So...we have had our cat, for almost two years now. He is a year and a half, and we have been thinking for the last year that he has been displaying signs of loneliness/boredom : tearing up the carpet, being extra vocal, following us around, biting, eating excessively, etc.
My fiancé and I are gone during the day, and we have always felt that it would be good for him to have a companion. So we finally made the spontaneous decision and brought home a girl kitten on Saturday. I feel incredibly stupid, but I feel the introductory process was a bit rushed. My fiancé really wanted them to meet, so after her being home for the entire day, at night time they were able to see each other face to face after both smelling each others scents through the door, on our hands, etc.
My resident cat is having an extremely hard time adjusting. He seems like he just wanted to play with her, smell her...but she is hissing at him /batting and running from him. He isn't violent whatsoever but we can tell he's feeling extremely depressed that she is being this way. All of a sudden our "young" boy full of happiness, playfulness and purring/love/head butts is being silent, reserved, not purring, and acting simply depressed. He's barely eaten, now that he is aware of her presence even when we separate them, and she's in the bathroom and he's in the main part of the living room, he's just not being himself.
I have been having a really hard time with this myself. I feel like we made a huge mistake and judged the situation entirely wrong. What if he actually prefers being an only child? We have been making it a point to give him extra love and attention but he's still acting like he is being replaced and its breaking my heart.
I'm praying that its not because the situation was 'rushed' and that this has now caused irreversible damage. I would be so thankful to hear if anyone else has gone through this...and if this is just a normal part of the adjustment period. I know some cats are fine being alone, but I really felt like I was reading his cues right and that he has been lonely. I feel like it shows in his encounters with the kitten, he wanted to just sniff her and play, and he is SO gentle around her, but she won't have any of it and hisses and he then turns his head/stares at a wall/doesn't act himself...doesn't accept love from myself or fiancé and won't eat.
I feel so devastated. I just want to know that this is normal and that a companion will do him good in the long run. If they're not going to be best friends so be it, I just thought he needed a friend to keep him company when we are gone for long periods of time. Now, I just miss the old him and worry that if we keep her he will completely loose himself and never be the same again. It has been 48 hours as of this point.
Also, she is unspayed but he is neutered. Our breeder said it shouldn't matter on her personality that she is unspayed around him, but it has us wondering if this is contributing to her protectiveness/cattiness. She will be spayed in a month, she was just too small when we got her to be spayed and is still not quite at the recommended threshold weight to be spayed.
Please please help with any insight, I am feeling so heartbroken :(
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/qfyo5r/help_resident_cat_acting_depressed_after_bringing/
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