"Cat"astrophe introduction

[Guest-10079514]

Good afternoon everyone.

I am hoping some of you may have some advice for me. About 3 months ago I brought home a cat that was my office cat at work. My work closed and the cat needed to be rehomed and since she already thought I was her human it only made sense that I tried to bring her home. She is a 6-year-old short hair tabby who is very good natured. She's a little independent but not aggressive and wonderful with humans and is always been great with other cats at work.

My other cat who is 10 and has been with me since she was a kitten is having a very hard time with a new house cat.

I have had the cats separated, Coach the newly brought in cat is living on the second floor. Belladonna the older cat is living on the first floor. I started off with them separated with the door closed at the top of my stairs. They never had a chance to meet prior to that. I began feeding them on either side of the door and as things progressed fairly quietly I eventually started changing their locations. Both cats were fine with that and now both cats are very familiar with the other cats safe zone. I got to the point where I had baby gates stacked up in the doorway at the top of the stairs and the cats were fairly quietly eating on both sides of the baby gates.

Unfortunately coach has decided she can now climb the baby gates and got loose with Belladonna after probably a month of being on either side of the baby gate with her and Belladonna chased her all over the house there was a ton of howling and very feral sounds. They stopped I removed Belladonna from the situation and then I put coach back upstairs. I have since then gone back to the door closed since I only have two baby gates and can't fill the entire doorway with baby gates.

Coach is not the problem and does not really care about Belladonna. She is afraid of her but she would never start a problem on her own. Belladonna is being very territorial and I know that a lot of that is about me. She mostly hates all other human beings but she is an absolute doll to me. I have talked to my veterinarian and we did put her on Prozac for a short while but it did not agree with her and we took her off.

I am going through some problems with my family and I have had to go away for several days at a time to deal with a dying parent. Since I have had to leave Belladonna has started urinating in places around my bedroom while I'm gone. I know that my bedroom is by far her biggest safe place and her territory. But coach has maybe been in there once or twice in the 3 months that she has been here. So I'm kind of at a loss. I have all the diffusers in my house belladonna's wearing all the proper collars with the calming hormones.

But I don't really know if I'm going to be able to continue or if I unfortunately need to find another plan for coach. I know that I have other options of medications through my veterinarian but before I go there I'm wondering if there are any other things I can do without medications to help this process. Sorry for the long rant but I really just don't know what else to do right now.

I feel like I have to start all over again. And frankly part of me just wants to let them loose for 3 days and leave my house and cross my fingers but I know that that is not a good idea so no need to criticize me on that thought. I'm just tired and stressed and out of ideas. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Both cats are spayed females. I'm not sure if I mentioned that earlier

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, honestly, letting them just interact with each other would (hopefully) be mostly a whole lot of noise but no major bodily injury. ...

However, I was wondering if there is anything in this article that might help? Also, do you have an enzymatic cleaner?

How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide - TheCatSite

 

[Guest-10079514]

Hi, honestly, letting them just interact with each other would (hopefully) be mostly a whole lot of noise but no major bodily injury. ...

However, I was wondering if there is anything in this article that might help? Also, do you have an enzymatic cleaner?

How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide - TheCatSite

I am sure I have some enzymatic cleaner. Thankfully the carpet that Belladonna urinates on is one that is just an area carpet and I throw it in the wash. I have read through the article that you mentioned but it's probably worth a read again. Hopefully there's something I've missed.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

In aII honesty, you may have to start over. But...with cats, do-overs are very possibIe. I've know many peopIe of the "Throw them together and don't interfere unIess there is bIood" persuasion who have ended up with happy, content cats...but I just couId not do that.

Have you tried the vaniIIa extract trick? Rubbing a few drops of vaniIIa extract on both cats, so that they smeII the same? It's been known to work wonders in SOME cats. Not aII, I don't know one thing that works in aII cats, aII the time. They are as individuaI as humans, perhaps more so! If you choose to do that, I recommend pure vaniIIa extract. More expensive, but has a totaIIy different smeII than the fake stuff. Even I can teII the difference, and I do NOT have a cat's nose!

 

[Furballsmom]

As always, mamanyt has excellent suggestions

 

[BigCoffinHunter]

I’ve been having some luck with giving our new cat (5 mo. male) and older cat (7 years female) a couple of cat treats while they are a few feet apart on either side of me. Then a lot of praise if the female does not hiss/get her claws out. I don’t know if your cats would tolerate being that close. My female is normally a very grouchy cat her whole life, so it’s somewhat miraculous that she’s tolerating him at all.

