Some advice from the PH minds....

Some advice from the PH minds....

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Superhoop

Original Poster:

4,676 posts

192 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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I currently have a 13 year old cat, who for the last 7 years or so has had the run of the house following her housemate getting hit by a car, so she kind of has the house/garden and surrounding area to herself as her own little empire.

On Tuesday, I received the devastating news that my Step Brother had dies from a massive heart attack on Sunday night, leaving behind two young boys who live with their mother and two male cats.

The cats are a couple of years old and essentially homeless, so I have offered to take them as I wouldn't want them to go to anyone but family, and as all other family members have dogs, it leaves me...

I know that it could be a tough few weeks as we introduce the two newcomers into the house, and have spent some time reading stuff on the net about the best ways to go about their introduction. We plan to segregate the two cats from the resident cat for a few days, followed by swapping some bedding between the resident cat and the newcomers so that they can get used to the smell of each other before a gentle introduction a after a 10 days or so.

Does anyone have any tips/ideas/suggestions to try and make the introduction of the newbies as smooth as possible?

All ideas welcome

ali_kat

31,988 posts

220 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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Superhoop said:
I currently have a 13 year old cat, who for the last 7 years or so has had the run of the house following her housemate getting hit by a car, so she kind of has the house/garden and surrounding area to herself as her own little empire.

On Tuesday, I received the devastating news that my Step Brother had dies from a massive heart attack on Sunday night, leaving behind two young boys who live with their mother and two male cats.

The cats are a couple of years old and essentially homeless, so I have offered to take them as I wouldn't want them to go to anyone but family, and as all other family members have dogs, it leaves me...

I know that it could be a tough few weeks as we introduce the two newcomers into the house, and have spent some time reading stuff on the net about the best ways to go about their introduction. We plan to segregate the two cats from the resident cat for a few days, followed by swapping some bedding between the resident cat and the newcomers so that they can get used to the smell of each other before a gentle introduction a after a 10 days or so.

Does anyone have any tips/ideas/suggestions to try and make the introduction of the newbies as smooth as possible?

All ideas welcome
I'm so sorry for your loss frown

You're on the right track so far as introducing them goes smile

Theres some more advice (from me & others) in this thread (it doesn't work out for her so well, as both cats in that case were very much used to being loners) but the advice is still good.

Good luck!

moorx

3,481 posts

113 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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I'm afraid that I can't offer any advice, but I just wanted to say how sorry I am for your loss and wish you luck.

steelbreeze

136 posts

133 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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Sorry to hear about your step-brother. It seems you are doing the right research to help all three cats settle in together and I hope it goes well. Don't forget to give your current cat lots of extra fuss and attention so she sees it as a positive thing. I may have missed something, but why aren't his widow and sons keeping the cats?

Erasmia

56 posts

127 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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Sorry for your loss and it's great that you are giving the cats a home. In October I found a kitten dumped in the forest and had to introduce her to our two other cats, one 8 and one 12. We kept the kitten in one room for a few days and then allowed the other cats to go in, while we kept her in a different room, so they each got used to the others smell. We didn't let them meet for a week. For the first month there was a lot of hissing from our existing cats and we didn't know if it would ever work, but 4 months in they all get along. I've always found giving cats somewhere high up that they can retreat to makes them feel safe, such as a cat tree or high shelf.

LordHaveMurci

12,034 posts

168 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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Sorry to hear of your loss & thank you for doing the decent thing.

You'll get plenty of good advice here to top up the research you've already done. We have rehomed four cats now, we have a room with glass doors so the incoming cat stays in there letting the cats get used to each other without coming into contact. Don't rush it & it should be fine in the end.

Superhoop

Original Poster:

4,676 posts

192 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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steelbreeze said:
I may have missed something, but why aren't his widow and sons keeping the cats?
In a nutshell: The widow is actually his ex, who just upped and left one day without giving any real reason, the kids live with her, and she doesn't want the cats, so I offered to take them.

Thank you all for the kind words, and thank you for the advice. I know that introducing them to our home will take time and might be a bit stressful, but the way I see it is, my Step Brother loved the cats, and they loved him too, so if I can make this work, then I owe to him to do so. It'll be like seeing a small part of his life every day.....

Jasandjules

69,825 posts

228 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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One additional thing we did - which you can't do often..... But ham.

