🚀 go-pugleaf

Hi all.

We do have a problem. About a year ago, we received two kittens from a
friend (two tom-cats). All was fine; the two of them got along well enough
with each other, since they were from the same litter. Around January, one
of the cats got ill. We took him to a vet, but the vet was unable to
diagnose anything specific, so he prescribed antibiotica and a
fever-reducing medication. The cat (Luca by name) seemed to respond well
enough, but soon after got sick again. Again he was treated for nothing in
particular, but this time he didn't recover fully, and seemed listless ever
after.

When a new bout of illness struck, the vet suggested a blood analysis which
confirmed our worst fear. FIP. A terminal disease, with no known cure for
it. We gave Luca all the love and care we could muster, but eventually had
to have the vet put Luca out of his misery which was growing daily. That was
about four weecs ago.

Rima, his brother, didn't catch FIP from his brother, which was odd enough,
given the fact that FIP usually is highly contagious. We've checked this by
submitting him to a blood test as well which turned out negative. And while
there is no cure for FIP, it is possible to inoculate a cat against it which
we missed to do while both were young, because they were restricted strictly
to or flat and such should not have possible been exposed to FIP or
leucosis. In the first week after Luca was gone, Rima seemed very attentive
and love-hungry, at the same time looking for his brother in every possible
location. When that phase had passed, he seemed to withdraw himself, and
spend more and more time sleeping, and less and less time playing with me or
my fiancee.

That gave us the idea that possible he would want a mate to play with. The
idea of having more than just one cat again appealed to both of us humans
living in this place, so we agreed to take care of a cat (female) about
eleven weeks old. We were amazed to learn that Rima started to act in a
jealous and hostile manner toward our new (supposed) family member, as soon
as she got out of the transport cage. Having not much experience with cat
behaviour where a cat is supposed to share it's quarters with another one
besides what we've learned in barely a year while Luca was still alive, we
are at a loss as to what to do to help Rima accept the new situation.

The latest addition to our little society is called Betty and seems to be
very shy. Aside from a tendency to run and hide into any convenient corner
or under various pieces of furniture, she hasn't given so much as a single
meow so far and has neither eaten nor drunk anything, nor has she been to
the loo in the three or maybe four hours since she came here.

I'm very worried that one of the two (either Rima or Betty) might suffer due
to our lack of knowledge and competence, by which we're putting them in a
situation they can't handle. Therefor I desperately seek advice from people
who have more experience with this kind of situation than we do. Any answer
will be greatly appreciated, and, since we can't seem to be able to return
Betty to her previous human parents, time is of the essence.

Thanks a great many deal in advance.

J�rgen