My poor mom is so upset right now...
She has two cats, brothers, both neutered, and formerly ferals...she brought Shiloh home first, and a few weeks later, Smokey joined...
Shiloh prefers downstairs, while Smokey still likes to be upstairs, where he was in a room alone when he first came to mom's house, until reintroductions were made...
Mom went away on vacation, and even though we wene to feed, water, scoop poop, etc...we did not spend ALOT of time there playing...
Not sure what happened, but Smokey is terrified of Shiloh now, and yesteday, had been in hiding behind a curtain in a corner of the hall for three days, mom could not get him to come out, and he would hiss and swipe at her if she got near him...
I went over yesterday and finally enticed him out with a dish of food and water...I dropped some morsels of food within his reach, and he cautiously looked both ways before running out to grab them then back into hiding...
After a while I got him to follow me across the hall to "his" room, and we shut the door...his motor immediately started going and he ate and drank as if he really had not in the three days...
mom is keeping the door shut, Smokey is content in there, but Shiloh is going nuts running up the stairs to that door, then back down again...she also wants to make sure no hidden wounds from a cat fight appear in the way of abcesses since Smokey has long grey hair and no visible signs of injury...but we all know what a single deep claw mark can do...
Sooo...probably next week or so...we start the reintroduction process...again...
Mom is having trouble with her two babies
Re: Mom is having trouble with her two babies
Well, you're on the right track...re-introductions, but is should go fairly smoothly....I wouldn't wait, though, do it now. (providing mom determines there are no wounds).
The stress of late is probably partly culprit, and due to that, it's possible they chased each other and someone got hurt or agitated (possibly even spooked by something else).
I would start with feeding them together (with mom's supervision from a distance)..then engaging them in mild playtime with toys that will divert their interests to the activity rather than each other. They should soon remember they were compatible.
Just my opinion, but sometimes confining one or both cats creates more stress. One of them may feel intimidated, and when released from confinement, may lash out at the other. Most cases resolve when there is little intervention from the human, so the cats can work it out amoung themselves. The intervention should only be when there is an obvious situation where harm to one of them may occur (then a time-out for about 10 minutes should suffice).
The stress of late is probably partly culprit, and due to that, it's possible they chased each other and someone got hurt or agitated (possibly even spooked by something else).
I would start with feeding them together (with mom's supervision from a distance)..then engaging them in mild playtime with toys that will divert their interests to the activity rather than each other. They should soon remember they were compatible.
Just my opinion, but sometimes confining one or both cats creates more stress. One of them may feel intimidated, and when released from confinement, may lash out at the other. Most cases resolve when there is little intervention from the human, so the cats can work it out amoung themselves. The intervention should only be when there is an obvious situation where harm to one of them may occur (then a time-out for about 10 minutes should suffice).
..........Traci
Re: Mom is having trouble with her two babies
Maybe I can get to her house this weekend and we can work on it some...these are the first two cats she has ever had, and I think that when she first brought Smokey home, she kept him in a room too long and he has made it into "his" room and if SHiloh wants to come in, they fight over it...yet, when she brought Shiloh home, he did have to have surgery for a bad abcess and his shoulder was open, so she also had kept him in that same room...I guess it could be confusing for them both...
Good idea about feeding together..I do know that she does keep food and water along with a litter box upstairs as well as downstairs, because Smokey just has not been downstairs at all...
But if we can get Smokey to come downstairs again, into more neutral territory, I think they will soon get along again...I hope...
Good idea about feeding together..I do know that she does keep food and water along with a litter box upstairs as well as downstairs, because Smokey just has not been downstairs at all...
But if we can get Smokey to come downstairs again, into more neutral territory, I think they will soon get along again...I hope...