I have searched but haven’t found anything that addresses my situation. I have two older cats with whom I botched the introduction ten years ago. They just never did great but coexisted until something made it terrible and I did the whole thing and successfully reintroduced them with the Jackson Galaxy method, followed by consistent ongoing clicker training. At the end of May I adopted two brothers, one year olds, and figured I would have no problem using that method.
I need to mention that the first four or five weeks with the cats in the house were incredibly emotional and stressful for me - and therefore especially one of my boys who is sensitive and very bonded to me. In a nutshell, my husband believed he was allergic and the new cats just really brought that up - he did have hives and other symptoms. Turned out he was just very sick, allergy testing showed zero allergies. I ended up getting the cats to a point where I let them interact too soon. I had them in a small room and felt I should at least give them access to my cat proof backyard. My older, first cat seemed fine with them but the other one would be aggressive- definitely fear aggression - through windows and screen doors. A friend told me that at some point I should let them start to work it out…
. I ended up finding them a new home but one of the little ones escaped within the first twelve hours! The woman hysterically wanted me to take the other one back, and we decided to keep him for sure and make it work. Luckily the lost kitty returned and so now we have them both back. I adore them and have always wanted more cats, so now I’m doing it all over, and really need to make this work.
Sorry for the long winded post… I’ve had four months of intense emotional and physical stress, so much guilt from three different sides, so I’m working on my own emotional grounding first, I got TheraPet to replace comfort zone, I have been using Rescue remedy for all four and myself (!) and Mimulus and Holly Bach flower remedies for my older two.
I have two questions:
1: when do I interfere IF my older two chase and attack the babies, which they have both done? My oldest seemed fine and then out of the blue, chased one of them quite viciously a couple times ( before I started over.) He again seems unperturbed now, but I don’t think I can trust him! The second oldest always acted really afraid, then became more comfortable and eventually also pretty aggressively chased one of the little ones.
Take two, I have not let them see each other again yet! I’m at the closed door stage and getting my scaredy cat to be closer to the door without hissing. Slow progress but progress.
2. I am now rotating the four around the various areas of the house - should I let the new boys sleep in our bedroom at night? The scaredy cat is the only one of my two older boys ever in there at night - not every night, but it’s his morning ritual to wake me up and we do a little routine that I guess I could find a way to still make happen without him seeing the little ones. Right now they’re always in their safe zone base camp bedroom as soon as we go to bed. I’d like to have our bedroom be equally accessible to all four eventually rather than Rodney’s territory, but maybe that’s going to aggravate his jealousy/ territorial anxiety? Should I wait till they’re good everywhere else? The new boys do get to be in there during the day.
Do you think the Jackson Galaxy remedies would work better than what I’m now using, Mimulus and Holly, be worth investing in?
Any suggestions will be very much appreciated, I’m committed to trying absolutely anything at this point to make this work. Even if I have to always separate them when we’re not home…
Thank you!
@Dr. Jeff , @Dr. Jean Hofve, @Dr. Christina
I need to mention that the first four or five weeks with the cats in the house were incredibly emotional and stressful for me - and therefore especially one of my boys who is sensitive and very bonded to me. In a nutshell, my husband believed he was allergic and the new cats just really brought that up - he did have hives and other symptoms. Turned out he was just very sick, allergy testing showed zero allergies. I ended up getting the cats to a point where I let them interact too soon. I had them in a small room and felt I should at least give them access to my cat proof backyard. My older, first cat seemed fine with them but the other one would be aggressive- definitely fear aggression - through windows and screen doors. A friend told me that at some point I should let them start to work it out…
. I ended up finding them a new home but one of the little ones escaped within the first twelve hours! The woman hysterically wanted me to take the other one back, and we decided to keep him for sure and make it work. Luckily the lost kitty returned and so now we have them both back. I adore them and have always wanted more cats, so now I’m doing it all over, and really need to make this work.
Sorry for the long winded post… I’ve had four months of intense emotional and physical stress, so much guilt from three different sides, so I’m working on my own emotional grounding first, I got TheraPet to replace comfort zone, I have been using Rescue remedy for all four and myself (!) and Mimulus and Holly Bach flower remedies for my older two.
I have two questions:
1: when do I interfere IF my older two chase and attack the babies, which they have both done? My oldest seemed fine and then out of the blue, chased one of them quite viciously a couple times ( before I started over.) He again seems unperturbed now, but I don’t think I can trust him! The second oldest always acted really afraid, then became more comfortable and eventually also pretty aggressively chased one of the little ones.
Take two, I have not let them see each other again yet! I’m at the closed door stage and getting my scaredy cat to be closer to the door without hissing. Slow progress but progress.
2. I am now rotating the four around the various areas of the house - should I let the new boys sleep in our bedroom at night? The scaredy cat is the only one of my two older boys ever in there at night - not every night, but it’s his morning ritual to wake me up and we do a little routine that I guess I could find a way to still make happen without him seeing the little ones. Right now they’re always in their safe zone base camp bedroom as soon as we go to bed. I’d like to have our bedroom be equally accessible to all four eventually rather than Rodney’s territory, but maybe that’s going to aggravate his jealousy/ territorial anxiety? Should I wait till they’re good everywhere else? The new boys do get to be in there during the day.
Do you think the Jackson Galaxy remedies would work better than what I’m now using, Mimulus and Holly, be worth investing in?
Any suggestions will be very much appreciated, I’m committed to trying absolutely anything at this point to make this work. Even if I have to always separate them when we’re not home…
Thank you!
@Dr. Jeff , @Dr. Jean Hofve, @Dr. Christina
