I HAVE A 12 YR OLD FEMALE...

Question
I HAVE A 12 YR OLD FEMALE HIMMY, AND NEW STRAY  CALICO THAT WAS ADOPTED LAST YR.. THE CALI WANTS TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE HIMY   BUT THE HIMMY WILL NOT  TOLERATE THE NEW CAT SO, SHE STAYS UPSTAIRS NOW.. HOW DO I GET THEM TOGETHER?KATIE

Answer
Katie,

You cannot "get them together", so to speak.  Both cats have to want to be pals for this to work.  Now, what you  might mean by pals as people is not how cats view it.  But, more on that in a minute.

You have a 12 year old Himmie who is very, very set in her ways and used to being the alpha female of the household.  You have introduced a 1 year old calico which has upset your Himmie very, very much.  Cats have to be introduced carefully, and that is still no guarantee that they will get along.  LIke children, cats can have jealousies, so if, when you introduced the calico, you did not pay lots of extra attention to your himmie and give her lots of extra treats, she is probably somewhat jealous of the calico.

One hint to whther there are real problems, is whether or not the litter pan habits and eating habits of the himalyan have been disrupted?  If not, then things may not be as bad as you think.  If so, there are major problems.

How cats inter-relate to each other seems to be a major mystery to us humans.  If they are playing chase, that is a good thing.  If your Himmie will not let the calico near her, that is not good at all.  If they "fight" and make lots of noise, that is also a good thing (believe it or not).

One last comment on the himmie is that at age 12 she is considered geriatric and just may not have the physical where with all to keep up with the calico.

In a nutshell, all you can do is wait and see if they eventually do get along.  It could take days or weeks or months or, like some people, they may never get along.  Unfortunately you canot make it happen!!!!!

If litter pans and/or food dishes is an issue, you may want to consider more than one litte rpan in different parts of the household.  They also may prefer to each have their own food dish when you feed.

Please let me know if you have further questions on any of the above.

Best regards... Norm.