or a plug in. You can get it from the vets but it is far cheaper online, lots of places will sell it but I always use https://www.vetuk.co.uk

joggyb

thank you spookylukey and oldandhappy - it's all helping to reassure us that we just need to give the whole process as much time as we can and to try whatever it takes until things start looking up...

A small breakthrough today - our old cat came downstairs (though not for her breakfast), and when we opened the kitchen door to go and feed Norman the newbie, she didn't run away. We then closed the door a little so they could see and sniff each other without being able to bash each other - and our old cat stayed around for a few seconds to have a sniff and a look before beating a retreat. There was no hissing or spitting, or any hostility at all.

So that's all good - but we still need to work on the old cat's fear. She hasn't been back downstairs since early morning.

January_Embers

That sounds very promising

joggyb

it's one step forward, one step back

older cat didn't come downstairs for her lunch - I had to take it up to her, and had to entice her with a few catnip treats. She's now retreated to the very top of the house.

oh dear. We were getting our hopes after this morning. Now it doesn't look so good again.

louisdog

It's bound to take time though, and as long as she is safe and secure upstairs, she's probably quite happy. It could be worse, you could have got a puppy ;-) Cats are funny things, it tales them a while to adjust to new things.

January_Embers

louisdog wrote: »

It could be worse, you could have got a puppy ;-)

We are about to do this - will have to see how it goes!

louisdog

Ha, good luck with it what sort of puppy? We have only ever brought kittens into our household with existing dog(s) but my parents' old cat learned to tolerate our two dogs pretty quickly when we visited, and in her last years she loved them and went to them for fuss and attention, rubbing around their legs! One of my cats loves our dogs more than he loves us!

HelzBelz

You're old cat is probably a little miffed because Norman has got HER kitchen, when you fed her in the lounge before it wasn't to let someone elso on her turf. One of mine (Dom) was like this when I brought home a stray 5 month old kitten (Ziggy), she wouldn't come down from the top of the wardrobe for a week, some people say even now that she's scared of Ziggy, but it's more annoyance that she's wasting Dom oxygen.

Try carrying your old cat downstairs and while hubby pits the cat food out just stand cuddlingg her in the kitchen, it'll keep them far enough apart with you holding her and let her know that she's not lost her kitchen, if she's anything like mine she'll see it as a "f*** you Norman I'm getting cuddles in my kitchen and your not" with ours they still don't really get on (5 years later) but Dom just gives Ziggy a bat with her paw and a growl if she starts thinking she's boss.

If they haven't seriouly tried to kill or maim each other yet they'll probably get used to each other, but taking old cats food uptairs to her might cause you more trouble in the long run as she might start liking the idea of waitress service, you'd be better carrying her to the food instead of the other way round just to show her that she's not in charge of the house you are (yeah, like a cat's going to believe that:rotfl: )

Good Luck

joggyb

A small breakthrough this morning - old cat came downstairs for her breakfast, without having to be dragged/carried!

Now back upstairs again, but hopefully it's another step in the right direction.

Thanks, HelzBelz - I think the point you made in your first sentence is spot-on. Hadn't quite thought of it like that.

We'll try a version of your idea - only problem is that our old cat doesn't like being carried or held, and never has, so we'll have to find another way...

Thanks again!

mariauk

louisdog wrote: »

Ha, good luck with it what sort of puppy? We have only ever brought kittens into our household with existing dog(s) but my parents' old cat learned to tolerate our two dogs pretty quickly when we visited, and in her last years she loved them and went to them for fuss and attention, rubbing around their legs! One of my cats loves our dogs more than he loves us!

This little (and growing rapidly) bundle of mischief,

She is a staffy.
All she wants to do is sit next to the cat but because she always runs at her and barks if she takes no notice, She is making life even more difficult. If she sits still the cat just ignores her