My cat is ignoring me.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

A few months ago I wondered here whether I should get a cat or a kitten to keep my cat Milo company. He seemed lonely and clingy -- followed me everywhere and generally acted like a big furry blob of Velcro. And everybody said I should find Milo a friend, so about a week and a half ago I got Jeoffrey, a sweet little gray tabby. After a bit of hissing and snarling they settled down, and now they get along just fine.

But now Milo is so taken with his new friend that he hardly pays any attention to me anymore. Cats!

[demnan]

1. Play them off against each other

call, praise and pet Jeofrrey and I bet you Milo will come running ;)

[yellowdawgdem]

2. I'd ignore them

and just let them have their fun. I'm sure that, after the newness wears off, of the new friend thing, that Milo will go back to how he used to do. That's my experience, anyhow. You've said how very lonely Milo seemed. So it makes sense that he would put alot into a new companion. Just take it on the chin for awhile.

[IndyOp]

3. It is a good kind of ignoring - really - soon enough you will

have two happy cats paying attention to you!

:hug:

[Grateful for Hope]

4. I think that Joeffrey is a novelty right now for Milo

When I adopted Jake, Spidey went through a similar phase and, even though I adopted Jake because I thought Spidey needed a playmate, I wondered if the bond that Spidey and I had was more fragile than I had thought.

As it has turned out, both boys love playing with each other, but, they also show me that they need me -- and they often just lay at my feet when I am, say, on the computer.

I think that animals are amazingly able to instinctively "know" what their beloved humans need from them, and they are, again, amazingly willing to give whatever is needed.

Sometimes I think that it is the human that is here to learn from the animals, and not the other way around.

[demnan]

5. This never happened with Pad Thai

Although he has become a bit less clingy now that he has Charley to hang with, he still jumps up on my shoulder and yowls at me all the time. I get two bathroom monitors, and two cats playing over my body at the foot of the bed. Lily dispises them both, of course.

Pad Thai is teaching Charley to adore and carry play balls. I haven't caught Charley in pictures retieving yet but I do find balls he likes in my shoe, like the multicolored one that came with the cat maize (shoe leaving is new, and his joke, not Pad Thai's.)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Milo isn't ignoring me quite as much now.

Some of Jeoffry's novelty might be wearing off, though they play constantly when they aren't sleeping. Late at night I hear the thundering of little paws running up and down the stairs. They usually will both sleep on the bed with me, and Jeoffrey has taken over the duty of waking me up in the morning. Right now Milo is hanging out on the couch with me, while Jeoffry lounges on a radiator. I think everybody is pretty happy.

[IndyOp]

7. Yeah! Jeoffrey certainly has *the* most important job:

Waking you in the morning!

My lab begins sighing deeply and changing positions and putting his head or a leg over my body around 6:30 am or so... He usually doesn't hop off the bed for the morning home inspection until 7:00, but I am expected to be up sometime soon thereafter.

:hi:

[alittlelark]

8. You have, in all honesty, almost a best-case scenario.

Don't worry, they will both be craving your affection soon. You are soooo lucky to have 2 non-littermates that hit it off so well.


Check the other posts here to find out the 90% not-so-good scenario.

[legally blonde]

9. Don't worry, ocelot

Milo (and Jeoffrey) will come around. The same thing happened with Manilla when I found Morty (or rather, he found me). Manilla and Morty are best buds--and for a while they completely ignored me. But, after 6 months or so, Manilla got back into his usual bedtime routine (he sits on my chest and purrs while I read at night) and wakes me up in the morning (by biting my head--that's something I wish he gave up).