Another cat introduction thread... again!

[kakers]

I'm back! You may recall a couple years ago my posting "Another cat introduction thread" when we adopted Bastain. Sadly we lost our oldest sweet kitty, Caspian, early last month. And despite having other plans at attempting to stay a 3 cat household until the end of the year at least.... we rather impulsively adopted another cat on Friday we've named Koa. She's a beautiful, sweet as sugar 2 year old seal point likely DSH. Resident cats are Bastian (5 male) Orion (13 male) and Splenda (13 female.)

Though we're still at the point where she is exclusively in her own room (my office this time) we are already seeing that this may be another challenging introduction so I figured may as well make a thread to document it!

At this point from simply sniffing through the door we don't suspect much issue with Splenda or Orion. Orion historically has been an "I'm going to hiss and swat at the new cat then move on with my life" kind of cat and so far no big reaction to her scent. Splenda is part lover of other cats and part sassy pants, but she doesn't react AT ALL to Koa under the door. Totally acts like she doesn't exist. I was even able to keep the door cracked open to pet them both at the same time for a minute, neither reacted to the other in any way.

Then there's Bastian who is now letting us know "it's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me." While she was settling into her room Friday I let him sniff the carrier we brought her home in and instantly puffed tail. Biggggg sniffs under the door once he realized she's an actual cat who now resides in our house, same puffed tail. She hisses and growls and he meows and they swat paws under the door occasionally. Last night when my husband went in to say goodnight to Koa, Bastian rushed the door and my husband managed to just barely keep them separated. So.... that brings us to this thread!

No additional steps are planned until she gets the all clear from the vet. Her appointment was supposed to be today but the vet was sick so she goes in on Thursday. I'm suspecting she will be fine pretty quickly with Orion and Splenda but Bastian is going to need some time. So we'll see what happens!

Here's her sweet face:

 

[FeebysOwner]

There always seems to be at least one cat that will be a bit more of a challenge than the others! Use the TCS Introduction article(s) and make a plan. It is an option to move some cats through the process faster than others. So, maybe things will go faster with Orion and Splenda, and a little slower with Bastian - or not. You can always integrate one or more of them with Koa before you end up in the same step of the process with Bastian. It might just take some creative adjustments to the general introduction steps, but it is doable.
How To Help A New Cat Adjust To Your Home - TheCatSite
How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide - TheCatSite
How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat - TheCatSite

 

[kakers]

There always seems to be at least one cat that will be a bit more of a challenge than the others! Use the TCS Introduction article(s) and make a plan. It is an option to move some cats through the process faster than others. So, maybe things will go faster with Orion and Splenda, and a little slower with Bastian - or not. You can always integrate one or more of them with Koa before you end up in the same step of the process with Bastian. It might just take some creative adjustments to the general introduction steps, but it is doable.
How To Help A New Cat Adjust To Your Home - TheCatSite
How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide - TheCatSite
How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat - TheCatSite

Yes I suspect it will be much faster integrating Koa with Orion and Splenda than with Bastian. Thankfully we already have the house set up in zones due to separate feeding needs and in order to keep better track of litterbox habits when needed so the house is already set up with plenty of litter boxes and water bowls/fountains everywhere. Should make it easy to keep one cat separate at a time as needed for introductions. We can keep all 4 in separate zones at this point if we absolutely needed to by simply closing some doors!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Well, four days in, I'd expect SOMEONE to be fluffing and hissing. That's no time at all in cat introductions.

She's a gorgeous girl, isn't she? Keep us posted.

 

[kakers]

Not much new since she's still quarantined in her room until her vet appointment tomorrow. A couple more times Bastian has rushed the door and one of those times they got into a tussle so we're going to have to shut him in a room I think to even go in and out of her room unfortunately. It happened once with my husband early today but he managed to get Bastian out before they could get to each other. Just now with me he rushed in behind me and they tussle briefly (mostly just swatting each other) before I shut him back out.

She calmed down quickly and after staring at the door for maybe a minute went and curled up in her bed. He's sitting outside the door still so I'll just have to be extra careful going out.

 

[Alldara]

K kakers I had to pick Magnus up when I opened the door to Calcifer's room and then put him outside of it as I closed it.

Treat toss may also work.

If you are on Koa's side of the door, what happens if you play with Bastian with a toy under the door? You can also rub a treat on Koa's cheek and the put it under the door for Bastian. (Maybe give Koa one too so she isn't sad )

 

[kakers]

A Alldara Bastian gets pretty focused on things when he gets worked up as soon as he's sniffing loudly under the door it takes more than a toy or a treat to distract him. Which is OK we'll take as long as he needs to adjust to her being there. We already anticipate he will take the longest and we'll just keep them separate as long as it takes.

Koa went to the vet today and got cleared for starting to be introduced! I had her and Splenda sniff each other's beds and neither really reacted much so we put a gate up and let them see/smell each other. There was some hissing and swatting but nothing major, mostly Koa hissing and swatting and Splenda hissing back but backing away. Splenda is overall completely unbothered/uninterested and would have just gone downstairs but she likes being near me. Koa is nervous, as would be expected. So Splenda is laying outside the gate facing away from the room and Koa is on the bottom of her cat tree watching from the other side of the room. So far so good.

 

[Alldara]

Can't wait to hear about more progress!

