Hi

We should be picking up our new cat in about 10 days, has anyone got any suggestions on how to introduce her into the home without scaring her or offending Evvie (our existing cat)?

Heidi

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Heidi

Heidi -
I probably have the market CORNERED on "introducing new cats to current resident cats" LOL

I have 9 <span style='color:red'>*yes NINE* </span>indoor cats. 2 years ago - I had TWO (grin)

Several things HELP to make the introductions go more smoothly -
FIRST -- make sure BEFORE and AFTER you "handle, feed or play with" the NEW addition - the CURRENT resident gets LOTS of love and attention!

Second -- it's never a bad idea to keep them separated for a few days, until you are sure they are getting along consistently. Put the BABY in the "isolated" place, except for when you are socializing it into the "family".
DO NOT ISOLATE YOUR CURRENT CAT !!!
This can spur bad behaviors, intentional litterbox "mistakes", general feelings of jealousy, and even open hostility to the "new baby"

Allow the current resident to INVESTIGATE the baby - but only when carefully supervised. There WILL BE some <span style='color:purple'>*(*hissing and spitting*)* </span>possibly some folded ears and minor swatting...
And, LOTS of "I'm gonna smell YOUR butt, but you CAN'T smell MINE", by the older cat. (grin)

Don't be alarmed - this IS normal !!! The current resident WILL do everything possible to assert to the smaller cat that he/she is BOSS. And, that's OK... things could evolve differently over time.

Don't SCOLD or punish the current cat if he/she takes a swat at baby. Simply pick baby up, comfort baby, and "ignore" the offending kitty for a few minutes.

If you DO see a lot of agressvie behavior, make sure you NEVER leave them together un-attended till these matters are resolved - which normally doesn't take long. And the more you can ENCOURAGE the current cat to sniff baby, join baby in "games" and join baby in "petting time" -- the faster the bonding will occur.

AGAIN (I can't stress this enough) Make sure that you give the "current" cat LOTS and LOTS of praise and love when you have baby out, and big cat is behaving nicely.

If you give baby wet food - allow "big cat" to have a little of that food, as a treat -- he/she is GOING to smell it, and jealousy will be amplified if baby is getting something "special"

Hope this helps. I guess I should write a book LOL :rolleyes:

Good luck !
LaVon Fabian
"fancidots"

Hi LaVon

NINE CATS :blink: I'd love to have a whole troop of cats but I don't think my other half would appreciate it

Anyway, thanks for the advice, I really do appreciate it. You should seriously think about writing that book, your advice is simple and easy to follow and in hindsight a lot of it is common sense but it takes someone with experience to make you realise that :rolleyes:

We picked up a new blanket a few days ago and sent it to the breeder of our new kitty, I've asked her if she wouldn't mind putting it in with our kitten for a few days before she comes home with us, that way, when we bring her home she'll have a comfort blanket that she can sleep with and 'Hopefully' the smell will remind her of her litter mates & mum and help her feel safe and secure.

We also have a show cage, I think what we'll probably do is put our new kitty in the cage (with her blanket, cat litter etc) and let her get settled, then after a while we'll let Evvie approach the cage and have a good sniff. Finally, we'll introduce your advice on feeding, petting and playing etc as and when appropriate.

Thanks again for the advice

Heidi

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Heidi

If you do have trouble with them together. I have heard that Lavender is brilliant for this, if you rub it on both of the cats, so thay both smell the same, because sometimes the different smell of each of the cats, can be what cause the problem.

Another good thing if you have problems would be to put kitty in the show cage (all providing it is quite large) and put her in the same room as eevie, that way eevie will be able to sniff at her, but not harm her as such.

I'm sure it will all go fine.

Can't wait to see the piccies!!!!!!

We normally keep the new one locked up in the bedroom for a week to make sure there is no illness coming in. They will play pawsies under the door during this time and everyone can smell each other. About the 4th or 5th day we take them out on supervised vists to meet their new brothers and sisters. Yes there will be spitting and hissing but I never let them get to the point of throwing blows, I let that happen later lol. Our 3 boys have never minded another cat coming in the house. Now Tigger our reigning dominate Female and dominate cat for that matter only had a problem when we brought in Tsunami who was the same age has her. I'm not sure how she will handle have a male bengal coming into the house though. She may confuse him for Beepers since the look so much alike. I'm sure Beepers is going to have a blast since it is her full brother coming in to the family and I think she will remember him by his smell.

Chet

Hi

I know I haven't been active for a couple of days but there has been a great 'Hand-Bags at Dawn' discussion/argument/bitching thread on the Bengals-L yahoo group. It's been like a good book, I just couldn't leave it alone ...shouldn't joke about really <_<

Anyway, just to let you all know, we had a phone call of our breeder, they've been moving house and things have been chaotic, We won't be picking up our little girl until Sunday 12 September. Arrgghhhh

Can't wait....SOOOOO excited, will post pics of the double trouble as soon as we have some.

Heidi

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Heidi

I have been reading the same book lol. I watched the first post come in it has been funny to read calling each other drunks and stuff. Well I understand your feelings about waiting for you new kittie I cant wait to get mine you get yours 2 weeks before I get mine I will be jealous for 2 weeks lol. Make sure you put of new pics when you get you new little girl.

