Help!!New cat not settling in well - Happy Ending w/photo

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BobsMom

BobsMom

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New cat is two year old male. Completely lovely with humans. I kept him seperated last night and decided to put him in gen pop tonight. I have 2 senior cats one male one female. He chased after my girl cat, hissing and growling ensued and now he is having growling staredown with my male cat. I am home alone with these animals and currently fear for my life. Okay, I'm exaggerating about fearing for my life, but I will say the growling and hissing is getting on my nerves. Need advice quick and if you don't hear back from me I was mauled to death by three angry cats! :twisted:
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well

Hope you haven't bled to death yet!

I generally keep new animals quarantined for 2-3 days and after that, introduce them in a crate so everyone else can sniff and check them out without getting attacked or other aggressive behavior. I've always regretted when I rush this time table.

Any chance you can separate new cat again? If you have a room with a fairly high clearance of the door bottom, playing footsies under the door seems to be a good get acquainted method, too.

Is your new cat neutered?

A lot of people have good luck using rescue remedy, too.

Too bad cats don't like alcohol! drinking09 Or maybe YOU need some!
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well

Thanks, I will try to corrall him back into my room and try again tomorrow. He is indeed a neutered male. He has been living at a no kill shelter for over a year and has been repeatedly overlooked. I will keep you posted. Thanks
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well

Hi Nancy,

I agree with Rebecca about separating the new guy from your other two cats. Sometimes it takes time for everyone to get along. I lost Shess 3.5 months ago and the other cats were trying to figure out the hierarchy when I went out and adopted another rescue cat a week later. And then I had the nerve to adopt another rescue cat last month! (Bumperic). Bumperic is getting along ok as long as the others keep their distance, but the other guy, Spirit, wants to be the leader. There have been a few battles between him and Doogie and Ronan. Just two nights ago I found Spirit and Doogie snoozing inches apart from each other on my bed! That was a rare sight. It seems that things are *finally* starting to calm down with them.

I try to keep things as peaceful as possible for my gang. That doesn't always work, and I know my DF will prolly see this post and sarcastically say, yeah right, Heather! But I put on quiet, calming music. The other evening I tried out my HomeMedic radio that plays nature sounds. The "rainforest" button sounds like birds singing in a forest, and my cats loved that. Ronan had been agitated and wanted to go out, but when he heard the bird sounds he came over and curled up next to me and went to sleep.

Also, whenever my cats behave well I make a big deal out of it and I reward them. They understand, believe me. I give them treats, like when I saw Doogie and Spirit snoozing together (after I took several pics of them, though!).

It'll probably take awhile for your cats to all get along, but be patient. Some people have found Rescue Remedy, or Feliway, or even flower essences to help. I wish you all the best!
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well

Ditto what everyone has said. It can take a week or more SEPARATED, to integrate. Depends on whats going on. With what you have described that is what I would suggest.

Socialize with New boy, get your cats used to his smell on your clothing, switch their bedding, feed /give treats to the cats on opposite sides of the closed door of the "safe room".

Cats get to know who is family by smell. The carrier trick can work, but dont do it too fast. See how they behave when smelling each other with the door closed. Hissing? GRowling? YOWLING? How bad it is will determine how slow you need to go. If things settle, use a door stop to prop the door open an inch. Let them find the door open on their own.

Bathrooms or a room not used much work best. Dont know how many cats you have but try to make the new cats "safe room" be a room not "owned" or heavily frequented by your other cats... or pick the least used room by the other cats.

When you do try letting newguy out, if you have a lot of pets, try to introduce him to them individually, if your living space permits. When you do try to let the newguy out, KEEP YOUR COOL. If you are stressed they will pick up on it and associate the stress with each other. Before you intervene in a fight (safely! no hands) make sure its a FIGHT, and not play fighting. Playfighting usually is silent, serious fighting is usually not.

See the "cat to cat" and "introducing a cat to new home"
http://www.sfspca.org/resources/library/for-cat-owners

Newguy was in a shelter for a year... so I am assuming this is a cageless shelter?? If so, the cats may have felt like they had to compete with each other for people attention, food etc.. so he may take longer to realize that theres enough to go around now.

