Hi All
Id just like some small tips, everything is going reasonably well, except now we're a bit unsure of what to do next.
To recap this is what we have done:
- picked up our new female kitten @ 12 weeks as per norm. - took her straight into the safe room - our 2yr male noticed the smell straight away & stayed outside in his enclosure all day - the 2nd day our 2yr old was coming inside - we purchased a cat pheromone which lasts 1 month, and slowly releases a pheromone that settle's cats down, we hope this would ease the process - we slowly got them used to each others smell - using a face washer with his scent and vise versa - letting the 2yr old smell us after we have played with the kitten and vise versa - 3rd 4th 5th 6th day he was inside and used to her smell, though there has been no visual contact - on the 6th day we let our 2 yr old come inside the safe room while our kitten was in her carry cage - we did this 3 times over the next day or two. - we were pleased with the progress, our 2 yr old seemed calm and interested in the kitten. - on day 7 we let our 2 yr old into the safe room, then opened the cat cage door to let the kitten out if she wished to go out. - the kitten was a pistol and attacked him repeatedly (seemed more playful than genuine!) our 2yr old was running away from her and defending himself non-aggressively. - day 8 we did the same, they seemed to interact great, we were pleased with the progress - mainly at how calm our 2 yr old was. - now we're at day 9 and we let our 2 yr old in the room, he is MUCH more comfortable with her, to the point where he wants to play, he does play quite rough and hes given us humans pretty severe scratches and bits over the years - all playful though - he really does have some power (8+kg) solid.
The problem is, he is now enjoying playing with her, but his play seems way too rough, and our kitten is constantly yelping and running away from him, so the tables have turned and now we worry that they will fight like this often, and perhaps not get along down the track. Also we question when to let her into the rest of the house, as in the safe room there isnt much area for her to get away from him & vise versa which may contribute to the fighting. However, when we have let her out into the main house, she cannot explore as shes constantly defending against our 2 yr olds attacks! Again, i think he is playing with her, but it cant be fun for a kitten to be constantly on edge fearing of another yelping bite from her brother!
Perhaps we're looking into this a bit too much, it might just be play then when they wear each other out it will stop, though i dont want out kitten to be in fear of our 2 yr old because we've let them fight until worn out!!
Does anyone have some advise or experience with this sorta stuff?
We did our homework and have taken the steps recommended by the breeder - and like i said, everything had been going great until this.
Thanks :)
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