 

[kakers]

Nothing new as far as interaction yet! Koa did have some time exploring parts of the house last night and we have her in the guest room with us for a little right now while Splenda is in the office (Koa's home base.) So just a little site swapping for the moment! Letting her settle into the new space a bit.

 

[kakers]

Koa is feeling much more comfortable out in the main part of the house on her visits! Much less retreating to her room yesterday when she was out and she used one of the litterboxes downstairs and drank from one of the bowls.

Afterwards we had her in her room with the gate up and allowed Splenda and Orion to approach her room. Bastian my husband held a bit away but he reacted too strongly so he went back in our room and we'll be not giving him visual access until he's no longer reacting at the closed door.

Koa did not approach the gate but watched from further inside the room. She hissed and growled a bit at the other two but also did a while laid on her side looking like the least threatening thing ever. Splenda and Orion on their part were pretty unbothered and more interested in human attention than their new sister. Definitely still expecting a relatively quick introduction with these 3 and longer with Bastian.

 

[Alldara]

That's wonderful! How's Bastian doing with the scent swaps so far?

 

[kakers]

That's wonderful! How's Bastian doing with the scent swaps so far?

He still gets really focused on smelling things that are just her scent- the new carrier we brought her home in, the new cat tree we put in the office with her, etc. He isn't as often getting a puffed tail from smelling her things. He was definitely a bit too focused on her closed door last night while I was trying to sleep with sniffing loudly and pawing under the door.

He hasn't seemed to act any different with her scent starting to get out and around the house though, just the things that smell most strongly like just her so I'm taking that as a good sign!

 

[kakers]

We decided to take a small risk and have the girls in a room together. My husband wanted to snuggle Koa in our guest/gaming room and Splenda is camped out in my lap so we decided to bring Koa in and see how it goes since it seems most likely there'll be some hissing and growling and at most a swat or two between them. They seem like they're just going to be happy to give each other space. And so far there's just been a little hissing and growling (which on Splendas end is 100% normal when another cat approaches her on my lap.) Koa has done most of the hissing and growling but has kept a distance and is pretty easily distracted by anything else going on in the room. I just wish we had treats in the room to give Koa! Now she's just going between my husband's lap and wandering around the room a bit while Splenda has stayed put in my lap the whole time.

 

[kakers]

There continues to be some hissing and light growling on the part of Koa but Splenda continues to be pretty unbothered. This picture brought to you by Koa trying to help me eat my cereal. Apparently I will never eat a meal in peace as Splenda is a world class hot dog thief and I need to block her from trying to steal my food most meals. Now I will have to keep an eye out for Koa, too!

 

[Alldara]

Oh that's truly wonderful!
With Magnus, Nobel would sit next to my wife on the couch and Magnus would just go around everywhere. Nobel would hiss when he got close.

Also excellent about Bastian! That's great progress. I always think if they are wanting under the door that they are open to making that relationship, even if slowly.

 

[danteshuman]

I would try more boxes in more rooms and cat attract litter. I think you may need to do slow introductions and site swapping for a few months.

 

[kakers]

I would try more boxes in more rooms and cat attract litter. I think you may need to do slow introductions and site swapping for a few months.

Oh they definitely have plenty of boxes- 6 of them between 5 rooms. I'm not sure why you're suggesting the cat attract litter when none of them have any litterbox issues. I do suspect site swapping will be necessary with Bastian and Koa for quite some time, but it seems she will do fine with Splenda and Orion much quicker.

 

[danteshuman]

Sorry I thought one was pooping out of the box, hence the cat attract litter.

Siamese/oriental tend to be slower to trust new people and more skittish to start (eying my scaredy cat lynx point.) Once you get their trust they are fiercely loyal. So it may take longer. Plus adult cats take longer to be accepted by the other cats. Just take it slow.

 

[kakers]

Siamese/oriental tend to be slower to trust new people and more skittish to start (eying my scaredy cat lynx point.) Once you get their trust they are fiercely loyal. So it may take longer. Plus adult cats take longer to be accepted by the other cats. Just take it slow.

Yes we're prepared to take as long as they need! When we adopted Bastian it took 6 months before they were all out together 24/7. Thankfully we're quite familiar with our cats temperaments and cat behavior (especially after such a long introduction with Bastian!) To make sure we aren't rushing things.

Normally I would not recommend someone letting 2 new cats together after a week as a general rule as it's often too fast but the girls seem to simply be communicating "give me space" rather than "I want to claw your face off" and they both tend to back off after voicing their opinions rather than approaching and escalating.

Koa is actually exceptionally good with people. When we first met her and they opened the door so we could pet her she not only leaned in but rolled over for tummy rubs! She's one of the odd cats who likes being held on her back, too. Doesn't lean away from face kisses or anything. Sweet as can be! If it weren't for the other cats she'd be nearly settled in completely by now. She's currently curled up on the couch next to my husband while we watch TV.

 

[kakers]

This morning my husband had the girls together again and it went as expected. Splenda approached Koa to sniff her and Koa gave a slow swipe "no thank you" and Splenda left her alone.

Bastian has proven to be easy to distract with treats by Koa's door and was given his dinner by her door last night as well.

For a while last night while Koa was hanging out with us on the couch Orion was out and I don't think they even noticed each other.