I know there are already lots of threads and articles on introducing cats, but I'd like some opinions and advice on our family cats' specific circumstances.
The existing cat, Ozzie, is a very large seven-year-old male who we've had for four years. He is a sensitive boy who is extremely affectionate with us but nobody else. He's also so food-focussed that we have to watch his weight, and he only plays in short bursts. He was surrendered to a no-kill shelter who just gave him to us without a home check, which surprised us. When we asked if he'd be okay with my dog, they said they thought so. I wish now that I'd asked more questions, but he was clearly miserable in the shelter so we took him. As far as we know, he was surrendered by a couple who didn't want him near their baby because he kept coming in with fleas. We were also told he was used to other cats, but obviously that was when he was two. We soon found he seemed to have no experience with dogs and never got used to mine, although I realise now that we introduced them far to quickly. He went out all day and came home each night for meals. We tried to shut him in at night for his own safety, but he just demolished a series of cat flaps. He settled in his sanctuary room but never explored past the route between this and the cat flap. I asked the shelter for help, but they said there wasn't a problem.
This year my dog died and I was devastated, especially as my starting full time work and my father's dislike of dogs meant I couldn't get another one. I initially tried to focus on getting Ozzie used to the rest of the house, which would have been the sensible thing to do. However, it felt horribly empty without the dog, and I let selfishness overcome my common sense! Dad and I decided that we wanted a cat who'd be round the house a bit more. I decided off a kitten, which would have been the second most sensible thing, as for one thing I didn't think it would be fair to get a single kitten when all she'd have was a mature cat. For another I have mild allergies to some cats and can't tell which will affect me until they're adults, so getting a kitten is a lottery unless it's from a breed that's known to be hypo, all of which are very hard to find in our area. So we looked for an adult female rescue cat who'd be compatible with Oz.
Enter Cleopatra. The rescue organisation (a different one from last time!) said she was two or three years old and just wanted to be with people. She'd been found as a friendly stray trying to feed two kittens, so had presumably been abandoned after getting pregnant. She was in a foster home where she and the fosterers' cats had been highly curious about each other from either side of a closed door, so they were ideally looking for a home where she'd have cat company. All of that sounded promising, but when we met her we felt (as the fosterers did) that she was more like eighteen months old as she was still very kitteny and playful. We also fell for her beyond reason and the rest is history. Cleo has been with us for coming up for a month. She settled in quickly and turned out to be a typical tortie: bold inquisitive, and active - essentially anti-Ozzie!
The second night Cleo was here, Ozzie walked right across the kitchen, something he'd never done before, and sniffed round the door of her sanctuary room with his ears up and his whiskers forward. We thought that was promising so we started scent swapping by giving them towels to sleep on and swapping them over daily, and by rubbing them with clean socks and giving the sock to the other cat to sniff. Cleo sniffed Ozzie's scent but otherwise didn't react, and Ozzie scent marked things with Cleo's on initially but then just ignored them. We started letting Cleo explore the house when Ozzie was out and she got comfortable visiting his room. We also started getting Oz used to more of the house.
After about ten days of this, we put up a covered barrier in a place that allowed Cleo to come out into the kitchen and Oz to get between his room and the cat flap, and plugged in a pheromone diffuser next to it. That's where the trouble started, because the barrier turned out not to be Cleo proof! She climbed over it and got into Ozzie's room when he was in. Neither of them were ready or expecting to see another cat. Result: staring, hissing, and low growls and meows. We broke them up and put Cleo back into the kitchen, but the next day the blanket fell off the barrier and both cats ran up to it and started swearing at each other again, with their eyes wide and their tails fluffed up. A few days later I was woken up in the small hours by what sounded like Cat War III. I found Ozzie sitting on the outside windowsill of Cleo's room, Cleo sitting on the inside windowsill, and both of them swearing at each other. I broke them up again, but after that Cleo would run up to the barrier with her tail fluffed up, hissing and growling, whenever Ozzie went past to get out. We realised this had now gone from bad to worse, so we went back to shutting Cleo in her room whenever Ozzie is in.
