soloequestrian
Well-Known Member
Cat 1: small black female rescue cat - had been locked in a house with no food and very little human contact before rescue. Have had her 2 years, now in great condition, loves being outdoors, affectionate and playful but not a lap cat. She is still wary of humans she doesn't know.
Cat 2: Bengal male rescue cat - was found, adopted by multi-cat household, got bullied, escaped, lived as stray, lost half bodyweight, eventually caught by rescue centre. He should have gone to a home on his own but I was allowed him because my other cat is very timid and he had been bullied. He was terrified of people when he arrived, now very affectionate and wants cuddles all the time. He is scared of strangers and nervous of us when we stand up, though this is getting better. Have had him for 3 months.
Initially, I swapped smells, Feliway friends was plugged in and then I moved on to letting them see each other either side of a wire mesh. He was friendly, she was nervous but stayed to look at him. As he got more access to the house, I kept them separated by mesh so she could come and go. He got to a point where he looked like he wanted to chase her so I decided to separate them until he had access to outdoors and could get rid of energy.
In hindsight, this was a bad plan - he now thinks that one end of the house is his territory and a few weeks ago when she ventured through his open cat flap, he attacked her. Fur flew but there were no injuries. When outside, he initially seemed friendly to her but she ran from him and he chased her (though not with huge intent), and since then I've seen him chase her (again, fairly half-heartedly) outside.
At the moment, he is shut in a room at night and she has the run of the house - she spends the night on our bed. In the day, he can access half the house and outdoors - he doesn't know how cat flaps work yet, so she has the other half of the house that is safe from him, and access to the outdoors. I am getting her used to a microchip cat flap so I can give her an even safer area.
I would love to find a way to help them get on with each other. I really don't want to rehome either of them - they've both had horrible experiences and even though the female is nervous of the male, she is pretty chilled and happy most of the time. She does seem to have reduced her time spent outdoors but I hope they might evolve some sort of time-share agreement. It's more in the house that is the problem - I have to keep the two ends separate at the moment which isn't great for any of us.
I wondered if anyone has experience of this type of situation and could make suggestions about how to improve it?
Cat 2: Bengal male rescue cat - was found, adopted by multi-cat household, got bullied, escaped, lived as stray, lost half bodyweight, eventually caught by rescue centre. He should have gone to a home on his own but I was allowed him because my other cat is very timid and he had been bullied. He was terrified of people when he arrived, now very affectionate and wants cuddles all the time. He is scared of strangers and nervous of us when we stand up, though this is getting better. Have had him for 3 months.
Initially, I swapped smells, Feliway friends was plugged in and then I moved on to letting them see each other either side of a wire mesh. He was friendly, she was nervous but stayed to look at him. As he got more access to the house, I kept them separated by mesh so she could come and go. He got to a point where he looked like he wanted to chase her so I decided to separate them until he had access to outdoors and could get rid of energy.
In hindsight, this was a bad plan - he now thinks that one end of the house is his territory and a few weeks ago when she ventured through his open cat flap, he attacked her. Fur flew but there were no injuries. When outside, he initially seemed friendly to her but she ran from him and he chased her (though not with huge intent), and since then I've seen him chase her (again, fairly half-heartedly) outside.
At the moment, he is shut in a room at night and she has the run of the house - she spends the night on our bed. In the day, he can access half the house and outdoors - he doesn't know how cat flaps work yet, so she has the other half of the house that is safe from him, and access to the outdoors. I am getting her used to a microchip cat flap so I can give her an even safer area.
I would love to find a way to help them get on with each other. I really don't want to rehome either of them - they've both had horrible experiences and even though the female is nervous of the male, she is pretty chilled and happy most of the time. She does seem to have reduced her time spent outdoors but I hope they might evolve some sort of time-share agreement. It's more in the house that is the problem - I have to keep the two ends separate at the moment which isn't great for any of us.
I wondered if anyone has experience of this type of situation and could make suggestions about how to improve it?
