Introducing A New Cat

[Elenya Rose]

Thank you rosegold and Furballsmom, we are getting there slowly. I read the article you posted Furballsmom, which is helpful. Merry and Pippin have regular spats, not playing but not full fights. It's kind of like siblings having an argument, when they get fed up with each other. They both always stop when I tell them to though. They never actually hurt each other and there is very rarely any scratches.

I cracked the door for Pippin to sniff and Misty came right to the door and so did Pippin and no hissing from Pip! However, there was from Misty. I realised that I have been so focused on having Pippin and Merry accepting Misty, that I haven't put much thought about Misty accepting them. I will working on doing more scent swapping with her, so she gets used to their smell. I know that she accepted more dominant cats into her territory without a murmur in her old house, so hopefully she will be OK.

Pippin was cautious but her reaction gave me a lot of hope. Merry is going to be a tougher nut to crack. Pippin is much more social and easy going than Merry. Merry takes a lot of time to warm to people, whereas Pippin is a complete flirt! Merry is also the more alpha of the two, though Pippin is in denial of that!

Merry is still spending time monitoring Misty's door and if looks could kill, the door would be incinerated and Misty would be a pile of ash lol. I have tried to take a photo of The Glare, but she is not cooperating. Have given them both items which would have a lot of Misty's scent but Merry refuses to sniff it and will walk away, while Pippin is very interested and has a good sniff.

Here is a picture of Misty. She is such a lovely cat, I did a big play session with her last night and she loved it.

 

[rosegold]

if looks could kill, the door would be incinerated and Misty would be a pile of ash lol.

Here is Chilli's "The Glare" when I first brought Chai home:


Misty is so adorable. I know what you mean about the scent swapping reactions. Chilli did both of those--first heavily sniffing, then a few days later seemed to just ignore it. I think walking away is a good sign rather than a bad one! Much better than aggressively hissing at or attacking the item. You can try swapping towels/blankets daily in their regular sleeping spots. So that they naturally come across the scent rather than putting it in their face. I also swapped towels under their food dishes.

Have you been feeding them closer and closer to the door? If they refuse to eat when there's visual contact, just keep the door closed for now. Then move to having the door open a crack, or a baby gate with a sheet, then lift the sheet til they can see each others' toes, then lift it more... moving the dishes an inch closer each time... etc. If they refuse to eat meals near the door, then you can at least try really delicious treats or really enticing playtime nearby!

 

[Elenya Rose]

Here is Chilli's "The Glare" when I first brought Chai home:

Hahaha and people say cats have no expressions! Your cats are beautiful!

I haven't tried feeding them by the door yet and I will do so, I have been giving them treats right by the door, which they accept now. I gave them their treats by Misty's towel last night night and neither of them were the least bit bothered

 

[Elenya Rose]

I am so happy. Merry was in the hall way close to the door to Misty's room and I cracked the door for her to look in. Misty didn't come to the door, she was about one and a half meters away and there was no hissing from either of them. Merry had a look and ran away. I also fed Merry and Pippin about half a meter away from the door last night and they ate there with no issues. Merry has also been monitoring the door less.

I put a towel with Merry's scent next to Misty earlier. She didn't sniff it but promptly started rubbing her cheeks on it and kneading it. She is currently curled up asleep on it.

On a more concerning note Misty vomited today. She did this on Monday but I thought she may have been overheated (I found the vomit after I got home from work). We are going through a heatwave at the moment and the house was hot, we have been leaving the air conditioning on all day now for them. Merry and Pippin are only allowed outside when we are home, so all three were shut in the house. I found vomit in Misty's room again today when I got home. The house was nice and cool, so she can't have been overheated.

I suspect that it is possibly from overeating. Her vomit looks just like Pippin's, who over eats at times and then vomits. A lot of Misty's food was gone, I really think that is what has happened, stress maybe? Or boredom? I'm dithering about taking her to the vets when she has already been through a lot of stress.

 

[rosegold]

That sounds like wonderful progress between the cats!! I hope Misty’s vomiting improves. Does she seem anxious to get out of the room yet or is she happy in there?

 

[Elenya Rose]

She has been anxious to get out since the first couple of days. We let her out for a while each day to explore the rest of the house when Merry and Pippin are outside and she is slowly getting more confident. She was desperately wanting out a lot at first but has settled down a lot over the last couple of days and seems a lot more relaxed.

Most nights DP will take her into the study with him, where she also gets to explore the sun room. Merry freaks out when the door to Misty's room is open and keeps looking for where she is. I don't think it is the scent that is bothering her as much, as wondering where she could be. I only leave the door open for a little while because she starts getting upset and looks under the bed etc growling.

Whereas Pippin is all "oh the door is open, I can eat all of her food, yaaaaay"

But I am so happy with how things are going, its all patience and baby steps.

 

[Elenya Rose]

And I wanted to thank you Rose and Furballsmom for all of your encouragement, it means a lot.

 

[Elenya Rose]

Ok, I haven't updated this for a while. We have been feeding them through the gate with them being able to see each each other. They have been getting closer and we decided to try seeing how they get on in the same room.

It was a disaster. Merry and Pippin saw Misty and were alert but not aggressive but Misty launched straight into onto Merry with a yowl. Luckily we had a towel at the ready, bundled Misty into it and back into her room. We had clipped her claws the other night, so it doesn't seem like any damage has been done to Merry. Misty got out of the towel and shot straight back into her room.

I am feeling really upset and and I am really worried this isn't going to work, which would not leave any good options for Misty.

 

[rosegold]

Oh dear, thanks for the update and sorry to hear their interaction didn’t go very well. These introductions have been going on a while now so I completely understand your frustration and worry.

I think others will have much more helpful advice and feedback than I do, but I wondered about a few things. How close are they eating with the gate between them? Will they play or be easily distracted with the other in sight, or is it nonstop staring? Have you continued site swapping with all the cats? Oh, and did Misty’s vomiting clear up?

 

[Elenya Rose]

Oh dear, thanks for the update and sorry to hear their interaction didn’t go very well. These introductions have been going on a while now so I completely understand your frustration and worry.

I think others will have much more helpful advice and feedback than I do, but I wondered about a few things. How close are they eating with the gate between them? Will they play or be easily distracted with the other in sight, or is it nonstop staring? Have you continued site swapping with all the cats? Oh, and did Misty’s vomiting clear up?

Hi Rose, thank you so much for your reply. Yes we have been doing site swapping with the cats but on reflection I think I know where we went wrong. We bought both resident cats in together, which may have made Misty feel defensive and she was also far away from her room, which is her safe place. I suspect that is why she went into attack mode.

We played with Misty for a bit tonight and then bought Pippin into the room. It only went for a couple of minutes but was fine. Misty approached Pippin and Pip did hiss a bit and went into a submissive pose (Misty is twice Pippin size). After a short while Pippin went into defensive pose onto her back and so we cut it short but neither of their ears went back. All in all it went ok, we are going to do this for a short time each night and see how it goes. Probably with either Merry or Pippin on alternate nights, so as not to stress Misty to much.

Misty's vomiting has mostly cleared up. It is always after she has eaten and I suspect she is over eating. Pippin does the same thing, her is definitely psychological.

Merry and Pippin nearly starved to death when they were kittens. Their first owner went away for six weeks and left them locked in an apartment with no food. My sister in law knew they were there and got someone to break into the apartment. Apparently she thought Pippin was dead but luckily she was still alive, she was on a drip at the vets for three days. The vet agrees with me that this is why she over eats at times. Pippin kindly did one of her vomits down the side of DP's pc tower the other night (she likes to sit on the top of it). We now refer to it as the vomit falls incident