Ragdoll Cat Forums

I am feeling a bit depressed about Arthur. I just cant get used to the idea of having him isolated from the rest of the cats. We have him closed in a room and to be honest, even though we are in there with him a lot to keep him company, I dont like that he is being treated differently from the others. We are getting him his own enclosure soon but I think thats only a tad better than the current situation.

He seems to be very happy and trusts Jo and I completely, but we cant trust him with the other cats as he attacks them on sight. I believe this is mostly to do with fear rather than his hormones kicking in but his progress with the others seems to be getting worse rather than improving. This puzzles me slightly because at his last home he had a little female companion which he got along with like a house on fire so I thought he would at least be able to tolerate the others by now. We have tried everything to break the ice between him and our little ones but nothing has worked.

Right now he is closed in the computer room with me, sitting on my lap and is purring while giving me smooches, but every so often he gets up and scratches at the door. Its obvious that he wants more. I want to let him out to roam the house freely and I am not the least bit concerned about him spraying. Obviously we cant though.

Has anyone else felt this way with their first stud? How did you overcome this feeling?

Awwww, I think that it's natural that you feel bad that Arthur can't be part of the action with the other members of Camelot I don't have any insight into the homing of a stud but I think that you are feeling something that any one who loves their babies like you and Jo do would.

This is one of the challenges of breeding - keeping whole males content. Some males do show fear aggression and that can be very dangerous, because it can then turn to a roid rage. That he is whole makes a big difference. Do not forget it.

Hopefully, you can find a good companion for him - and do not assume it has to be full time. However, it seems whole males have only one thing in mind. When ours are out, with stud pants even with the girls in other rooms, they will tend to park themselves by the doors leading to the whole girls and just wait. Not exactly taking advantage of being in "general population." ; )

So, you just have to be alert to his needs and provide them as best you can. Stud pants is one way. We find that he will try to mark immediately and we then change them. He may try to mark after that, but is out of ammo. That means he is then in clean pants, which is crucial.

Try to figure out how much is his need and how much is your expectation of his needs. Other than the scratching at the door, which may just be to get to the girls rather than get to another space or out of boredom, your description makes it seem he is doing well.

Hehe thanks dextersmom We may just have to accept that as long as he's entire, we will have to take special precautions. Fortunately he still hasn't sprayed yet (and we have stud pants at the ready Jan!) He still tends to wait by the door, even when we visit him so maybe he is just hanging out for the girls I guess we feel a bit guilty because the rest of the gang gets to sleep with us on the bed (even little miss pees-the-bed when it's *that* time of month!)

I don't think you are silly for feeling this way, quite the opposite, I think I would feel exactly the same! What about if you do a swap for an hour or so, so he can explore his new home. Or maybe just take Guin out of the way for a while and introduce him to Lance and Merlin.

I think it is wonderful that you and Jo are being sensitive to Arthur needs it sounds like you are spoiling him with lots of love and quality time,what else could the boy want,,hmmm little princess