Quarantine Questions

[The Rev]

Ok, I'm really working on doing things right, as I would like my older cat to eventually get along with my Mel SV.

Questions #1

I have his Quarantine room which he is in most of the time. We pull him out for awhile, maybe 30 min to an hour a day and walk around with him in the house. This guy want's to do nothing but explore, Tiggy and my 90lb German Shepherd actually get along pretty well. My Dog (Dexter) lays down and tiggy goes up to him and rubs against him and just wants to be loved. As for my older cat As soon as my older cat see's him, they both freeze and stare each other down. Usually at this point I would just pick him up and put him back in his room. So my question is, should I not bring him out of his room till the two weeks is up?

Question #2
Sleeping arrangements? My Tiggy loves to sleep on our bed, after a couple seconds of petting him, he usually passes out and falls right to sleep. As soon as he falls asleep I take him and put him in his room, and then he cries for a good 5-10 min, until he passes out. So my question is, Should I let him Sleep in my room the whole night?

Any tips would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

-Rev

Here's a pic of Tiggy and Dexter.

 

[WitchyWoman]

Tiggy should stay in quarantine the full two weeks. After that, let him out to explore the house as you're currently doing and put the older cat in the quarantine room while Tiggy is exploring. At this point you can also install baby gates on the quarantine room door so the two cats can see each other and you can engage them in play with a feather wand or other toy through the door. If the cats appear to be accepting each other after a week or so, you can let the older cat into the quarantine room with Tiggy and supervise their introduction. The 2 cats may become friends immediately or it can take longer. How long depends on the older cat.

If Tiggy likes sleeping with you and you want him to sleep with you, why not change the quarantine room to your bedroom? If that's not feasible, just put him in his room at bedtime and ignore the crying. It's important to maintain the same schedule with him. If he's lonely in his room, put a radio in there at night.

 

[The Rev]

Yea, What's weird is I have a fan in there, and it seems to put him asleep. So I usually leave that on for him. It's an older ceiling fan, so it has that old cranking noise to it. I will try the radio and see if that helps him. I just feel so sad that he is crying in his room. Making our bed room the quarantine room wouldn't be a problem, but our older cat usually sleeps at the foot of the bed, So I really didn't want to make her feel like we are just throwing her out. But then I think, it's only for a couple weeks! lol

I will try out the baby gate idea, I will get one today and see how that works. I have caught my older cat sniffing at the door, and trying to figure out what's going on behind it. My Tiggy will be crying and my old cat will go sit outside the door, looking at it like there's a monster behind it.

Thanks!

-Rev

 

[WitchyWoman]

You probably have to stack the couple baby gates to ensure the kitten doesn't climb over. Curiosity on the part of the old cat is good. It's important to switch the cats in the room. Putting the old cat in Tiggy's room when Tiggy is roaming the house allows mixing of their smells and they'll get used to each other quicker that way. Be sure to play with the old cat when he's in Tiggy's room.

 

[The Rev]

Ahhh Gotcha! Yea I haven't put my older cat in the quarantine room yet, but I have caught her going in there and sniffing around.

I will try that out today, I'll have the wife take out tiggy into our bed room and i'll play with our older cat in the quarantine room.

Thanks!

-Rev

 

[Patti]

I agree with everything Deborah has said. One thing I'm missing is how much time you are spending with the kitten in the quarantine room. One of the most important purposes of the quarantine period is for the kitten to bond to you, not the dog or the other cat. If you are not spending time in there playing with him, snuggling with him, feeding him treats, etc. he may not bond well with you. Why not throw down a pillow and blanket and see if he will fall asleep with you in there? Once he's asleep you can slip out and go to bed yourself. Letting him out seems like a bit of a tease - you're showing him what he is missing out on by giving him transient access to the rest of the house then shutting the door on him again.

 

[John Campbell]

Yea, What's weird is I have a fan in there, and it seems to put him asleep. So I usually leave that on for him. It's an older ceiling fan, so it has that old cranking noise to it. I will try the radio and see if that helps him. I just feel so sad that he is crying in his room. Making our bed room the quarantine room wouldn't be a problem, but our older cat usually sleeps at the foot of the bed, So I really didn't want to make her feel like we are just throwing her out. But then I think, it's only for a couple weeks! lol

I will try out the baby gate idea, I will get one today and see how that works. I have caught my older cat sniffing at the door, and trying to figure out what's going on behind it. My Tiggy will be crying and my old cat will go sit outside the door, looking at it like there's a monster behind it.

Thanks!

-Rev

I am not sure how good of a Jumper he is or old either, but I disabled all of my ceiling fans when I caught elsa trying to jump up and catch one... Would not want her to get [UN]lucky so to speak...

 

[John Campbell]

I agree with everything Deborah has said. One thing I'm missing is how much time you are spending with the kitten in the quarantine room. One of the most important purposes of the quarantine period is for the kitten to bond to you, not the dog or the other cat. If you are not spending time in there playing with him, snuggling with him, feeding him treats, etc. he may not bond well with you. Why not throw down a pillow and blanket and see if he will fall asleep with you in there? Once he's asleep you can slip out and go to bed yourself. Letting him out seems like a bit of a tease - you're showing him what he is missing out on by giving him transient access to the rest of the house then shutting the door on him again.

I agree 1000% percent here... After Elsa slowed to below warp speed getting out of her carrier, I laid down and just let her crawl around me... I would spend hours playing with her, holding and petting her as well... One day, I fell asleep on the floor and when I woke up she was sleeping on my chest... Elsa and Jake (my dog) did do a little bonding via the door with Paws and Sniffs, but only once by accident did they meet face to face until after quarantine, and I think that may not only had made me bond better with her, but she bonded well with Jake as well. How well you spend time and work with her now, I feel will dramatically affect how you and her will spend the next and hopefully many great years.

 

[The Rev]

Oh yea, from the time I get home from work till I go to sleep I am either playing with the cat in the quarantine room or have him with me where ever I'm at in the house. Am I not suppose to take him with me anywhere else in the house?

I ended up switching the quarantine room from my gaming room to my bed room, since My Tiggy seems to love sleeping on our bed. Last night was the first night he slept in the bed room and this guy is just a ball of energy at 3am. He would jump on off the bed, cry, then jump back on the bed, attach my face, then jump of the bed again... This went out for hours lol.

We'll see how it goes with tiggy and the ceiling fan, if he looks like he is getting curious and trying to catch the fan blades, I'll take it down for sure.

thanks guys,

-REV

 

[WitchyWoman]

Rev, as time goes on and Tiggy gets used to the bedroom, he'll probably adjust to your sleeping schedule. For the first week Atticus was home, he used me as trampoline between midnight and 3 a.m. when he passed out for 15 minutes and then started over again. After that first week, he started sleeping through the night, with an occasional wakeup. This was the same pattern as my other 3. They adapted to my 10 p.m. bedtime so well that they'd go to bed even if I stayed up later. The downside of that for me was a lack of mattress real estate since they are bed hogs.