Good Luck!!
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well

last night after being advised, I put Teddy back in my bedroom. This morning I tried putting their food by the either side of the door. Teddy ate a little and my two seniors ate nothing, so I moved the food about 10 feet away from the door and put bonito flakes on it and still my seniors ate nothing. This is after they ate virtually nothing last night. I am really sorry to seem so ignorant, but I have never brought an adult cat into my home before. I really want to keep him, but I don't want three sick cats on my hands. Once again, any insight at all would be appreciated.
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well

Heather&Seasaidh(GA)&Bumperic said:
I try to keep things as peaceful as possible for my gang. That doesn't always work, and I know my DF will prolly see this post and sarcastically say, yeah right, Heather!
Click to expand...

Moi? :twisted:

Nah... I know how you try to keep the peace, no matter how fleeting as it may seem. I think you are doing a wonderful job of it. I know how hard it is to not let them get the best of you, but you're doing better than most people I am sure.

HOWEVER - I do know Doogie was a bit miffed last night when you told him to give me kisses. He was saying "*You* do it!"

...well, I hope he was! ;-)
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well

BobsMom said:
last night after being advised, I put Teddy back in my bedroom. This morning I tried putting their food by the either side of the door. Teddy ate a little and my two seniors ate nothing, so I moved the food about 10 feet away from the door and put bonito flakes on it and still my seniors ate nothing. This is after they ate virtually nothing last night. I am really sorry to seem so ignorant, but I have never brought an adult cat into my home before. I really want to keep him, but I don't want three sick cats on my hands. Once again, any insight at all would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Sometimes you need to evaluate your cats responses and change the game plan. I dont want your seniors to not eat! If your senior babies have eaten in their usual spot for a long time, moving their food might be disrupting them too much. Try moving the food one more meal, and if they dont eat again, try using treats to lure them to the door instead-or their favorite toy.

I know it seems like a pain in the butt but it will maximize the chances the introduction will work. I know some people throw them together and have had it work but it depends on the cats, and once you have done that its hard to go back. We have folks return cats at the shelter after ONE DAY, saying their cat doesnt like the new cat. Truly, not enough time to judge-unless there is bloodshed and screaming/yowling.

Conor and Janeways intro was fairly easy, (my first) but they took about 3 weeks. Janeway did NOT like Merlyn at all and I had Merlyn barricaded in my entry hall/bathroom/walk in closet area when I wasnt home to supervise, for a LONG time, months. Janeway would hiss ears back and "pretend swat" but because Merlyn ignored her it was ok. It took about 1.5-2 years for Janeway to be "cool" with him and not hiss.

Be patient!! ;-)
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well - updated

I'll try, Lisa. Thanks. He really is the sweetest little thing and I absolutley want to keep him. He is just too cute for words.
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well - updated

It can definitely be a struggle trying to get all the cats to interact. Sometimes it never happens...I know there are a few of us on here who have kitties that won't accept new cats. I kept mine apart for over 2 weeks and tried to introduce them and Phoebe still didn't want anything to do with Abigail. Fast forward 1 and 1/2 years later and she still isn't friends with her. She just went after her today. Sometimes she can tolerate Abigail, other times she can't...and my newest addition, Sasha she can't even stand the sight of her. Not trying to say this will happen in your situation but if it does and you have enough room in your house for all of them you could still keep him.
Of course, I really hope they all get along soon!!
And yes, I tried every trick in the book: baby gates, rubbing them with socks then letting them smell each other that way, feeding them on either side of the door, even feliway. All I have left to try is prozac :cool:
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well - updated

It can take a lot of time, and sometimes, they just will learn to tolerate each other. I got married last year and my two older (14 year old) cats were not thrilled with my husband's two young cats. One of mine has learned to tolerate the other two, with occasional hissing, but my other doesn't want the other two near her at all and will still hiss, growl and swipe if they're too close, and it's been almost a year. She stays away from them, but they don't stay away from her, for some reason!

I think keeping them apart for a good while and doing the "smell switch" is helpful before trying the integration. We tried Feliway plug-ins but I don't think they did anything for our crew, unfortunately.
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well - updated

Maybe feed them in their usual spot but give a face treat on either side of the door.
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well - updated

Hi, Nancy!

I'll be eagerly watching for updates from you and am keeping my fingers crossed! I am thinking about adopting 2 young kitties to add to my current family of 2 older kitties, and I'm really concerned about how to integrate them properly.

In the past, I don't feel that I kept the new cats separated long enough from the established cats in the house. I blame myself for the fact that Sufi and Gigi never bonded or became friends with Katie, TJ and Elsie. From everything I've read, patience is the way to go :)

I wish you all the best!

Lynn
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well - 3 months later!