Chet

Heidi,

you must be biting away all your fingernails waiting till the day you pick her up. I know I would be.

OK, so we've had our new cat for just over a week now and although we 'tried' to stick to all your suggestions it was very hard!

Our new girl is so full-of-herself it's untrue. Initially, she was very people oriented but Evvie soon put a stop to that! The girls have become inseparable and I mean INSEPARABLE.

At first Evvie was not impressed, she kept sniffing, growling, boxing and pouncing on Tally, Tally on the other hand discovered that we would come running to the rescue on hearing any signs of a squabble, and soon learnt to use this to her advantages. We call her the drama queen. Evvie only has come within a few inches of Tally and she lets off squeal to inform us that there may be trouble.

This continued for a few days and slowly but surly Evvie adapted to having Tally around. Now Evvie has started to ?Mother? Tally, she licks her, plays with her (albeit a little too rough sometimes) and they even sleep curled up together.

A few days ago we tried to introduce Tally to the run. We took both cats outside but it was obvious Tally was frightened so within a few minutes we decided to take Tally in and leave Evvie out for a while. BAD idea! As soon as we started to walk away with Tally, she called out with a very distressed MEOW to which Evvie promptly responded, the pair continued to call and the only way we could stop them was to put them both back together again. It was actually quite sweet to see Evvie taking on a mothering role!

Anyway, the two are getting on fine (although Evvie does still play a bit rough at times) and I?m going to put some pictures of them in the gallery as soon as I get home from work!

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Heidi

Hi Heidi,

So glad they are getting on well together.

I cannot wait to see pictures of them.

I have been away for 5 days on a course for work and I so missed ZEUS and HESTIA. I was glad to see there pretty faces again today when I returned.

Anyone got any advice on introducing an nervous older cat to a naughty kitten? We adopted a 3 year old ex-breeding queen over the weekend. She doesn't have a new name yet, so we'll call her Jane for now Raffy is our 6 month old neutered boy, who we've had for 3 months.

As soon as Raffy saw her he started hissing and trying to get at her. We've kept them apart for now, but we're trying the wiping each one down and transferring scent trick, but Raffy hisses when he's wiped. He doesn't seem to mind that we smell of Jane though.

Jane is very friendly, and just started eating again after two days with us. However, she is very nervous and spent most of her first day scrunched into a bookshelf facing the corner. She's getting confident in her own room, but when I took her downstairs, she was terrified, and hid under the cocktail cabinet in between making sure Raffy wasn't around.

I would like any advice on how to proceed. Our doors have little grills at the bottom, so I'm thinking of letting Raffy roam free. I'm pretty sure he'll gravitate towards the door of Jane's room for a good sniff and a hiss. I know it's natural, but I'm worried that it'll increase Jane's anxiety and set us back a bit more. I'm fairly sure if I put them in the same room Raffy would be aggressive, and Jane would run away and be traumatised for days.

Hi

I would let Raffy run free and let Jane get her bearings in her own room for now. She will take a while to settle into her new surroundings and so I wouldn't push it as she seems a nervous soul.

There is the health issue and although she appears healthy I would wait a week to see that she doesn't have any infection that may be spread to Raffy before letting them in together.

Hissing through the grill may be the best option for a while as they will be able to suss each other out a bit before the full blown meeting.

Once you let them in together I would definitely supervise the event for a few "meetings" if you think it is necessary. If things get out of hand pick Jane up and put her back in the safety of her room.
I have in the past used a fishing rod toy to distract them, they end up playing and running after the toy (with the odd hiss) and not concentrating on each other and afterwards they are tired and not so aggressive. Yours are however a bit older and may not be so easily distracted. I would however see if you can get Jane interested in a chasing the fishing rod toy prior to the meeting so it is not all new to her.

Cats are all different, so you just have to play it by ear, some cats get along fine after minimal tussles others never get along. I think it is due to where they see themselves in the pecking order.
If they are mismatched, then the dominant one takes over and there is little fighting, if they are quite close together in the rankings then there are fights to establish dominance. There is also the scenario of bullying just like in people and that can turn quite nasty.

Hopefully by two to three weeks or an even shorter time, they will be cuddled up together. Raffy with his new "mum" and Jane with her adopted "kitten".

Elsa

PS don't worry if it takes a lot longer than 2 weeks, don't give up. Time usually sorts things out.

Thanks for your reply. Jane has now become Maddy , as Jane really didn't suit her. After initial nervousness (I'm not sure she had spent much time in a house) she settled in very quickly, and was happy in her room, so before I read your post, we decided to see how things went and introduced them.

Raffy sounded just like a little lion, hissed, growled and stalked her. She pretty much ignored him unless he came to close, in which case he got a loud hiss. Raffy tried swatting her a few times, and even hissed at us, so we separated them and put Maddy back in her room. So it looks like we may be playing the long game on this, although on the bright side, fur didn't go flying! It looks like Raffy is the one who needs to learn to live with Maddy.

I've read about a few people having positive experiences with Feliway, does anyone here rate it?

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