I thought I had found the perfect companion for Little Girl. A six-month-old spayed female, playful and frisky and loving and friendly.
And Little Girl is afraid of her.
I have worked and worked and WORKED with the two cats, trying to get Little Girl to accept the new kitty. And she just won't. Every time the new kitty sees Little Girl, she goes charging after her in play, and Little Girl runs away in fear.
If circumstances were different, I would give this more time. I would give the two cats all the time they needed to get used to each other. But Little Girl has a heart condition, and now she won't even come into the house because she is so frightened of the new kitty, and the temps outside are supposed to hit ninety-five this weekend. I don't know what else to do but take the new kitty back to the shelter. (The shelter, by the way, is working with me on this, and is fine with taking the new kitty back. It is a no-kill shelter, so the new kitty will go back up for adoption until she finds a new home. That does not make this any easier.)
I was going to name her Sideshow Betty.
6 comments:
I love her thumbs. Sorry that it's not working out for you and Betty and Little Girl.
We, too, are groping our way to relocating our second cat, a sweet-tempered huge mostly deaf young Maine Coon. After nine months of trying to make the placement work, we're throwing in the towel. The first cat is just never going to accept the other one and we have to acknowledge (belatedly) that we've bitten off a lot more than we can chew in trying to care adequately for both of them simultaneously. Alley is a lovely animal with a goofy playful personality and perfect for someone (dry food only! how awesome is that?!) but we've pretty much had it with the endless hissing, stress barfing, and dominance-biting. It's not Alley's issue -- sort of sad, but Jane Cat is too aggressive to accept Alley's overtures of friendliness. - bridgett
Nine months?! You poor thing.
The "if only"s are killing me - If only Little Girl was healthy, if only the new kitty was a few months older, if only it wasn't so damn hot outside ...
I'm just heartbroken. And to think of that gorgeous, playful cat going back to the shelter ...
*sob*
I almost hate to say this, since it might only make things worse, but perhaps you could confine the new kitty to her own room for a bit, then install a screen door in that doorway so they could see and smell each other. That's how I got my old (15 years old) cat to accept a rambunctious puppy.
Oh, and that's a beautiful kitty! If you take her back, I'm sure she won't be orphaned long.
Oh, ~~Silk, thanks for the advice -I tried the screen door thing. Even with the new kitty confined, Little Girl STILL won't come in. I tried the catnip thing. I tried the perfume thing. I tried the ignore-the-new cat thing. I've tried everything short of just throwing them in the same room together and letting them sort it out, which I am afraid to do because of Little Girl's heart ...
You are a good Mom.Putting Little Girls needs before your own.
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