Got a couple of packets, and when it was ready to put all cats together - I would sit on the floor with ham and just feed little bits to each cat.. They were more interested in the ham than each other.....

I repeated the exercise with the dogs and new cats. All went quite well.

Superhoop

Original Poster:

4,676 posts

192 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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That sounds like a great idea, and exactly why asking PH was always going to be a good idea

LordHaveMurci

12,034 posts

168 months

Friday 5th February 2016
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Jasandjules said:
One additional thing we did - which you can't do often..... But ham.

Got a couple of packets, and when it was ready to put all cats together - I would sit on the floor with ham and just feed little bits to each cat.. They were more interested in the ham than each other.....

I repeated the exercise with the dogs and new cats. All went quite well.
We did this but used chicken, same result I suspect!

Superhoop

Original Poster:

4,676 posts

192 months

Saturday 6th February 2016
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Well, today was the day we picked the newbies up and brought them home. They've been in "their" part of the house for a couple of hours, and so far, seem to be doing ok. They are of course a little jumpy, but they seem to be happy to eat, definitely enjoy some fuss, and as you can see, have made themselves comfortable under the dining table with some old cushions.....



The tabby is Max, which is quite an apt name, because he is one big cat. The other one is called Domino as a result of being white, with black spots down his back - he is apparently quite the hunter.

Our existing cat Caffery knows that something is going on, but so far is just occupying her normal favourite places around the house... And just so she isn't left out, this is her, lying on her favourite towel in one of the spare rooms.


ali_kat

31,988 posts

220 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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All 3 are lovely, good luck!

bexVN

14,682 posts

210 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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Only just seen this thread, my condolences on your recent loss frown.

Lovely cats, I hope it all works out, you are doing everything right so far. Plenty of knowledgeable people here that will offer great advice should you need it though.

Superhoop

Original Poster:

4,676 posts

192 months

Wednesday 13th July 2016
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So it's been a while, but time for an update...

The obvious question - how are they getting on? Well Max and Domino have settled in really well and definitely see our house as their home. The only problem we have, which was always a possibility, is our existing cat, Caffery hasn't taken to them at all.

It's not all bad though, as Caffery has got older (she's 15 now) she has steadily become much more of an indoor cat and has pretty much taken to 'owning' upstairs and now only goes out when she really feels like it - mainly warm sunny days and warm nights only - Max does have a habit of hunting for her, and from time to time, fur does fly, but Max is starting to learn that whilst he's much bigger than her, she's not scared to stand her ground and he's learning that because she's a lot quicker than him, a) she can get away quicker than he can give chase and b) if she really does stand her ground, she can be every bit as vicious as him - now when he finds her, he's a lot more wary and she's learnt that he's every bit as scared of her as she is of him - smart girl....

Max is a big cat, weighing in at 8.5kgs when we took him to the vet for his jabs, so has been on a diet, and we've git him down to just over 7kgs now - still big, but definitely healthier now than he was. He's also a big softy, loving his fuss, loves cuddles from our 6 year old, who tends to hug him to death - he loves it.

Domino, loves his fuss when he feels like it, but only when he feels like it... He does love his arm pits tickled though. He's also very much a hunter too, with regular 'presents' being left in the garden for us to find in the morning (two birds and two mice on Saturday morning alone!). He isn't bothered by Caffery at all, and if they cross paths, she hisses away at him, whilst he just gives her the 'whatever' look and carries on doing his own thing

The two newbies are very cute together, regularly sitting and cleaning each other, but again, with Domino, this is very much on his terms, so often Max is left looking like a bit of a plum as Domino just leaves him sat looking like a lemon. They also seem to have won over the neighbours, treating their house like their own, to the point that if we can't find them, they're normally holed up on one of the neighbours beds!!

Caffery definitely doesn't get left out and has the freedom of the house, whereas Max and a Domino are restricted to certain rooms only. They all seem happy enough with that, so whilst not perfect, none of them seem to be coming to any harm, which whilst not ideal, does mean that we can continue to give my brother's cats a home.

Thank you all for the support and advice, it's one of the things that keeps PH a great community to be a part of.


moorx

3,481 posts

113 months

Wednesday 13th July 2016
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thumbup

ali_kat

31,988 posts

220 months

Wednesday 13th July 2016
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Thank you, that's kinda good to hear.

How are you & his boys doing after your loss?