Bringing home a diabetic cat... help with resident cat introductions

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sotto1031

sotto1031

Member Since 2015
Hello everyone! As some of you already know from my post in the "Welcome" section, I am an animal rescue volunteer who is about to begin fostering a cat from the shelter who has diabetes (she is my profile picture). She was about to be euthanized because of her diabetes, before I stepped in and offered to take her. She-Hulk (the name given to her at the shelter) is 4 years old and initially came to the shelter as a stray with a litter of kittens.

I have another cat at home, Anthony, who is 8 years old, and he has been a much-loved only child for the 7 years since I adopted him. He has never been around other animals, and I don't know how he is going to react to another cat in his territory. There's a lot on the line, because I know if She-Hulk goes back to the shelter, she will be euthanized, so if it doesn't work out with Anthony, I will have to find another home for her. If it does work out, I will ultimately be adopting her.

The foster program requires that I keep the two cats separate to start with, so She-Hulk will be in a spare room in my apartment when she first comes home. I am familiar with some methods of introducing a new cat to the resident cat (I'm a huge fan of Jackson Galaxy), but I would really appreciate any suggestions you could share about what has worked for you. I love Anthony so much, and I could never forgive myself for causing him major distress. But I also know I want to save She-Hulk's life.

Thank you so much for your help!!
 
After being in their own room for a while I place a tall gate in the doorway so the they can easily smell and see each other. Then I let out the new cat out with the others for increasing periods of time with very tight supervision at first. Then longer with less supervision if all goes well.
 
Larry and Kitties said:
After being in their own room for a while I place a tall gate in the doorway so the they can easily smell and see each other. Then I let out the new cat out with the others for increasing periods of time with very tight supervision at first. Then longer with less supervision if all goes well.
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I do the same thing. I also provide towels or cat beds for each cat to lay on. After their have their scent on it, I use it to introduce each cat to the other's scent.
 
Put the new addition in another room with door closed....take towels or rags and rub both cats to get scents and put in each other's space. After a few days, bring the new cat out and let her explore the house and put Anthony into "her room"

Site swap for several more days so the new girl gets a chance to find good places to "get away" from Anthony if the need arises once they're together.

Put a gate between them so they can start to see each other .....Try to get them to eat as close to the gate as possible so they're eating as close together as possible before trying to fully integrate them into the same space
 
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