 

[Alldara]

In the Deferred Aggression Support group they have been using a "hack" where they take a dry towel or used sweatshirt and rub it on cat A, then cat B, then cat A again and then rub it around cat level of the house daily. This builds a family scent.

I'll also recommend cat calming music and Feliway if you haven't already tested it.

If you want to try medication again there are many options for anxiety in cats. If one didn't agree, it doesn't mean another one will also disagree .
Types of Anxiety Medication for Cats | PetMD

 

[Alldara]

Here's the link if you wanted to scan the group's tips: Non recognition aggression

 

[Guest-10079514]

In aII honesty, you may have to start over. But...with cats, do-overs are very possibIe. I've know many peopIe of the "Throw them together and don't interfere unIess there is bIood" persuasion who have ended up with happy, content cats...but I just couId not do that.

Have you tried the vaniIIa extract trick? Rubbing a few drops of vaniIIa extract on both cats, so that they smeII the same? It's been known to work wonders in SOME cats. Not aII, I don't know one thing that works in aII cats, aII the time. They are as individuaI as humans, perhaps more so! If you choose to do that, I recommend pure vaniIIa extract. More expensive, but has a totaIIy different smeII than the fake stuff. Even I can teII the difference, and I do NOT have a cat's nose!

I kind of have started over. But at least gone back a few steps and started those steps again. I have not heard of the umbrella extract trick but thanks for that. At least gives me a new avenue to research.

 

[Guest-10079514]

I’ve been having some luck with giving our new cat (5 mo. male) and older cat (7 years female) a couple of cat treats while they are a few feet apart on either side of me. Then a lot of praise if the female does not hiss/get her claws out. I don’t know if your cats would tolerate being that close. My female is normally a very grouchy cat her whole life, so it’s somewhat miraculous that she’s tolerating him at all.

Part of the problem is that neither one of them are very treat motivated. They will only eat treats if they get a chance to chase them. And unfortunately we're not that close yet. But maybe there's a treat out there I just haven't tried it

 

[Kwik]

Hi G Guest-10079514
TO TCS...... first I'd like to let you know I'm praying for you and your family,having a very sick parent is heart wrenching and extremely difficult,I'm sorry you are going through such an emotional upheaval

And no doubt Belladonna is picking up on your emotional state,I'm sure this adds to her stress as well as having a new kitty in her territory-but this too will pass my friend,give it time,don't be discouraged...patience,lots of patience and they can work it out..... it doesn't mean they'll be best pals but they certainly won't be enemies - it sounds pretty good to me because Coach is so mellow and not hiding somewhere terrified,right? You said Belladonna chases her around the house so is it safe to say Coach is getting pretty comfortable around the house when not being chases?

You're plate is full right now,my advice is to not worry too much about the cats getting along right now,separation is fine for the time being while you give your full attention to your parent....when you can sort things out a little better you can focus on your introductions...... what's the hurry? Simply keep room swapping until you can be there to supervise full time....

I do hope you find this Encouraging,I've brought in an adult feral thst has never been around cats and I've got 4 here to introduce- I'm at day 65 thst the feral has been contained in an enclosure ahd now the fun begins .. hes got 4 that need to accept him,no hurry....the idea is they be with us for life,right?Just slow it down,breathe,,relax ... you handle the priority right now

May God Bless you- we are all here for you!

 

[emocatowner]

The way I'm doing it is I have a door cracked open with a doorstopper, and a cardboard box blocking the view. Even if something were to go wrong, the cats can't actually get to each other. It's easier if you have a room with 2 doors, but it can work without. Maybe something like train them to come when called, then set out the food while they're somewhere else, get the doorstop in position, and call for them?

I'm with Kwik though, just let them be separated for now. Stick to minor scent swapping, like putting some blankets on their favorite sleep spots and swapping them every so often, or whatever you have the surplus for.

For the urine issue, put more litter boxes in there for now, have one in the most common places where urination happens. You can deal with moving them to more appropriate locations later on, but that should help make Belladonna feel more confident, like the room smells like her, without your stuff getting ruined or it stinking too badly for you to be able to sleep.