Advice on Sudden New Addition

[cussinwolf]

Ok.  The weather here has finally gotten pretty bad at least for us.  Neighbor has an "outside cat" adult neutered male who spends a lot of time on my porch.  I thought he was a stray at first and started feeding him.  I still feed him and socialize with him when I put the dog out.  I even offer him the chance to come in and visit Clyde which he has never done.  Wind chill of -22 and he decided to accept the offer.  Boots went right up on the back of the couch and curled up and went to sleep.  So far there have been no fights.  Old dog is terrified and of course Clyde Is like "What?".  Boots even asked to go out and he came back and tapped on the door. Clyde had a housemate when he lived with my daughter and there was never a problem between them.  Not being a veteran cat owner I am not sure what to expect .  One burning question of course is will they share a litter box?  I have a spray bottle of water in case of fights.  I am in a mechanized wheel chair so I have to keep the upper hand.  Any advice would be appreciated.  Dropped out of site after brief introduction because mom in hospital in another state and I have not felt well.  Promise to post pictures once I figure out how to use the camera kids gave me for Christmas.

 

 

[catspaw66]

Welcome back. Yes, they will  use the same box, but it would be better to have two. Boots may not know about using a box, since he is used to being outdoors most of the time.

Ideally, a good slow introduction would be best   www.thecatsite.com/a/introducing-cats-to-cats  but I know it would be hard in your case. If you use the spray bottle, use it on mist and not on stream. I would urge you to find another method of breaking up any fights that happen - pennies in a can, loudly clapped hands, a good strong NO and a loud noise, or such. Keep a few balls of paper or such to use as a distraction if they start squabbling.

It seems to me that anything started would be started by Clyde. Boots sounds pretty laid-back.

Can't wait to see pictures of the two.

 

[susank521]

Welcome to the interesting world of cats. Clyde is probably the reason Boots finally took you up on your offer. Cats are funny. Cats attract other cats, but they don't necessary like to be around other cats. It's a safety thing. They see another cat doing something, like living in your house, and think, ok, that cat has survived in there so it might be a safe place after all. I can only imagine the look on both your's and Clyde's faces when Boots made himself at home. 

 I hope all will go well with your new additions. Do you have any idea how old Clyde is and, most importantly, is he neutered?

 

[cussinwolf]

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• cussinwolf
• Jan 29, 2014

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• cussinwolf
• Jan 29, 2014

Boots...Notice the goatee lol.

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• cussinwolf
• Jan 29, 2014

This is Clyde.

The night went with no problems.  Boots wanted out before bedtime and came right back in after doing his thing.  Today he left after breakfast and then come back for a nap.  We all played "string" tonite (dog too) and are chilled out in places chosen as our own.  Clyde on his blanket on my bed with his dog and Boots is stretched out on couch.  Clyde is a neutered male about 2 who came from  a multi-animal home.  Boots is a neutered male also.  Boots has very nice tuxedo markings and I think the little goatee on the chin is neat.  Clyde is a big gorgeous guy.  Big bushy tail and has really long hair on the bottoms of his feet.  This caused him to slid off an upper cabinet  and fracture a leg when he first came here.    I guess I will eventually tell my neighbor where her cat is.  Thank you for your help.    Sorry about the huge picture of one and the double on the other.  I'll figure it all out eventually.

 

[susank521]

I think that you've got yourself two good looking characters who are willing to take things in stride! My goodness, with Clyde's broken leg you really got a rough intro to cat ownership. Poor guy. He looks like he's doing well now, though. And you're right, I think you'll get it all figured out. Actually, it sounds like all of you have already gotten it figured out! Be aware that after the initial newness wears off there may be some turf skirmishes. Good to keep some distractions close at hand, like paper balls as Catspaw mentioned, a squeak toy, wand toy, coins in a medicine bottle to rattle. Things like that.