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#1
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Tessie update
Yesterday I left the craftroom door open during the afternoon so that
Tessie and the girls could interact and get to know each other better... Tessie is a very slow learner about some things! Silver cornered her three times because she (Tessie) didn't back off when she was hissed at! Silver cornered Tessie in their bathroom because she caught Tessie eating their food... Tessie ended up hiding behind the toilet with Silver and Scouty sitting in the doorway bristling at her. I picked her up and took her back to the craftroom but five minutes later she was out in the livingroom again getting into trouble. That time Silver cornered her under the stepstool... it was kind of funny in a way - Tessie was crouching underneath the stool and Silver jumped on top and sat there bristling and hissing and occasionally swatting at Tessie. I called Silver away and gave her a kitty treat to distract her, and she ate it and then went straight back to the stool! I had to go over there and physically remove Tessie to the craftroom... and lastly, Silver came into the craftroom and started sniffing around the box, and Tessie went over and hissed at her, so Silver swatted at her and chased her under the cat platform. I decided that enough was enough and told Silver to go away and I closed the door... Tessie does NOT know what a kitty treat is. I've tried her with four different kinds and she just sniffs at them and says 'that's not food'... but she goes NUTS over human food and tries to steal anything that she comes near. It doesn't matter what it is - if it's food that Meowmie is eating it must be good. I have to keep putting her down on the floor and saying 'no Tessie' and she just jumps right back up and tries again. She gets quite aggressive about it too, grabbing at my food and trying to steal it! This morning when I opened the craftroom door to go in Tessie ran out, straight into Silver... Silver sniffed at her rear and then Tessie ran away from her back to the craftroom, so maybe there is more progress coming. Silver came into the room and had a staring contest with Tessie, and Silver looked away first! And then Scouty came into the room and hissed and growled at Tessie, but she came back later when Tessie was lying on the dresser and sniffed around the room without any sign of hostility, including rearing up against the dresser and sniffing at Tessie's tail. Now I'm on John's computer with the craftroom door closed, and Scouty and Silver are both lying on the bed washing and seeming quite content... |
#2
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Tessie update
That all sounds very positive. I'm sure the hissing will lessen as
time goes on, and they will become good friends. Kate Owned by Fudge, Caramel & Meg Pictures: http://www.geocities.com/kate_dunn/miaow.html |
#3
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Tessie update
jaggath wrote: Silver cornered her three times because she (Tessie) didn't back off when she was hissed at! Silver cornered Tessie in their bathroom because she caught Tessie eating their food... Tessie ended up hiding behind the toilet with Silver and Scouty sitting in the doorway bristling at her. I picked her up and took her back to the craftroom but five minutes later she was out in the livingroom again getting into trouble. That time Silver cornered her under the stepstool... it was kind of funny in a way - Tessie was crouching underneath the stool and Silver jumped on top and sat there bristling and hissing and occasionally swatting at Tessie. I called Silver away and gave her a kitty treat to distract her, and she ate it and then went straight back to the stool! I had to go over there and physically remove Tessie to the craftroom... and lastly, Silver came into the craftroom and started sniffing around the box, and Tessie went over and hissed at her, so Silver swatted at her and chased her under the cat platform snipped Karen, part of the reason for the gradual process is not only to ease introductions for Scouty and Silver, but for Tessie also. You don't want her to feel terrorized. I'm writing this because I was taking in cats long before I had the benefit of advice of others who were experienced at integrating, and I made every mistake in the book. One cat in particular really illustrates this. I thought because the new cat had pretty well learned to stay out of the path of the existing cats, (because he learned they'd beat him up if he got too close)...things were fairly peaceful. Until the new cat started pooping under the dining room table. With the tablecloth hanging down, it was a secure place for him. He had stopped using the litterbox because, a cat feels the most vulnerable when squatting in the box, and he was too afraid of being attacked. So, it is very important, if you plan on keeping Tessie as a part of your family, that Scouty and Silver have a chance to get completely accustomed to her and accept her, not just that they intimidate her by confrontation, or teach her to run from them. Good luck. I really hope this works out. Sherry |
#4
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Tessie update
jaggath wrote:
Yesterday I left the craftroom door open during the afternoon so that Tessie and the girls could interact and get to know each other better... Tessie is a very slow learner about some things! Silver cornered her three times because she (Tessie) didn't back off when she was hissed at! snip This morning when I opened the craftroom door to go in Tessie ran out, straight into Silver... Silver sniffed at her rear and then Tessie ran away from her back to the craftroom, so maybe there is more progress coming. Silver came into the room and had a staring contest with Tessie, and Silver looked away first! And then Scouty came into the room and hissed and growled at Tessie, but she came back later when Tessie was lying on the dresser and sniffed around the room without any sign of hostility, including rearing up against the dresser and sniffing at Tessie's tail. Now I'm on John's computer with the craftroom door closed, and Scouty and Silver are both lying on the bed washing and seeming quite content... That sounds great! Continued integration purrs and best wishes, Polonca and Soncek |
