Dubai street cat update

[basildonbond]

I just thought I'd update the Litter Tray to let you know how it's going

Shuri has settled in v well - he's what you might call an 'interactive' cat ... He follows us round the house chatting away and has the loudest purr I've ever heard (v different from basilcat1 who is virtually silent). He likes sleeping curled up next to dd and because he's so busy in the day he conks out at about half nine, I usually hear him scrabbling around in his tray at about 6 hen he goes back to bed and waits for me to get up which is v civilised! He's been out in the garden bit has been a lot less adventurous than I thought he'd be - he obviously sees the garden fence as the border to his territory and seldom goes much further. We've discovered that he hates rain and is terrified of snails!! He wouldn't use the catflap yesterday because a tiny baby snail had slithered onto it and that was truly horrifying ;-)

It would all be perfect but for basilcat1 - she really doesn't like him at all - every time he comes anywhere near her she growls and they've had a couple of spats in which she's come off worst (unintentional meeting, bit of a communication breakdown between the dc as to which cat was where). We're making sure they both have times when they have the run of the house/garden without having to worry about the other one and giving both lots of TLC (and treats in bc1's case) and supervised access sessions during which the aim is for them both to be calm and unstressed in each other's presence but I think it's going to take a loooong time ...

PS new photo on progile

[cozietoesie]

I don't think that's really too bad, basildon. It's only been -what- a week or two ? And if she's simply growling and saying 'Back off you jerk', he'll presumably be obeying that (accidents excepted - she might have assumed if she ran into him that he was trying it on.)

I think it could be much worse. My own experience with street cat manners is that they'll be very courteous but will give no quarter if their backs are against the wall. Which sounds like that which happened.

[ZebraOwl]

Am glad to hear he's feeling so settled & it does sound as though it could all be worse in terms of the cats adjusting to sharing a home. Hope that with a bit more time they start getting on well together - or failing that that they just take no interest in each other

[deliasmithy]

Assuming these spats look worse than they really are, you need to let them get used to being in each others company and have a few arguments so they can ascertain their position in the house. It's good to do it slowly but there comes a point where they need to be given a chance to sort it out between them.
I would show basilcat1 lots of love and attention as its her territory that has been invaded.