New cat - behavior - old cat - I'm confused and worried
Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2021 6:54 pm
Hi everyone!
First post here, hope someone can help me. I'll try to make it short as much as I can but in the same time I need to provide some details.
We already had a cat, almost three years old very sweet and playful exotic shorthair, we decided to give a friend to him since the previous cat, 9 years old, living with us left us time ago for kidney problems and actually we moved in a much bigger house.
This monday I had the chance to get another kitten, same breed, 7 months old. Some info about it:
- For what I understood the cat actually lived in a garden area with other cats, then has been moved to another closed area with other cats
- They fed him with wet and dry food but quite junk-food brands
Following many guides on the net and advices from other people, the first two/three days we left him in a room, my studio, with his dry food, some other wet food, water, some toy, and the litter box.
In these three days the cat was always super afraid of everything, and just passed the time hiding under an armchair or a bookcase. Didn't eat anything at all, didn't drink. But he used the toilet. I'm sure about all of this because I placed cameras in the room and I could check it.
We didn't let the other cat meet him but periodically we tried to interact with him.
After three days, we decided to move it to another room, same setup as before just less places to hide, indeed he decided to be under a desk which as you can imagine is "under a roof" but quite open space. Nothing much different but I saw that in the night that he started browsing the room and checking things, even jumping wherever he could. He also started drinking.
I changed the wet food a lot of times but he didn't eat, just in some cases go around it and scratch the floor around the bowl.
Then I decided to buy the Feliway classic and placed it in the room.
I also spoke to the vet and he suggested to try now with some food close to the junk food he had and actually he started eating it.
After another day we decided to let the cats meet, during playtime. In few words in the beginning the "older" cat was behaving well but a pair of time he hissed at him but nothing happened then...that night he keep on calling and pushing the new cat to play and looks like they did it..until like 2 in the morning. I decided to leave all the rooms of home open at that point and add a Feliway diffuser in the first room he was.
At this point we arrive to the current situation an issues:
- The cat decided to go back to the first room (my studio) and just sit on my chair. Doesn't go anywhere else.
- Or it's a coincidence or the Feliway helped but the cat is like 0% active just pass the whole day on the chair. Doesn't go to the other room to drink, use the toilet or whatever
- Or it's a coincidence or the Feliway made my other cat much less active and willing to move
- Now we can pet him (if we go to him) and give him other food and even play a bit with him with some toys
- At least in the morning but also like a pair of times during the day when I approach it's like it's the first time he sees me and got scared and try to hide, then I call him, try to get closer and it's fine but to me this is weird
- The other day he tried to explore the living room, tried to jump over a furniture, didn't go well got scared, runned all the way back to my studio, now he doesn't want to enter there anymore
So my questions are:
- Do I move back toilet and water to the studio and leave everything open? But I would like him to get used to go to drink and use the toilet where they are now, also to do not confuse the other one.
- Or do I move him to the living room, closing that room, providing water and toilet (cat tree and toys are already there) so he got used to that room too?
- Do I stop using the Feliway and pass to Zylkene? (that helped me with other cats)
- Do I use both?
- Is it a coincidence what happened with my other cat?
These are my main doubts. Honestly my wife says that the cat is already 7 months old and we got lucky with the previous/current cat which was already very self confident and in one day he was browsing the house like a boss but this cat is different and we just need to give time, I'm worried that the cat will be always afraid or has some issues.
Pardon the long mail but I really wanted to give as many details as possible to help with the possible feedback.
Thanks!
First post here, hope someone can help me. I'll try to make it short as much as I can but in the same time I need to provide some details.
We already had a cat, almost three years old very sweet and playful exotic shorthair, we decided to give a friend to him since the previous cat, 9 years old, living with us left us time ago for kidney problems and actually we moved in a much bigger house.
This monday I had the chance to get another kitten, same breed, 7 months old. Some info about it:
- For what I understood the cat actually lived in a garden area with other cats, then has been moved to another closed area with other cats
- They fed him with wet and dry food but quite junk-food brands
Following many guides on the net and advices from other people, the first two/three days we left him in a room, my studio, with his dry food, some other wet food, water, some toy, and the litter box.
In these three days the cat was always super afraid of everything, and just passed the time hiding under an armchair or a bookcase. Didn't eat anything at all, didn't drink. But he used the toilet. I'm sure about all of this because I placed cameras in the room and I could check it.
We didn't let the other cat meet him but periodically we tried to interact with him.
After three days, we decided to move it to another room, same setup as before just less places to hide, indeed he decided to be under a desk which as you can imagine is "under a roof" but quite open space. Nothing much different but I saw that in the night that he started browsing the room and checking things, even jumping wherever he could. He also started drinking.
I changed the wet food a lot of times but he didn't eat, just in some cases go around it and scratch the floor around the bowl.
Then I decided to buy the Feliway classic and placed it in the room.
I also spoke to the vet and he suggested to try now with some food close to the junk food he had and actually he started eating it.
After another day we decided to let the cats meet, during playtime. In few words in the beginning the "older" cat was behaving well but a pair of time he hissed at him but nothing happened then...that night he keep on calling and pushing the new cat to play and looks like they did it..until like 2 in the morning. I decided to leave all the rooms of home open at that point and add a Feliway diffuser in the first room he was.
At this point we arrive to the current situation an issues:
- The cat decided to go back to the first room (my studio) and just sit on my chair. Doesn't go anywhere else.
- Or it's a coincidence or the Feliway helped but the cat is like 0% active just pass the whole day on the chair. Doesn't go to the other room to drink, use the toilet or whatever
- Or it's a coincidence or the Feliway made my other cat much less active and willing to move
- Now we can pet him (if we go to him) and give him other food and even play a bit with him with some toys
- At least in the morning but also like a pair of times during the day when I approach it's like it's the first time he sees me and got scared and try to hide, then I call him, try to get closer and it's fine but to me this is weird
- The other day he tried to explore the living room, tried to jump over a furniture, didn't go well got scared, runned all the way back to my studio, now he doesn't want to enter there anymore
So my questions are:
- Do I move back toilet and water to the studio and leave everything open? But I would like him to get used to go to drink and use the toilet where they are now, also to do not confuse the other one.
- Or do I move him to the living room, closing that room, providing water and toilet (cat tree and toys are already there) so he got used to that room too?
- Do I stop using the Feliway and pass to Zylkene? (that helped me with other cats)
- Do I use both?
- Is it a coincidence what happened with my other cat?
These are my main doubts. Honestly my wife says that the cat is already 7 months old and we got lucky with the previous/current cat which was already very self confident and in one day he was browsing the house like a boss but this cat is different and we just need to give time, I'm worried that the cat will be always afraid or has some issues.
Pardon the long mail but I really wanted to give as many details as possible to help with the possible feedback.
Thanks!