#5
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Tessie update
"jaggath" wrote in message ... Yesterday I left the craftroom door open during the afternoon so that Tessie and the girls could interact and get to know each other better... Tessie is a very slow learner about some things! Silver cornered her three times because she (Tessie) didn't back off when she was hissed at! Silver cornered Tessie in their bathroom because she caught Tessie eating their food... snip Karen, This is the quickest way to ruin this introduction and result in you having to find a new home for Tessie. If you want to be successful, you must never allow aggression to form among the cats - you must never allow your resident cats to chase Tessie down and attack her. I don't understand why you are ignoring the advice that many of us have given over and over. It is vital that an introduction be made with great care and that your cats NEVER be permitted to have aggressive interaction. A few people will say to just let cats get together, but that is a recipe for disaster in cases like yours. You have already seen the results of trying to bring the cats together too quickly, and you have actually cost yourself extra time and work by not taking this slowly, step-by-step. You need to be very careful when entering and exiting Tessie's room to ensure that the cats do not slip past the door and get together too quickly. I posted a link earlier describing my experiences when I went through the introduction process with Holly and Duffy. I am going to include the entire description here, in case you did not see it at that time. I do want to emphasize that it is not too late for you to succeed with Tessie, Silver, and Scouty. I really think you are going too fast; you *must* proceed slowly and not try to set an artificial timetable for this process. After all, what's the rush? You have the rest of Tessie's life, and several weeks (or more) is not too much to invest. Your situation actually reminds me of Holly. As you will see in this message, Holly was so aggressive that we called her "the black tornado." I was afraid that she never would accept any other cat in our home. However, Holly and Duffy are now good friends. It took a full six weeks to complete the introduction, and it was definitely time well-spent. Here is the original message: Holly had been my "only child" for seven years and was used to being spoiled and pampered. She also had shown a real dislike for other cats - so much so that we called her the "black tornado" because she would immediately attack any cat on sight. She became especially aggressive if another cat was anywhere close to me. I did not plan on adopting another cat, so Holly only came into contact with others when we visited my sister in another state. Then I saw Duffy's picture on Petfinder. He is blind and his picture just tore at my heart. He had been at the shelter for several months, and I knew that he probably would not survive once kitten season arrives and the shelter becomes overcrowded. So, I decided to adopt Duffy and do whatever I could to bring the two cats together. My two cats now get along together fine, but they were brought together very slowly and cautiously. The difference is that Duffy was considerably older than your kitten (estimated to be 3-5 years old at the time of adoption), but there appear to also be a number of similarities in our situations. The first thing to be aware of is that it is important to take things very slow and proceed with caution - do not try to "rush" anything. In my case, this meant that it took a full 6 weeks from the day I adopted Duffy until both cats had the full use of the house and were "together" throughout the day. I set up a bedroom just for Duffy, partly to give him time to learn his way around and partly to give Holly time to adjust. I arranged for the adoption on a Tuesday and picked up Duffy two or three days later. In the meantime, I set up three plug-in Feliway diffusers (one in the room that would be "Duffy's room" for awhile, one in the hallway outside Duffy's room where Holly would walk by the door to Duffy's room, and one in the living area where Holly spends a large part of the day). If you don't have a Feliway diffuser, it would be money well spent to get a couple of them. Feliway is used for behavior modification and can be very useful in reducing stress. Incidentally, I bought my Feliway from ValleyVet (www.valleyvet.com). They have free shipping, which saves significantly on the cost. I have also seen some good reports from people who order from www.petguys.com. Do not get the one that says "with D.A.P." because that formulation is for dogs. Duffy learned his way around his new room very quickly. Holly did a bit of hissing and growling outside his door, but it was pretty mild - none of the "vicious" sounds she made in the past, and this was really pretty normal for an "only child" who suddenly has a sibling in her home. I spent a great deal of time with Duffy, and I alternated nights so that one night I would sleep in my regular bed where Holly could join me and the next night I would sleep in Duffy's room. I also left a radio in Duffy's room, tuned to a station with classical or "soft" (soothing) music when he was left alone. I made sure that Holly got lots and lots of love and attention through all of this. Every time I left Duffy's room, I gave Holly an excessive amount of love and attention. I wanted her to know