Well, they are finally starting to tolerate each other in small doses. We are up to about 90 minutes before they have to be separated. This might take forever. I guess that I will be back in three months with another update!! :mrgreen:
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well - 3 months later!

nancy, just a thought but what if you did a switch.....put your two where the new one is and let the new one out where your other two usually are.
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well - 3 months later!

Nancy, I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. I had a very similar problem when Snugs came into our lives. Calliope and Lucy were not happy in the least. I did all the keeping them separate and slow introducing by the book. As soon as Snugs was let out to wonder, freely, he was rabid about attacking Calliope and Lucy. He would make it his life's mission to go after them all day long. They tried to keep their distance, but he was always on the prowl. For an entire year, it was like WWIII. I had to keep Snugs in one half the house and the other two in the other half. Snugs would cry all the time, but when I'd let him out, he would go after them. I even got the water gun and shot him with water when it would happen, but he liked the water gun, wouldn't you know.

Well, I went by my vet's office one day to pick something up and there was a sweet black and white kitten up for adoption and she started meowing when I walked in and climbing up the cage to get to me. I told myself not to pay attention, but I had to go pet and hold that kitten. Long story, short, the vet and staff convinced me to take the kitten home with me. I thought I must have had a big old hole in my head for doing something so darn silly, when I had the war going on, already. I don't know what I was thinking. I don't know how I let them talk me into it.

Turns out this was the best decision I made. Snugs LOVED this kitten. He took that kitten right away. He stayed at the door crying to get in with her, so I gave in and let him. He bathed her and she loved him. They are still the very best of friends. They sleep intertwined with each other all the time. The older cats didn't really react much to the kitten. All they did was sniff and walk in the other direction. The kitten (Christmas) pays little to no attention to the older cats.

I have no idea whether bringing in another kitten would help. I'm not suggesting that you do. I'm just sharing my story. Snugs would still hit on the other cats a few times a week, but it life here changed dramatically for the better when Christmas arrived and I am ever so grateful.

Here's a picture of Snugs and Christmas.



Snugs is the gray and white on the left. You can see that he is actually hugging Christmas in this picture.

Knowing how awful Snugs was to the other cats and then, seeing him with Christmas is hard to believe. Also, Snugs is WONDERFUL with kids and adults. He's the sweetest kitty. I've never heard him hiss, not one time, even when he's on the attack. My young niece can pick him up and carry him all over the place and he just lets her do whatever she wants. So odd that he's so sweet to people and so ugly to the older cats.
 

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Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well - 3 months later!

I don't know if this will help, but my big boy Smokey gets overly excited and chases my older ones too. I started using a water bottle to "cool" him down and it has really helped. Now most of the time everyone gets along... but if Smokey starts to pin one... I hit him with a little water and he goes plays with the younger ones.
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well - 3 months later!

i have been lucky-my integrations took a wk to 3 wks. the link below will give you a little reading
http://va.siameserescue.org/educate/educate5.php

I also recommend a book by Pam Johnson-Bennett
http://www.amazon.com/Cat-Vs-Keepin...=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272512194&sr=1-3


I had a sudden issue w/a fulling integrated kitty last yr - suddenly was attacking the other 5 cats in the house. he got his own room. I built a screen door of wood trim and hardcloth so they could see each other and were safe. I had to start over with him. 1) had vet ck to be sure nothing medically wrong, 2) feliway, 3) tried calmicolm meds (sp), 4) patience, 5) love, 6)patience. it's hard to give enough time to all, but after 4 mths we were back to a happy family. worth the effort for me.
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well - 3 months later!

Hope they are adjusting better. Tim was 12-13 when I brought Amy home. They NEVER learned to live together peacefully. I had to keep them separated by a screen door down the middle of my house. I wish i had a good answer.
There are lots of good books on thow to get cats to comingle peacefully. The one I like the best is called Cat vs Cat by Pam Johnson-Bennett. http://www.borders.com/online/store/Tit ... 0142004758. Tim & Amy would never have gotten along only because Amy had such a hard life and was picked on by the other cats at the shelter. So my experience isn't typical, I'm sure. It took her a couple of years before she'd even allow me to pet her more than just between her ears. Then she got to be a real sweetie. Hope they learn to live peacefully.

Chris
 
Re: Help!!New cat not settling in well - 3 months later!

Yesterday this is what I found on my couch - photo attached. The one with his back to the camera it Teddi my new cat and the handsome gentleman looking at the camera is Tom. We'll see what happens, but for now...PEACE.
 

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