CabrioGirl
January 8th 09, 06:55 PM
Some background. In March 2007, my now-husband moved into my house
with his 4-year old male cat. With my 10-year-old male cat already
living here, we did cat introductions over a period of 2 months by the
book, and it paid off. They got along well, grooming each other and
in general staying together in the house throughout the day. There
would be the occasional scuffle, but it would be mostly play and
nothing serious.
A few days ago we took my husband's cat to the vet as he had been
urinating outside of the litterbox for a few days and walked in a
hunched position indicating he was in pain. The vet discovered he had
a rather large (1 cm square) bladder stone and it was removed via
surgery yesterday. We brought him home last night. From the start of
his return, my kitty has been hissing at him. We understand he may
smell funny to my kitty, but would like to keep him to minimal
discomfort while he recovers (he'll experience some pain for another
day or two) and he does experience some distress when his old friend/
step-brother hisses at him. Today, my kitty has been growling at
him. This worsens when I pay attention to the other kitty. While I
understand this to an extent, I can't ignore my husband's kitty all
day long when he's recovering from surgery and needs some TLC. I'm
not ignoring my kitty by any means and have been giving him a lot of
love as well. My giving his kitty attention was never an issue
before.
My question is - how do we react when my kitty hisses or growls at his
kitty? Should we ignore it? Reprimand him? Give him attention (this
doesn't seem right)?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Kitty Momma
with his 4-year old male cat. With my 10-year-old male cat already
living here, we did cat introductions over a period of 2 months by the
book, and it paid off. They got along well, grooming each other and
in general staying together in the house throughout the day. There
would be the occasional scuffle, but it would be mostly play and
nothing serious.
A few days ago we took my husband's cat to the vet as he had been
urinating outside of the litterbox for a few days and walked in a
hunched position indicating he was in pain. The vet discovered he had
a rather large (1 cm square) bladder stone and it was removed via
surgery yesterday. We brought him home last night. From the start of
his return, my kitty has been hissing at him. We understand he may
smell funny to my kitty, but would like to keep him to minimal
discomfort while he recovers (he'll experience some pain for another
day or two) and he does experience some distress when his old friend/
step-brother hisses at him. Today, my kitty has been growling at
him. This worsens when I pay attention to the other kitty. While I
understand this to an extent, I can't ignore my husband's kitty all
day long when he's recovering from surgery and needs some TLC. I'm
not ignoring my kitty by any means and have been giving him a lot of
love as well. My giving his kitty attention was never an issue
before.
My question is - how do we react when my kitty hisses or growls at his
kitty? Should we ignore it? Reprimand him? Give him attention (this
doesn't seem right)?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Kitty Momma