that she was not going to be displaced in my affections. After a week, a friend located a damaged unfinished door. He cut a large square out of the bottom of the door and covered it with metal mesh (actually, the type of grill that is often mounted on the bottom of screen doors to protect them from damage - sturdy and smooth, with no rough edges). He temporarily replaced the bedroom door with the new screened door so that Holly and Duffy could get up-close without any danger to either of them. He removed the hardware (hinges and doorknob) from the permanent door and mounted them on the temporary door, a process that was later reversed when we replaced the permanent door. This worked well, but an inexpensive screen door could be used for this same purpose. In fact, Megan has done this a number of times, and she spends less than $20.00 by buying a very cheap screen door and using the hardware from the permanent door for this purpose. Duffy was eager to get together with Holly, but Holly wasn't at all sure about the situation. She gradually began to show some interest and would often rest outside the door; but she did not seem to be at all upset - very different from previous attempts to introduce Holly to other cats. A couple of days after the door was installed, I began to leave the door open for a short time each evening, and gradually increased it to 2-3 hours each evening. During this period, I kept Holly in a separate room - I still had not brought them together in the same room. Duffy was quite adventuresome and quickly learned his way around the house. This also distributed his scent, which gave Holly time to become adjusted to the scent before I tried to bring them together. Next, I placed tuna on two ends of a long platter and slipped it under the door so the two cats could eat "together." The idea was to place a plate with special-treat food under the door (with food on each side of the door) so the cats would learn to associate something "good" with being in close proximity when they ate the treats. Be sure to keep this in mind when you install the screen door because you should cut enough off the bottom (about 2 inches or a little more) so the platter can be slipped underneath - and also so the two cat can eventually play "pawsies" together under the door, as mine did. Eventually, I began to give Duffy the run of the house along with Holly, but only under close supervision. I gradually increased the amount of time the two were together, and soon didn't need to supervise them. However, I did not leave them alone in the house. I was careful to give Holly lots of extra love and attention any time I had been playing with Duffy - I didn't want to cause feelings of sibling rivalry. After about five weeks into this process, I had a week of vacation. This was the ideal time to let them really get to know each other. Throughout the week, I gave them more and more time together - first all day, then both day and night. By the time we approached the sixth week, both cats had the full run of the house at all times, and then I began to leave the house for short periods of time (first only an hour at a time, then would go back to check on them). By the end of that week, they were together at all times. This very slow, gradual transition has really paid off. My two furbabies are now very comfortable together. They are usually both in the same room, they frequently play together, and there is a real sense of companionship between the two of them. They always eat together with no problems and sometimes even share the same bowl. It took several months before they reached this truly companionable stage, but they got along well enough for me to call it a "success" after 6 or 8 weeks. I hope this might give you a few ideas for your cats. Please let me re-emphasize this point: take it very slow, and don't try to rush things. Whenever you think it's time to move to the next step, you should probably stop and wait it out for another week. It took about 6 weeks for us to work through the entire process. I "thought" I going slow when I tried to introduce Holly to my sister's cats some time ago (we took about two weeks), but that was a disaster and led to the "black tornado" references. The difference this time has been remarkable. Friends who knew how Holly had reacted in the past really could hardly believe it. They were sure that it was never going to be possible to place Holly with any other cat. I have posted a "pictorial history"on a friend's web site showing our progress, including pictures of the temporary door that helped so much. If you would like to see it, go to this location: http://tinyurl.com/6amr. There are also some later pictures in a second album that shows the progress we have made: http://tinyurl.com/8y56. MaryL |
#6
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Tessie update
MaryL -out-the-litter wrote:
This is the quickest way to ruin this introduction and result in you having to find a new home for Tessie. If you want to be successful, you must never allow aggression to form among the cats - you must never allow your resident cats to chase Tessie down and attack her. I don't understand why you are ignoring the advice that many of us have given over and over. It is vital that an introduction be made with great care and that your cats NEVER be permitted to have aggressive interaction. I agree - what is the rush? It's important to keep them separate for as long as it takes for them to be used to each other. And it is possible to keep cats from slipping through a door. I used to deal with it all the time with Smudge, who tried to get out the door every time I opened it. (I'm not exactly a waif either, btw!) You have a great opportunity here to give them all the time they need to have a peaceful integration. Keep at it, and you'll be glad you did. Joyce |
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