ashleyweaver02
09-22-2003, 12:43 PM
I have a cat named Shadow, who is VERY sweet, male DLH, black neutered cat, was declawed when we found him as a stray but has VERY strong teeth. Our vet has told us that it is possible he has some maine coone in him. He follows us everywhere and has lots of behaviors like a dog. He usually goes outside during the day unless the weather is not good.
Recently, we kept a cat for a friend that went on vacation and the cat stayed at our home. Shadow followed him around and just wanted to sniff him, and the other cat wanted nothing to do with him, hissing when Shadow got too close. Shadow never hissed back. This led us to believe that Shadow MIGHT want a friend. We had discussed this prior to keeping the friends cat so this kind of confirmed our decision.
So we adopted a cat from our local shelter, Topper is his name, and he likes to stalk Shadow and then attack him :(
He is a Maine Coone mix, long hair, neutered, clawed in front and back. We kept them both separated for about a week with a towel under the door so neither could hiss at the other, etc etc.
After about a week we let them see each other from a distance. Shadow surprisingly hissed at Topper. Topper just barely peeked his head out and let out a soft MEOW (as in...please just be my friend) :). This happened several times. We then tried the tuna trick. We put tuna on each side of the door for each cat so they could associate positive thoughts. Topper was eating his tuna and Shadow came up to the door and hissed (uninterested in the tuna). So we left them apart again. We would let them out while we were there to supervise. They seemed to only hiss at each other when we would pay attention. Once we found them sleeping together (not touching, but close) so we thought maybe this was a good thing.
Shadow always sleeps in our room with the door closed, so we would let Topper roam at night while Shadow slept. ABout the third night (after the week of separation), Shadow wanted out in the middle of the night so we let him out thinking it would be okay since we wouldnt be down there for them to "put on their show". BAD idea. Less than a minute later we heard the cat fight. So went downstairs and broke up the fight, separating them again. When we brought Shadow back up he was mad at us and decided to sleep in the closet for the night. The next morning we tried to pick him up and he let out this horrible MEOW, as in he was in major pain and was dying. When he walked his tail would hang kind of like a cows tail, and he just looked really tired and worn out. After it didnt get better by the next day we took him in to the vet. They found an abscess wound on his back and puncture marks on his sides (they said it looked like he tried to get away). THey had to shave the area where the bite was and he was not very happy about that. They had to give him some kind of shot and he has been on antibiotics (amoxicillin) until it runs out, the wound is slowly starting to not produce so much puss from the infection.
Shadow is now very frightened by this cat (understandably so). He won't come in from outside unless we pick him up and show him it is okay. He also won't go downstairs in the morning without us carrying him and showing him it is okay. Although was the first day he did, very slow and cautious.
How should we go about re-introducing them? I am afraid Shadow is so terrified of him that this might not work. I really would hate to have to take Topper back as I have bonded with him. We have had him now for about 2 weeks, so this has all been within a matter of 2 weeks.
Any advice you have would be appreciated.
I have ordered some "Flower Remedy" stuff from a website but still waiting for it to come in, if anyone knows anything about how those work please advise :) THANKS and SO sorry for the long post!
Recently, we kept a cat for a friend that went on vacation and the cat stayed at our home. Shadow followed him around and just wanted to sniff him, and the other cat wanted nothing to do with him, hissing when Shadow got too close. Shadow never hissed back. This led us to believe that Shadow MIGHT want a friend. We had discussed this prior to keeping the friends cat so this kind of confirmed our decision.
So we adopted a cat from our local shelter, Topper is his name, and he likes to stalk Shadow and then attack him :(
He is a Maine Coone mix, long hair, neutered, clawed in front and back. We kept them both separated for about a week with a towel under the door so neither could hiss at the other, etc etc.
After about a week we let them see each other from a distance. Shadow surprisingly hissed at Topper. Topper just barely peeked his head out and let out a soft MEOW (as in...please just be my friend) :). This happened several times. We then tried the tuna trick. We put tuna on each side of the door for each cat so they could associate positive thoughts. Topper was eating his tuna and Shadow came up to the door and hissed (uninterested in the tuna). So we left them apart again. We would let them out while we were there to supervise. They seemed to only hiss at each other when we would pay attention. Once we found them sleeping together (not touching, but close) so we thought maybe this was a good thing.
Shadow always sleeps in our room with the door closed, so we would let Topper roam at night while Shadow slept. ABout the third night (after the week of separation), Shadow wanted out in the middle of the night so we let him out thinking it would be okay since we wouldnt be down there for them to "put on their show". BAD idea. Less than a minute later we heard the cat fight. So went downstairs and broke up the fight, separating them again. When we brought Shadow back up he was mad at us and decided to sleep in the closet for the night. The next morning we tried to pick him up and he let out this horrible MEOW, as in he was in major pain and was dying. When he walked his tail would hang kind of like a cows tail, and he just looked really tired and worn out. After it didnt get better by the next day we took him in to the vet. They found an abscess wound on his back and puncture marks on his sides (they said it looked like he tried to get away). THey had to shave the area where the bite was and he was not very happy about that. They had to give him some kind of shot and he has been on antibiotics (amoxicillin) until it runs out, the wound is slowly starting to not produce so much puss from the infection.
Shadow is now very frightened by this cat (understandably so). He won't come in from outside unless we pick him up and show him it is okay. He also won't go downstairs in the morning without us carrying him and showing him it is okay. Although was the first day he did, very slow and cautious.
How should we go about re-introducing them? I am afraid Shadow is so terrified of him that this might not work. I really would hate to have to take Topper back as I have bonded with him. We have had him now for about 2 weeks, so this has all been within a matter of 2 weeks.
Any advice you have would be appreciated.
I have ordered some "Flower Remedy" stuff from a website but still waiting for it to come in, if anyone knows anything about how those work please advise :) THANKS and SO sorry for the long post!