Family Building 101

I carefully followed the instructions from the shelter regarding the introduction of two cats, thinking that if I followed the formula spelled out for me, all would go well and exactly as planned. Golden Heart was moved into the bathroom and Light Heart was stationed in the living room. They were separated by a door with a good space underneath so that they could “get to know each other” while still having a protective separation. With this perfect set up, what could go wrong?

From Light Heart’s point of view, no separation was needed. He as a big strong man and I just brought him a girl, HIS girl. He spent hours laying on his side the floor in front of the bathroom door, with his front leg extended as far under that door as he could possibly reach, making cooing noises (yes cooing, like a pigeon). I never knew a cat could make pigeon sounds. It was easy to imagine exactly what he was saying, “Come to me, come to me my darling, I am delighted you are here!” Hours turned into days of wooing her. He was determined.

Golden Heart on the other hand, three months his junior and still very much kitten, was not at all amused. She spent her days as far away from the bathroom door as possible and returned his constant affections with silences, interrupted periodically by hissing. She was very affectionate to her people. She wanted nothing to with the boy.

Oh, this wasn’t exactly going as planned, not at all.

One week of adjustment through the door separation turned into two, with no end to the standoff in sight. I was left scratching my head and wondering why carefully laid out plans didn’t lead to expected results and for how long I should let this standoff continue.