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Anubis is not integrating well into the household yet and it's very stressful.
He and Tristana can't be in the same space unsupervised, which means one of them has to be locked up at all times. And when I say "unsupervised", they aren't really ready to be in the same room with us either, unless one of them is in a bag, a cage, or a person's arms.
The standard method for introducing cats is to put the new cat in their own room and let them gradually meet the other cats through barriers like baby gates, and this worked as directed with Snookums. But Tristana hissed a few times at him through the bunny gate and then just ran away, and she continued to refuse to be in the same space with him voluntarily and continues still after two weeks.
We realized we were going to have to apply some gentle pressure to let them have any controlled interactions, so I introduced them in two adjacent sightseeing backpacks. Tristana turned out to like being in the sightseeing backpack, so she now sits in one of these in order to be present in the kitchen when Snookums has his insulin injections (because she gets treats when Snookums gets treats for having his blood drawn and taking his insulin injection).
We then brought down a tiny little pink kennel that used to be a bunny home when they were babies and put a cat bed in it and she's been spending a fair amount of time apparently chilling in complete happiness in this kennel in the livingroom with everybody else.
There has been some progress - she hisses at him less readily when Anubis talks to her through the kennel - but she's definitely still not there. And she's made a break for it thinking she could run to the bedroom before he spotted her several times again in the last few days, and still, whenever she does this, he gives chase, and he catches her because he's a muscle machine and she's half his size. They've both got big cuts on their faces now.
So, obviously, Wax also has continued sleeping downstairs on the diningroom floor with Anubis, and that means I'm invariably pinned by two cats most of the night. Also there's now an extra litterbox in the bedroom, because Tristana has to be shut in there regularly.
January was not made for this kind of stress; and on top of all of it, I keep having to leave the house.
Tristana seemed like such a normal kitten, and up until now even the fact that she was unusually afraid of visitors didn't seem THAT weird. That's not that uncommon. But at this point, she's giving the Crazy, bless her dearly-departed little heart, a run for her money in terms of weird cat behavior. ...Though the Crazy did hide entirely in the closet for two weeks when I brought the dog home for the first time, so... maybe she's still ahead. On the other hand, Anubis is a cat who has normal well-socialized cat manners - albeit he comes on a little strong because he's young and eager -, and Tristana was also well socialized (in the same household, even). So refusing to countenance him coming close has got to be a little stranger than the Crazy's admittedly overblown fear of a harmless beagle.
He and Tristana can't be in the same space unsupervised, which means one of them has to be locked up at all times. And when I say "unsupervised", they aren't really ready to be in the same room with us either, unless one of them is in a bag, a cage, or a person's arms.
The standard method for introducing cats is to put the new cat in their own room and let them gradually meet the other cats through barriers like baby gates, and this worked as directed with Snookums. But Tristana hissed a few times at him through the bunny gate and then just ran away, and she continued to refuse to be in the same space with him voluntarily and continues still after two weeks.
We realized we were going to have to apply some gentle pressure to let them have any controlled interactions, so I introduced them in two adjacent sightseeing backpacks. Tristana turned out to like being in the sightseeing backpack, so she now sits in one of these in order to be present in the kitchen when Snookums has his insulin injections (because she gets treats when Snookums gets treats for having his blood drawn and taking his insulin injection).
We then brought down a tiny little pink kennel that used to be a bunny home when they were babies and put a cat bed in it and she's been spending a fair amount of time apparently chilling in complete happiness in this kennel in the livingroom with everybody else.
There has been some progress - she hisses at him less readily when Anubis talks to her through the kennel - but she's definitely still not there. And she's made a break for it thinking she could run to the bedroom before he spotted her several times again in the last few days, and still, whenever she does this, he gives chase, and he catches her because he's a muscle machine and she's half his size. They've both got big cuts on their faces now.
So, obviously, Wax also has continued sleeping downstairs on the diningroom floor with Anubis, and that means I'm invariably pinned by two cats most of the night. Also there's now an extra litterbox in the bedroom, because Tristana has to be shut in there regularly.
January was not made for this kind of stress; and on top of all of it, I keep having to leave the house.
Tristana seemed like such a normal kitten, and up until now even the fact that she was unusually afraid of visitors didn't seem THAT weird. That's not that uncommon. But at this point, she's giving the Crazy, bless her dearly-departed little heart, a run for her money in terms of weird cat behavior. ...Though the Crazy did hide entirely in the closet for two weeks when I brought the dog home for the first time, so... maybe she's still ahead. On the other hand, Anubis is a cat who has normal well-socialized cat manners - albeit he comes on a little strong because he's young and eager -, and Tristana was also well socialized (in the same household, even). So refusing to countenance him coming close has got to be a little stranger than the Crazy's admittedly overblown fear of a harmless beagle.
