OT sort of QI cat experts long

Honestly the only way to find out is to try it. It's kind of like the question "what happens when you bring an orphan kid into a house of other kids?" The answer depends in great part on the personalities involved....

You can try it in small bites, you know; let him come in the house when you're there to monitor the situation. Even the best of "new cat" situations are going to have days of hissing, and he may immediately go find a bed to hide under.

You may need to make sure there's a room (with food, water, litter box) that he can go to and have the door closed for him for a bit, if necessary, as a "retreat" so that he doesn't feel threatened by the other cats; feel your way on that one. (Mostly, that's about making sure he has somewhere he feels secure enough to get some decent sleep while he's settling in....)

Worth a try.

--pig

Taria wrote:

AS Megan said, your little guy will need a safe place where he can go and hide from all the other animals. One good option would be if you have a BIG crate that you could put him. Put his food, water, litter box and some sort of bed inside and put the crate in a spot where the other animals could see the new guy. If you do this, you might want to put a blanket or something over the back half and sides of the crate to give the cat more of a sense of being hidden when he felt the need. The other option is to do it the way I do. I have a bathroom that I can block the other kitties from getting into and the new cat from getting out of. I put food, water, litter box and bed (or blankie) in there with the new kitty and then securely block the open door with a screen. This way the kitty has lots of room to move around in and s/he can look out and smell and see what is going on. The other animals have the opportunity to see and smell the new animal without being able to get tooth or claw on the newcomer. For some reason, I HATE the idea of putting an animal in a room and closing the door -- it just seems too isolated. It might be necessary for you to do it this way for the first few days, just make sure someone goes in there frequently to keep the cat friendly. As an aside, Bunnie (the Bodacious Miss "B", Chunkybutt Cat) is LOCKED in the Jack & Jill bathroom as I write this because she started to pick on Cassie (Baby Cat) again this morning! SOMEONE (and I won't mention any FAT cat names) was picking on her the other day and now her poor little nose is all raw and looks like someone went at it with sandpaper! It's been about 2 1/2 weeks and Bunnie still hisses at Cassie and will chase her but is fast friends with IvyJane (the Garbanzo Brain Stealth Kitty). Anyway, expect hissing for several weeks if not a few months. That's no problem, it's the fighting that might occur that you need to be careful of. It won't be too bad between the female and your new male but be sure to keep an eye your existing male. Are your existing cats "fixed" and how old are they? Older cats don't fight the way younger cats do -- just like us old GOWs LOL! Hopefully, your cats are "fixed" as this helps to lower the aggressiveness, especially between males. OTOH, it could be that your existing babies won't have a problem with the new guy! If he's been living in your barn he will have all the familiar smells your cats and dogs are used to! Cassie and IvyJane have met and there has been no problem at all. Cassie is fairly mellow but CAN hold her own if necessary. As for the dogs, well, if the new guy still has his claws, the dogs will soon learn to keep their distance. Before my doggie went to the Rainbow Bridge, I would have DH put her leash on so he could have a good hold on her. I would go into the bathroom with the new cat and get it comfy and calm, then I would have DH bring the dog into the CLOSED bathroom with the new cat. If needed, the kitty could hide behind the toilet and we could keep control of the dog. After doing this a few times, the dog was used to the cat and would only chase when the cat wanted to play. Depending on your dogs, you might have to do this several times. Again, I have had some new cats who had no problems and others who took forever to settle down -- Bunnie and IvyJane to mention just two -- LOLOL! The most important thing is to have patience. When you think you have done something for long enough, give it at least another week! We are NOT patient and this stuff takes at least twice as long as we think it should! I REALLY thought IvyJane was settled enough 1 1/2 weeks ago for me to be able to give her canned food and pet her just a little -- WRONG and I have the scars to prove it! I have left her totally alone (as Caesar says, no touch, no talk, no eye contact) for a full week and just started paying attention to her this Sunday. She now has come into the kitchen with me and waited for canned food -- from a safe distance, of course, LOL! She follows both DH and I into the walk-in closet and she routinely comes into the computer room every morning to play with her favourite toy, a catnip mousie. She's been with us now for three weeks and I'm pretty sure it will take another 2 or 3 months before I will be able to actually get close enough to be able to brush her. It might be sooner for DH since she seems to be drawn to him. AS for sending the guy to MOI -- THREE cats is my limit :-). Besides, I don't "do" male cats or dogs. They just always seem to want to be out getting into trouble -- pretty much like most males, fixed or not -- LOLOL! PLEASE -- keep us posted, OK? I'll say some extra special prayers to St. Frank for the successful integration of the new kitty. Sending kitty hugs and kisses to you & your babies that all goes relatively easy! CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

