I have a one year old Himalayan, his name is Sydney, Iam getting another Himalayan tomorrow and she is eight years old. I am wondering if any-one has any tips on how I can make them get along. I know there is quite an age gap but I didn't want another kitten. I hope I didn'tmake a mistake and I hope Syd dosn't end up hating me!!
Answers:
You aren't making a mistake, but I must tell you, he will hate you for a bit! Getting an older cat is actually easier to introduce than another kitten. And a one year old cat and an 8 year old cat are pretty much the same thing.
I had a male who was about a year old, and I thought he needed a friend, so I brought another 1yr old female home! Well, he went from being super demanding to ignoring me completely for a few days! these are a few things that helped them though.
I kept her in her own room for a few days, with a radio on, so she got settled in, but was used to noise also. Go in and stroke her and play with her, then approach your boy and stroke him so that their smells get mixed up. I've also read you can put a dab of vanilla on both of their noses, so they think they both smell the same, but I didn't do this.
Ok, now you want them to see each other. First off, if you leave pellets out for your boy during the day, remove those, to heighten his appetite, then, when it's dinner, feed them in the same room, but on opposite sides. As he'll be feeling peckish, he should sort of ignore her and eat. What this does is it associates a pleasurable activity, eating, with the impostor. Do this for a couple of days, bringing the bowls ever closer. I would say after about a week , you can just leave the doors open and see how they go. A week also gives her enough time to settle in and understand that it's her home too.
Make sure both of them have had their nails trimmed, as there will be all out fighting balls of cat occasionally, which will eventually reduce to them play-fighting (with fighting still being a major component) right down to just playing! It took my kitties about 2 weeks before they were pretty much tolerating each other, and a further two weeks before they were sleeping with each other - mind you, if he saw me, he would jump up and pretend he wasn't fraternising with the enemy, now, he miaows forlornely if he doesn't know where she is!
When they were fighting and it looked quite bad, I would just make a loud hissing noise, and it would usually give them both a fright and they would run off in opposite directions.
also, if your boy is used to sleeping with you, keep this sacred for him, as this can become his special time with you. When it's bedtime, put her back in her room to sleep. He then gets some alone time with you, which he will appreciate! I actually kept her sleeping in the spare room for the last year, its only recently that I've let her out (I was worried that they would run madly up and down the house at night) as it turns out, they are now both so used to how they sleep, they don't run around at night - my boy sleeps on the bed, which she doesn't enjoy, coz there is too much movement, and she happily sleeps on the couch till morning when she comes to wake us up! It's worked out well!
You are going to have loads of fun, two kittes are better than TV!
give them space and time do not force it introduce them and it should not take but a week to see them getting use to each other
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