[ospunkyo]

Last evening when I got home, I discovered the door to Hobochangba's (our new cat) base camp room WIDE open. He was somewhere loose in the house 8O He hadn't yet met our resident cat, Pfeffa, as we had him in his room to do a slow introduction process.

I can't describe the moment of sheer panic when NO ONE anwsered my calls. I found Pfeffa in the doorway to the bedroom - she seemed at ease, like it was a normal day.

But still no Hobochangba. I scooped up Pfeffa and brought her to the bed to look for any sign of injury (none) and kept apologizing to her (silly, I know) and as we sat there, I heard Hobochangba's tags jingle and he came happily into the room, at which point Pfeffa started hissing and growling.

I have no idea how soon after we left that he made his escape, and can only imagine the meeting between the two.

The decision was made to leave them together for a few hours, since Pfeffa appeared okay, not great, but okay, and would only hiss and growl when he got too close to her - or came up from behind. And he always respected that warning and would back away...or just continue on by her.

Hobochangba was pretty brave with Pfeffa and kept chirping at her, but was extremely skittish around us (I think all the noises and floor creaks and doors opening and such...who knew we were so loud?). He cried and chirped quite a lot. For a while, Mike hung upstairs with him, while I played with Pfeffa downstairs, and at bedtime we separated them, and they will be separated all day today (I made sure the door was SHUT today).

I could just cry thinking of how sideways this whole thing went! Is it all ruined?

 

[Superkitties]

Nah, don't worry, cat's out of the bag (sorry ). Actually sounds like things went very well, no injuries, just some hissing and growling from Pfeffa, she's not stalking the "intruder" and trying to run him out, etc. so that's great.

Maybe you can just continue with supervised togetherness, and start them eating together, even though it's sooner than scheduled. But really, just go with your gut feeling on what you want to do.

Oh, right, and lots of extra Pfeffa kissies.

 

[ospunkyo]

Thank you for the reassurances, Superkitties. Things seem to be going okay around here. Hobochangba is most comfortable upstairs, and heads there whenever he gets too scared by noises (I don't think he is really skittish, just overwhelmed with the new environment and people and such, and finds comfort in the rooms upstairs...at least, I hope he's not going to be a skittish kitty...already got us one of those!).

We have continued to allow the shared quarters while we are here and awake, and are thinking of letting them remain together overnight - we'll see how the evening goes.

Pfeffa took a nap today in my lap - I'm so happy that she still loves me and isn't hissing at me, despite the new kitty smell on me.

 

[Superkitties]

Cool, glad to hear Pfeffa's not pfeffed off at ya (sorry ). Sounds normal to me, all my kitties race upstairs still if they're scared by a new noise or something. It's great to know that they feel like they have "secure" places.

Looking forward to more updates!

 

[ospunkyo]

Well, since Saturday night when we didn't separate them (I didn't sleep well that night) things are slooowly progressing.

There is no swiping or fighting, and there is less hissing and growling (from Pfeffa - Hobochangba is just so darned happy and gives lots of purr-meow noises to her. I think he wants to be her friend soooo bad!).

We've had a few *moments*: a brief nose-to-nose contact, and then several instances where Hobochangba passes verrry close, and Pfeffa does not hiss, but sniffs him - loudly, I might add.

This morning there were a few chases - Pfeffa chased him, but didn't especially like when he chased her (very angry hiss). Sometimes she seems braver when she and I are playing and he comes by to see what's going on. Sometimes, my presence seems to make it worse, and she hisses more :?