| Sometimes I think it is easier introducing adult cats. When we
bought Ming home she was half the size and weigh of Mocha and
has claws. Mocha on the other hand outweighed her and has no claws.
In the three months they have been together they have worked things
out amoung themselves. Of course every once in awhile they have a go
at it, but it doesn't last too long.
I have seen Ming go after Mocha and he turns around quickly and
sits up in that Ragdoll pose and uses his front feet to box Ming
in the face and she manages to get a swipe in before she retreats.
He has yet to use his weigh by sitting or laying on her. I think if
he did that she would feel like "Henney Penny" and her world fell in.
Ming has tested neg to feline leuk, and Mocha has had the shots. He
was an outdoor/indoor cat but he "abused his privilage" so now he is
strickly indoors. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
I think sometimes we anticipate things and then they never happen.
They will work it out in time so enjoy your new life and don't worry.
Barbara
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| In response to your questions:
1. I have found that the difficulty in integrating cats seems to
be effected by a number of factors, among them are age of the cats,
individual personalities, old living situation (i.e. is this already
a multicat household or has the cat been alone (you have both))
and how long has the cat been a lone cat - the longer, the more
difficult is the transition, generally speaking.
Things you can do to help: Since cats are very smell oriented,
putting a drop of perfume on all the cats makes them smell similar
and helps the to believe that the new cat is a member of the
group. You can also put the new cat in a room by itself for a while
to let the cats smell each other without having contact for a bit.
That helps them get used to the new cat.
Also, don't pat the new cat(s) in front of the old one(s) for
a bit. So each of you would pay attention to your respective cats.
That helps reduce jealousy.
FInally, and you probably know this already - it sounds like a
leaky tire factory for a bit. Lots of noise and activity and
"pissed pussies" (as my husband would say), but unless you actually
see blood don't interfear. Let them work it out for themselves.
I have been know the speak harshly to the offender, but in general
I don't try to push them at each other, or interfear in the heirarchy
battles. Isis "bapped" Dundee on the head for three days before
she remembered that kittens are great playmates.
2. Get your cats vaccinated for FLV. My vet told me that even tho
my indoor cats had all been vaccinated they still ran a risk if
exposed to outdoor cats. If your fiance's cat is going to be an
outdoor cat, even if vaccinated, you are putting your cats at
risk. To me, its not worth it. My vet gave us a break on the
FLV shots for three cats. Normally it runs $96/cat for the first
series including the test. He did all three for $219 and its done
over a period of a few months so you don't have to pay it all at
once.
And, Yes, get it all done before you bring them into contact with
the other cat. Having the outdoor cat "visit" before actually moving
in might ease the transition later, but I wouldn't do it until your
cats are vacinated.
3. I suggest that your fiance trim the outdoor cats claws. It will
not seriously inhibit its ability to climb or defend itself, but
it will make the claws slightly less damaging to the other cats.
I have no experience with declawed cats, nor with outdoor cats so
I can't comment much further on that.
I'm a big proponant of indoor cats (we do let ours out on the second
story deck or on their runs in the back yard) so I am, of course,
going to recommend that you try to train the other cat to live
indoors. You might want to keep the other cat indoors at least
until they all make the adjustment. That can happen as quickly
as three days (Isis & Dundee) or take much longer, or never happen.
Also, when we went to four cats, we had to have two litter boxes.
I would definitely recommend giving the new cat his/her own box
and you might want to provide a second one just for your guys.
Hopefully, you won't have trouble with kitties going where they're
not supposed to like we did with Dundee.
Good luck and hope this helps.
Nancy DC
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| I second what Nancy said but I also would keep the outdoor cat in
for awhile since cats need to become familiar with new surroundings.
Many a moved cat has found his way back to the old residence after
being moved (one of mine did it consistently and she wasn't an outdoor
cat at the time!). I would recommend at least a couple weeks indoors
and then outdoors only with supervision at first, to be sure that
he is completely familiar with the new surroundings.
Get the Felv shots for your indoor cats, and get them boosted on
their vaccines (if it has been more than 6 months) since the outdoor
cat, having been exposed to lots of things, probably has higher
immunity than your indoor cats, and could bring home upper respitory
type illnesses to them.
Jo
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