4/6/16:
4/2/16:
3/23/16:
3/20/16:
last night Zeva was sitting on her "chair" (it's really Bill's Lazy Boy but she makes him move at night to another chair) and Leo was on the sofa. Zeva was tired from being outside all day and Leo was tired from playing and following us all day. When they are in the same room together they are both curious about each other but I'm not seeing any aggression. We typically sit on the floor with both cats and let Zeva sniff Leo without any restraint. She hisses but doesn't swat at him. Leo will lay on his side and look at her with the most sad eyes you've ever seen. Bill continues to pet Leo so he doesn't jump or run at Zeva and I try to restrain Zeva so she doesn't try to swat Leo. It's a balancing act but I don't want them to get in a fight. I guess I don't know when it's okay to just let them work it out on their own. I had a friend who owned an older cat (female) when he brought in another female. It's took months before they were buddies but now you can't separate them. I don't want to rush things and push either one to aggression. I know the information on introducing a new cats says 2 weeks of gradual introduction. If they are nose to nose and only hissing on Zeva's part should we just let them go and see what happens?
3/19/16:
Because Zeva likes it so much outside she is there most of the day so Leo has free run of the house. We only put him in his room at night or when she comes in for food and pets. He has his pan, scratching post, toys, cat grass (which he seems to like) food and water. I usually spend time with him after I put him in his room at night. I read and pet him until he falls asleep then quietly close the door and I go to bed. He fussed the first night but he's been quiet since then. We have been able to get Leo and Zeva nose to nose (while we each hold them) but Zeva will still hiss at him. We're taking it slow. The only interaction Zeva has had with another cat was a stray that beat her up shortly after we got her. It was a male who climbed over our fence. We keep an eye out now to be sure he doesn't come in the yard when she's out. That may be why she reacts to him negatively. I can only hope she will settle down and learn to accept him. Leo is a typical boy. He's like a bull in a china shop everything is fair game. He jumps, runs, slides along the floor and is pretty much fearless. He's very loving and doing better about biting. I'm sure it's just a kitten thing. We've nicked named him the Flash.
Leo thinks Zeva's cat post is the perfect place to watch our birds3/17/16:
We made it home just fine. Leo cried at first but eventually he settled down. We put him in the reading room with pan, food, water, and toys, We spent the evening sitting in the room with him and playing. He's very affectionate but loves to bite once he gets a hold of you. I heard him crying about 2:30 so I got up and spent some time with him until he went back to sleep. Bill and I spent time with him while we read the paper this morning and now he's roaming the house while Zeva is outside. She doesn't seem to care that he's in the room. She sniffed under the door but that was it. I'm going to alternate him being in the house while she's outside most of the day so he can get used to the house. Right now he's raising a ruckus and seems a little skittish. I'll put him back in his room when Zeva comes in to be fed. I"m sure once he gets used to the house he'll settle down.