We're now encouraging Ozzie to be more confident in the kitchen by feeding him there, and we're slowly walking his bowl towards the door of Cleo's room. He's already been over there a few times, and when he visits Cleo comes up to the other side. The first time one of them hissed (I'm not sure which) and Ozzie thrashed his tail a bit, but then settled down and eventually walked off. Cleo was still on the other side of the door and didn't seem all that bothered. They've now been on either side of the door at the same time on about three occasions and there's been no more hissing, just wary sniffing around. When Cleo is let into the kitchen, she sniffs all around the bottom of the door and checks all the other places where Oz has been.
The good news is that Ozzie is now way more confident in the kitchen. He's coming in and out through the cat flap more and has even played with a ball and chased treats that are thrown for him. The current plan is to slowly work towards Oz eating on one side of the door and Cleo playing on the other, and to open it a crack when there's no more reaction. However, I'm not sure how to proceed from there. I'm really worried that their different personalities and their negative first encounters mean they'll end up fighting if we put one foot wrong. I couldn't bare the thought of rehoming either of them, especially after all they've been through, and I feel they'd both benefit from feline company (even if they're never best friends), but I worry that they might just be too different from each other. I'm also not sure if what I'm seeing at the moment is curiosity or territorial behaviour, with the cats checking what they see as boundaries and/or a disputed zone. I'm especially concerned as Cleo needs lots of stimulation at the moment and I'd love to be able to leet her outside during the day, but obviously she and Ozzie need to tolerate each other using the cat flap before that can happen! It would be really sad if she had to wait years for that day. I've suggested getting hold of an animal behaviourist to my parents, but they don't think we need one, at least not yet.
I'm so grateful that I found this forum and would love to hear any advice from people with experience of integrating adult cats. It would be great to have my hand held during this process.
I'm really sorry that this post has been so long, but thought it was important to get all the details out there. Anyway, I'm sure anyone who's got to the end of this text mountain will want to see pictures! Ozzie is on the left, Cleo on the right.
The existing cat, Ozzie, is a very large seven-year-old male who we've had for four years. He is a sensitive boy who is extremely affectionate with us but nobody else. He's also so food-focussed that we have to watch his weight, and he only plays in short bursts. He was surrendered to a no-kill shelter who just gave him to us without a home check, which surprised us. When we asked if he'd be okay with my dog, they said they thought so. I wish now that I'd asked more questions, but he was clearly miserable in the shelter so we took him. As far as we know, he was surrendered by a couple who didn't want him near their baby because he kept coming in with fleas. We were also told he was used to other cats, but obviously that was when he was two. We soon found he seemed to have no experience with dogs and never got used to mine, although I realise now that we introduced them far to quickly. He went out all day and came home each night for meals. We tried to shut him in at night for his own safety, but he just demolished a series of cat flaps. He settled in his sanctuary room but never explored past the route between this and the cat flap. I asked the shelter for help, but they said there wasn't a problem.
This year my dog died and I was devastated, especially as my starting full time work and my father's dislike of dogs meant I couldn't get another one. I initially tried to focus on getting Ozzie used to the rest of the house, which would have been the sensible thing to do. However, it felt horribly empty without the dog, and I let selfishness overcome my common sense! Dad and I decided that we wanted a cat who'd be round the house a bit more. I decided off a kitten, which would have been the second most sensible thing, as for one thing I didn't think it would be fair to get a single kitten when all she'd have was a mature cat. For another I have mild allergies to some cats and can't tell which will affect me until they're adults, so getting a kitten is a lottery unless it's from a breed that's known to be hypo, all of which are very hard to find in our area. So we looked for an adult female rescue cat who'd be compatible with Oz.
