Oh dear, I thought things were going so well but Willow is just not happy since Asha arrived
Long post sorry....
A couple of days after Asha's arrival she had a bad case of the runs, I figured it was stress but after 36 hours it was no better so off we went to the vets and after a course of antibiotics she is fine. The vet thought Willow's immune system would cope with whatever the kitten had but I was dragged out of bed by a commotion in the kitchen at 3am last Saturday. Willow was in a sorry state, her furry trousers and tail were well coated with nasties and after trying to catch her to sort it out so were the floor, walls, litter tray and most of me from the waist down
I called the vet Saturday morning who said starve her for 24 hours and bring her in on Monday if no improvement. A trip to the vets is extremely stressful for Willow, she crouches down on the vet's table and visibly shakes in terror, sadly she had to go on Monday and is also on antibiotics. After getting home she didn't use her litter tray even to pee for 48 hours so the poor darling had to go back again on Wednesday. The vet said her bowel was still empty and bladder soft and only half full so it seemed stress related rather than medical. I bought another litter tray at the vet and put it in my bedroom (yuk!) as it's the only room that is still exclusively Willow's domain. She sniffed it then went straight to her usual tray and did a huge wee and a pooh GRRRR
I thought I had done all the right things in introducing them slowly but Willow just doesn't seem herself, it could be the tummy bug but I think it's more likely Asha being here that's upset her. Willow finishes her antibiotics tomorrow but just an hour ago did a pooh the consistency of custard when she normally passes sticks of chalk! I'm not sure what to do about it but here are what I think are the problems:
1) Willow is a calm, timid cat while Asha is very boisterous and bold as a lion, she's into everything and immediately pounces on any toy Willow shows an interest in which causes Willow to withdraw.
2) Apart from a wet meal at night Willow has dry food in interactive feeding toys that make her work for it, the kitten explores all these, tries some of Willow's food and leaves her smell so Willow hasn't eaten much the last week (could also be the stomach bug). This morning I left Willow's food in little piles around the bedroom instead and she's eaten them, she'll also eat her wet meal if I spoon feed her
3) Asha is fasinated by the rubber anti-tracking mat outside Willow's litter tray... could her smell there be putting Willow off using it?
4) It's easy to spend time with Asha as she always wants attention and Willow defers to her, but if I try to concentrate on Willow it's impossible unless I put Asha in another room... that's fine if she's sleeping but if awake she cries and Willow will ignore me and sit the other side of the door to Asha listening.
5) Asha keeps climbing up on my lap when I watch TV and Willow looks most upset about it even though she is not a lap cat herself. I make a point of putting Asha down after a few minutes and going to stroke Willow, but Asha is very determined and comes back the second my bum hits the sofa
6) Until the last few days Willow has never been a vocal cat but now gives a pitiful miaow and sits looking at me all big eyed and sorrowful
7) When Asha had her tummy trouble she had an involuntary emission behind the sofa which I took great pains to clean, her only mistake... until today. Asha slept in the living room last night and I found another deposit under the sofa this morning, could this be smell or because Willow tends to be quite active and prowl the flat at night. Did she scare the kitten enough to keep her out of her tray?
On the plus side they will go up to each other nose to nose sniffing, I have seen them drinking from the same water bowl at the same time, they were sleeping within 18inches of each other today and I think they play a bit... though I am concerned when I see Willow chasing Asha and pouncing at her. Asha is never hurt and crouches down or runs away but it's looks quite agressive to me. This is the only time Asha defers to Willow (I guess size matters!).
Maybe time will resolve things but I am worried for both cats... that Willow seems so stressed and that this may lead to her hurting the kitten when she's annoying her. Sorry again for the mammoth post but I wanted to give as much info as possible, any advice please? btw... it will be 2 weeks tomorrow since the kitten arrived, maybe I have rushed things when I tried to be patient but I see no way of putting Asha in a separate room again now, she would be very unhappy about it.