Thanks Mary and pig. My inside kitties are fixed. Maki the male was hand raised and never really been around other male kitties. He has the flight reflex rather than the fight one. The other boy (spooky)was fixed 2 weeks ago. They tell me he is 2-3 years. He seems to have been beaten up a lot by other cats. The inside kitties and pooches have known the other as a sort of window friends for maybe 9 months. Spooky knows us all pretty well so that should help. I do have a big dog crate he has been in when we move cars in and out of the garage. I don't need another cat either and swore no more boys. I told someone again the other day that anyone that dumps a cat should themselves be neutered. If I lived somewhere more rural I would be happy to just let him be happy outside but I am not really sure how safe he is anymore. Neighbors are complaining about the numbers.

Thanks, Taria

"Window friends" - I like that one! My indoor cats have a few "window friends"!

I say, try it. If it doesn't work, you can work with the rescue people. We had a stray once that we let become an indoor-outdoor cat, and she was the best cat in the entire world (and yes, her monstrous and really, really stupid brothers had to stay outside, as strays, while she got to come in).

I will say, I don't know how successful you will be in turning him into an indoor-only cat. Maybe some of the others can chime in here, but our little stray absolutely had to have her outside time.

I've always had great luck introducing new critters to old by placing the new one in a large dog kennel. Many years ago we took in a scraggly looking stray. After taking him to the vet for a clean bill of health and neutering, we placed him in a crate with a comfy blanket, water and a litter box, in the enclosed sunroom. For the next few days the two resident house cats sniffed him through the wires and all was well. Then we let the pups in the room for a few minutes at a time and they sniffed him too and still no problems. After a few days we let him (Steve) have the run of the whole room but kept the door of the kennel open, then we let the other cats in, and eventually the dogs. One big happy family. Both dogs got an eventual nudge on the nose by Steve when he thought they were getting too nosy, but it never amounted to much. We had many years with Steve before he passed, so have both dogs and one of the cats, all during 2008, tough year. We now have the one older cat and two small dogs and they all curl up and sleep together.

My sister in law thinks the stray they just adopted is pregnant, so I may just get to introduce another furry to the group.

Denise

Bring him in and let him have one room as "his" for a bit... swap bedding around occasionally, so everyone gets used to new smells. Use some DAP and Feliway as needed (pheromone sprays... essence of happy dog and happy cat, which decrease the tension for most animals).

We have one dog and six cats (yes, we're out in the country). When we had to travel for a family funeral, the dog boarded with friends and the neighbors fed our cats for us.

When we got back, we discovered that the little feral we'd been feeding and an adult cat that showed some signs of being abused and abandoned had moved in, and were waiting for us in the middle of the dining room table . Took a few weeks for everyone to settle back in completely with the dog back home -- the feral kept popping out from under the couch she'd claimed as her territory and swatting the dog on the ankles. The dog finally started waiting for one of his people to escort him past the cat. .

The feral has finally decided she can just relax around everyone, including the dog, but now has hissy fits through the window at other cats outside. The abused cat isn't terribly social with people, but has also settled in just fine. And the dog can walk past the couch unmolested now.

Anyhow, I recommend DAP if the dogs are upset; Feliway for the cats, and multiple food bowls and litter boxes until everyone agrees there's not going to be a shortage of either.

Generally, when introducing new cats, I figure about a week to 10 days to get most of the cat hierarchy re-understood. Sometimes a bit longer if newbie wants to be top cat.

Kay

I am a huge fan of the Dog Whisperer. Don't know if you've heard of him, but he runs a dog psychology center in LA and has a regular tv show on Nat Geo. I remember watching with fascination when he helped a family in your situation. He taught the people to take charge and teach the dog that the cat was off limits, and now they live quite peacefully together. It has to do with ... You can't just throw the animals together and see if it will work. That's giving the animals too much authority. You have to be the boss - and they have to know it. If you haven't read about or watched the D.W., I'm not sure if I can explain it in a newsgroup post! But it can be done.

Musicmaker

On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:02:39 -0600, Taria wrote (in article ):

This is what we do. We have a sunroom with a French door. The newcomer goes in there with food, toys, litter box, etc. then we close the door. The resident cats can see and smell the newcomer and vice versus. We make sure we go into the room frequently to play with and pet the new cat. After a few days, the new one usually wants to start coming out of the room and we'll let him/her while we can supervise. Eventually, usually the new cat and one of the oldesters will start playing with each other under the door or when the newcomer is out and about and we know the newcomer can have the run of the house.

Maureen