Enter Cleopatra. The rescue organisation (a different one from last time!) said she was two or three years old and just wanted to be with people. She'd been found as a friendly stray trying to feed two kittens, so had presumably been abandoned after getting pregnant. She was in a foster home where she and the fosterers' cats had been highly curious about each other from either side of a closed door, so they were ideally looking for a home where she'd have cat company. All of that sounded promising, but when we met her we felt (as the fosterers did) that she was more like eighteen months old as she was still very kitteny and playful. We also fell for her beyond reason and the rest is history. Cleo has been with us for coming up for a month. She settled in quickly and turned out to be a typical tortie: bold inquisitive, and active - essentially anti-Ozzie!
The second night Cleo was here, Ozzie walked right across the kitchen, something he'd never done before, and sniffed round the door of her sanctuary room with his ears up and his whiskers forward. We thought that was promising so we started scent swapping by giving them towels to sleep on and swapping them over daily, and by rubbing them with clean socks and giving the sock to the other cat to sniff. Cleo sniffed Ozzie's scent but otherwise didn't react, and Ozzie scent marked things with Cleo's on initially but then just ignored them. We started letting Cleo explore the house when Ozzie was out and she got comfortable visiting his room. We also started getting Oz used to more of the house.
After about ten days of this, we put up a covered barrier in a place that allowed Cleo to come out into the kitchen and Oz to get between his room and the cat flap, and plugged in a pheromone diffuser next to it. That's where the trouble started, because the barrier turned out not to be Cleo proof! She climbed over it and got into Ozzie's room when he was in. Neither of them were ready or expecting to see another cat. Result: staring, hissing, and low growls and meows. We broke them up and put Cleo back into the kitchen, but the next day the blanket fell off the barrier and both cats ran up to it and started swearing at each other again, with their eyes wide and their tails fluffed up. A few days later I was woken up in the small hours by what sounded like Cat War III. I found Ozzie sitting on the outside windowsill of Cleo's room, Cleo sitting on the inside windowsill, and both of them swearing at each other. I broke them up again, but after that Cleo would run up to the barrier with her tail fluffed up, hissing and growling, whenever Ozzie went past to get out. We realised this had now gone from bad to worse, so we went back to shutting Cleo in her room whenever Ozzie is in.
We're now encouraging Ozzie to be more confident in the kitchen by feeding him there, and we're slowly walking his bowl towards the door of Cleo's room. He's already been over there a few times, and when he visits Cleo comes up to the other side. The first time one of them hissed (I'm not sure which) and Ozzie thrashed his tail a bit, but then settled down and eventually walked off. Cleo was still on the other side of the door and didn't seem all that bothered. They've now been on either side of the door at the same time on about three occasions and there's been no more hissing, just wary sniffing around. When Cleo is let into the kitchen, she sniffs all around the bottom of the door and checks all the other places where Oz has been.
The good news is that Ozzie is now way more confident in the kitchen. He's coming in and out through the cat flap more and has even played with a ball and chased treats that are thrown for him. The current plan is to slowly work towards Oz eating on one side of the door and Cleo playing on the other, and to open it a crack when there's no more reaction. However, I'm not sure how to proceed from there. I'm really worried that their different personalities and their negative first encounters mean they'll end up fighting if we put one foot wrong. I couldn't bare the thought of rehoming either of them, especially after all they've been through, and I feel they'd both benefit from feline company (even if they're never best friends), but I worry that they might just be too different from each other. I'm also not sure if what I'm seeing at the moment is curiosity or territorial behaviour, with the cats checking what they see as boundaries and/or a disputed zone. I'm especially concerned as Cleo needs lots of stimulation at the moment and I'd love to be able to leet her outside during the day, but obviously she and Ozzie need to tolerate each other using the cat flap before that can happen! It would be really sad if she had to wait years for that day. I've suggested getting hold of an animal behaviourist to my parents, but they don't think we need one, at least not yet.
I'm so grateful that I found this forum and would love to hear any advice from people with experience of integrating adult cats. It would be great to have my hand held during this process.
I'm really sorry that this post has been so long, but thought it was important to get all the details out there. Anyway, I'm sure anyone who's got to the end of this text mountain will want to see pictures! Ozzie is on the left, Cleo on the right.
