Introducing 2 very senior and 1 senior cat (3) not going well

[sillywoody]

Hi All,

Long post for details but the short of it is I have 2 senior cats and I inherited a beloved third senior cat who hates other cats. My home is large enough that my new cat lives happily away from my resident cats but I would obviously love it if she could happily live with the resident cats. To complicate things, each cat has their own senior specific needs and this makes introductions hard.

***

I have a 19 year old cat Silly (male) and an approximately 12 years young girl Ophelia (female).

Silly: 19 years old, completely blind, near deaf, very slow. On lots of meds, doing better. I’m just enjoying the time I have left with him. Always been good with other cats, but likes to keep to himself. He puts up with Ophelia who loves other cats. Since he is blind and near deaf he doesn’t have great cat manners, eg. walking right into another cat.

Ophelia: 12+ years old. Spry, very very fast and like a kitten compared to Silly, hard to believe she is considered senior. LOVES other cats.

Enter 18 year old Bailey I inherited ~a year ago. She is hard of hearing and I think going blind as well, but is fast, and large and in charge. Bailey has only ever lived with dogs. She isn’t getting along with my resident cats.

**I will never rehome Bailey as she is beloved by me and she is perfectly happy occupying her own half of my home which my resident cats never entered anyways…but I would like to get Bailey comfortable around the resident cats…so far, no dice.**

I have done months long slow introductions…scent swapping etc.

But Bailey never gets past the sniffing under the door/gate phase bc she hisses and growls A LOT.

After many months I got impatient and let Bailey into the other half of the house.

She was hissing and growling at the resident cats nonstop and would run back to her area of the house as soon as she saw them. She is SUPER slow to see the other cats bc her vision isn’t great, so she will get right up next to them before realizing it, and then begins the hissing and growling.

I separated Bailey from the residents again to begin scent swapping all over again but she occasionally manages to sneak into the resident cats half of the house.

I know having these halves of the house are part of the problem, but Silly has to be sectioned off to that half of the house for his safety, and Ophelia only ever likes to leave my bedroom to use her litter box.

When Bailey enters the resident area, if Ophelia is out of my room, Bailey will charge and chase Ophelia back into my room. Then, Bailey will walk away.

Since Silly is blind, he doesn’t have good manners. I witnessed Bailey hiss and growl, which Silly couldn’t hear or see, so he continued to walk right into Bailey. Once, Silly got close enough to Bailey that she slapped him before I could intervene.

My home is large enough that Bailey has staked out one half while Silly and Ophelia occupy the other half, and after all this time if Bailey encounters the resident cat area, she hisses, growls and charges.

I set things up now that Bailey can’t get into the resident area without my supervision.

Any advice for doing introductions when dealing with old ladies and old gentlemen kitties? Or should I just keep them separate and consider myself lucky that I can do so?

 

[heatherwillard0614]

(RC=Redident Cat. NC=New Cat)

But Bailey never gets past the sniffing under the door/gate phase bc she hisses and growls A LOT.

With this phase did you try feeding on opposing sides of the door with RC on one side and NC on her side?
If you did did you start right at the door or away where they were comfortable
For example (if NC hisses/growls at 3 feet back from the door but at 5ft back from the door she will eat then she needs to start the eating at the 5ft mark for few days and slowly move that up to the door. You do this at the pace of the cats if they aren't comfortable getting closer than the original 5ft for say a week then every feeding is done at that length away from the door. This is same for RC on their side of the door) then you slowly try to get closer to the door only get as close as you can every day where they eat and walk away with no attention being paid to the door.

Every feeding needs on opposite sides of rhe door until they are all able to eat right at the door and walk away when they are done without incident.

Once this step is completed then you do the same Feeding exercise but with them seeing each other on opposite sides of the gate. It is very important not to rush this part they have to do the feeding exercise at the door without incident before you add visual I'm going to add some links for you.

Maybe these TCS articles might help

How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction - TheCatSite

Unsuccessful cat introduction can lead to stress and conflicts in your furry family. Discover the steps for a proper reintroduction.

thecatsite.com

How To Successfully Introduce Cats [The Ultimate Guide] - TheCatSite

Introduce cats seamlessly into your household with our comprehensive guide. Gain insights into cat behavior, discover effective techniques, and make this journey as smooth as possible for your beloved pets.

thecatsite.com

Introducing Kitten to resident cat

Hi! I recently got a new kitten (Marceline) who is approx. 4 months old! My resident cat Soybean is 2 years old and the love of my life. I have a few concerns that I already ruined everything. I wasn’t sure about going through the introduction and so I separated them for a day but then let...

thecatsite.com

I hope these help.
And someone else may be along to offer some more advice. Try to stay positive, it will take time and go at the pace of the progress of the slowest cat.

I do want to say you are amazing it makes my heart happy that you aren't willing to just give up on Bailey.

If any cat has their hearing but limited vision can you put a bell on the collars of the others? This will help them hear the other cats coming?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

At their ages, this couId be something of an issue, but more in the Iength of time it wiII take than "this wiII never work." So far, you seem to be doing everything right. Just keep doing that, and incorporate what heatherwillard0614 suggests. Even though one of the cats is bIind, their nose is stiII good, and they can, I am convinced, teII by smeII how cIose the other cat is, from the intensity. Try to set expectatons aside, and...go with the fIow.

 

[ArtNJ]

It seems that you've discovered that Bailey is stressed, but doesn't actually want to fight. Get away from me swats are very different from the desire to have a full fight. That means we can consider putting them together and letting them work through it. Bailey's attitude would likely improve in time, if slowly. Time together often does more than all our clever interventions -- provided they dont actually fight, which destroys all progress.

Thing is, at these ages, the question isn't really whether its possible, its whether the amount of stress would be worth it. From the situation you've described, I wouldn't think so. Sometimes separate lives is best for all.

 

[sillywoody]

Thank you all so much for the sound advice. I took everyone’s advice and things are going as well as they can for two geriatric cats who have their own special needs. Just to give an update: they now hang out in the same room without any problems until RC (blind and going deaf) walks blindly right up into NC face, at which point NC just growls and then runs away, so now I just monitor their shared time 100% just in case and keep them in their own separate ranges of the house when I can’t monitor them carefully.