letting new cats into our home

[LoisCat]

I have 3 beauties mom & two sons (Kit Kat the mom is 6 years old, Tiger Boy from the first litter was 5 in March and Junior from 2nd litter will 5 in October)
Been feeding & giving love to a stray i call Big Boy who is also 5 years old - somebody moved out and left him outside since he was a year old. was unable to adopt him at that time cause my late husband was very sick Now that he passed away i want very much to make Big Boy a part of the family in the house but my 3 go INSANE whenever he comes on the porch for breakfast & dinner forget bout letting him in !!!
poor guy - i sit outside with him whenever possible We play with toys and cuddle and he purrs his head off. how do i get him accepted inside without a blood bath or is it too late....

[Freedom]

It CAN be done. It takes time.

Dogs will make friends in a matter of moments; butt sniff and they are best buds.

Cats take thins slowly. You start by bringing him in and keeping him segregated. Spare bedroom works well. He has his on food and water bowl, litter box of course, a few toys to keep him busy, and a bed and blankie.

After a day or so, you put the 3 cats segregated, and let him have the roam of the house (use the bathroom to help make the swap.) This allows him time to get used to the smells, find his way around, without any harassment from the others. You may only have him our for a few hours, and then put him in the bathroom, release the trio and put him back in the spare room.

Have blankets for the trio. Swap the blankets so now they are all getting used to the scent of the other cat(s).

Do this for a while till he seems comfortable in the house. Oh and clip everyone's nails. Then while you are home and available to observe, let him out. Have a water squirt bottle ready, and feel free to break up any fights. Hissing, back arching is to be expected, I don't usually squirt or that, just observe, maybe talk them through it.

It may take 3 to 5 weeks, but that will seem like nothing once you've all been together for years and years!

[katladyd]

Listen to the poster above. I usually do this and I have had cats that I was afraid were going to kill each other (that bad!) live together in peace very nicely. It just takes a little patience.

[carole]

Yes do listen to those who know best, to be honest when i took my two rescue's in i did nothing, and i was just darn lucky, my other two accepted them,they are not friends, and sure have their spats, but in general we have harmony most of the time, but this is not always the case, and if i had known better at the time i would have done all of the above ,my two had many fights with the other two, as they used to live just around the corner, so i was suprised it worked out as well as it did, good luck and i sure hope Boy is soon in your home getting more love and attention.

[GILL]

All good points. We have been very lucky and have some accepting babies. Some times we have to fostter some in a transport for a week or two. Most we turn loose in the house, but once in a while we get one that wants nothing to do with the CREW. We do have dicustions now and then and I keep the bottle handy.
We do have a disagreement in house between Chessie and Bailey, they have nevr gotten along. We just keep an eye on them, going on 4 years now.

[ginalovesfelines]

Great advice above......just go SLOWLY and let them get used to each others smell first. Get the new addition it's own cat bed (http://purfectcatsupply.com/c-22-cat-beds.aspx) and litter box to start with so the others don't feel invaded. Mainly, just good luck and let us know how things are. When it all works out, you will be so glad you put in all the hard work to make it happen.

[Freedom]

Hi Lois -

You ahve your settings for "no emails" so I wanted to let you know I did receive your message.

Just keep your expectations realistic: you can't make them best buddies, they have to do that on their own. You CAN insist they live together in peace.

PEACE! lol to you.

[Cataholic]

As others say, slow and steady wins the race. Most people want to rush things. A slow (and I mean 30 days) introduction goes along way towards peace and harmony. A bad interaction is much harder to recover from.

[moosmom]

First thing...make sure Big Boy tested, neutered and vaccinated before you introduce him to your cats. Then be patient. All the others that gave you advice, I couldn't add anything else.

[lvpets2002]

:) You have gotten great advice from everyone.. Yes upmost time & patience..

Welcome to Pet Talk & enjoy the talks & pics..

[Momto4FemaleFelines]

I have 3 beauties mom & two sons (Kit Kat the mom is 6 years old, Tiger Boy from the first litter was 5 in March and Junior from 2nd litter will 5 in October)
Been feeding & giving love to a stray i call Big Boy who is also 5 years old - somebody moved out and left him outside since he was a year old. was unable to adopt him at that time cause my late husband was very sick Now that he passed away i want very much to make Big Boy a part of the family in the house but my 3 go INSANE whenever he comes on the porch for breakfast & dinner forget bout letting him in !!!
poor guy - i sit outside with him whenever possible We play with toys and cuddle and he purrs his head off. how do i get him accepted inside without a blood bath or is it too late....

It can be done, as someone else mentioned. There are just a lot of baby steps you need to take to do it...It takes time and patience.

The first thing you need to do is have him vet checked because you do not want him bringing any diseases in such as intestinal parasites, fleas, coccidia, giardia, FIV, FIP, FeLV, etc.

Another thing to do which you can start doing as soon as you have him vet checked...rub him down with a towel or two and put those towels in the house with your cats.

Also neuter him ASAP. That will help cut down on territorial and aggression issues somewhat.

Arm your home with Feliway plug-in diffusers. Start Big Boy out in his own safe room with door shut. You can do room switching when he's comfortable in the house...let him out in the rest of the house while you shut the other cats away in another room.

Do scent swapping constantly...rub Big Boy with a towel and rub his smell on the other cats and vice versa. This will make everybody smell more familiar to each other, cats go by sense of smell more than sight.

Then stack baby gates one over the other in the door way of the safe room when you can supervise. This allows the cats to see, smell, hear and even touch each other but not get at each other. Switch what side of the gate you are on and try to encourage pleasant things with the cats gathered at the gates in the doorway. Give treats or try to encourage play.

When things are going well, start with short & supervised mingling sessions. Stop the sessions before anything unpleasant has a chance to happen...watch their body language carefully. You might want to start the mingling sessions one-on-one with Big Boy and whichever of your other cats seems calmest and most accepting of him.

Integration can be done, but it needs to be done properly and slowly. It can take months upon months to complete.