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This is bit of a long read, but it would be awesome if someone advised me with this problem.
A few months ago I rescued a stray cat that lived behind my workplace. A coworker had been feeding her for the past year, but couldn't take her home so I volunteered. We think that Stray Cat had been abused in the past because she shies away from people who loom over her, feet, and especially men. (No men live in my house, so that's not a problem.) I took Stray Cat home and shut her in my mom's room and bathroom. We got her checked out at the vet's office and it turns out that she's around 2.5 years old and has already been spayed, so she definitely has previous owners at some point. She's a very intelligent and sweet cat: she's learned her new name already and simple commands like "up," "down," and "no," and once she got used to us, she adopted the habit of flopping down and purring when we would come into her room. When she's with most people, she acts just like a regular friendly kitty.
This isn't the case with our two established cats. (Let's call them Big Cat and Little Cat.) Big Cat is about 5 or 6 years old and she's the alpha cat. Little Cat (also female) is 2.5 years old: around the same age as Stray Cat. We followed the recommended course of action for introducing cats: two weeks of no interaction but switching the towels they sleep on so they get used to each others smells. After that, we let the cats sniff and hiss at each other from underneath the door to my mom's room. Next, we shut Big Cat and Little Cat in our rec room with glass doors and let Stray Cat explore the house for a few hours every day. This way they could look at each other with no physical contact and Stray Cat could rub all over the furniture and do regular cat things. This integration has been going on for about 3 months, and we are now trying to introduce them face-to-face. That's where the problems lie.
Normally when Stray Cat and one of our other cats interact between a door, glass or not, we either get a staredown or some hissing. That's fine; cats do that. A couple of times, Little Cat escaped the rec room and got a beatdown for her trouble. We are trying to let Big and Stray Cat interact one-on-one as the next step. Big Cat sets an example for Little Cat, and LC follows it. (This has been the way since we brought LC home as an 8-week-old kitten.) The plan of action is this: Big Cat and Stray Cat get used to each other; Little Cat is more likely to follow suit and accept Stray Cat. It's foolproof! Nope.
Normally, Big Cat sits in one spot and Stray Cat comes into the room, gets intimidated and slinks out, then comes back a few minutes later to repeat this process. It would be fine if this was all they did, but when big Cat and Stray Cat fight there's a lot of problems. For today's example, they ripped out bits of each others fur and SC chased BC around the house until BC his under my bed and SC was shut back in my mom's room. Both cats were fine physically as always, but Big Cat was hostile after this and did the hiss/ growl routine to Little Cat and I, which was very concerning because she is normally chill and friendly. It took her a while to calm down. This is the first time that this has happened after one of their fights and I want some advice on this face-to-face thing. (It should be noted that the majority of the time, Stray Cat stays in my mom's room and is only let out when both cats are shut in the rec room with glass doors. It is only recently that we started letting Big Cat and Stray Cat our at the same time.)
Am I going about this face-to-face introduction all wrong? Should I be letting all three cats out at once? What can I do to minimize the fighting that goes on? I don't think that waiting three months to let them interact in person was unreasonable, but what do you other cat owners think? If someone has had a similar situation, I would love to hear your experiences. I really love Stray Cat, and I would really hate to have to give her away because she and the other cats don't get along.
TL;DR version: I got a new stray cat and I am trying to introduce her to our two other cats. This isn't going well, and I am wondering if I need a new strategy.
Thanks in advance to anyone who offers advice!
A few months ago I rescued a stray cat that lived behind my workplace. A coworker had been feeding her for the past year, but couldn't take her home so I volunteered. We think that Stray Cat had been abused in the past because she shies away from people who loom over her, feet, and especially men. (No men live in my house, so that's not a problem.) I took Stray Cat home and shut her in my mom's room and bathroom. We got her checked out at the vet's office and it turns out that she's around 2.5 years old and has already been spayed, so she definitely has previous owners at some point. She's a very intelligent and sweet cat: she's learned her new name already and simple commands like "up," "down," and "no," and once she got used to us, she adopted the habit of flopping down and purring when we would come into her room. When she's with most people, she acts just like a regular friendly kitty.
This isn't the case with our two established cats. (Let's call them Big Cat and Little Cat.) Big Cat is about 5 or 6 years old and she's the alpha cat. Little Cat (also female) is 2.5 years old: around the same age as Stray Cat. We followed the recommended course of action for introducing cats: two weeks of no interaction but switching the towels they sleep on so they get used to each others smells. After that, we let the cats sniff and hiss at each other from underneath the door to my mom's room. Next, we shut Big Cat and Little Cat in our rec room with glass doors and let Stray Cat explore the house for a few hours every day. This way they could look at each other with no physical contact and Stray Cat could rub all over the furniture and do regular cat things. This integration has been going on for about 3 months, and we are now trying to introduce them face-to-face. That's where the problems lie.
Normally when Stray Cat and one of our other cats interact between a door, glass or not, we either get a staredown or some hissing. That's fine; cats do that. A couple of times, Little Cat escaped the rec room and got a beatdown for her trouble. We are trying to let Big and Stray Cat interact one-on-one as the next step. Big Cat sets an example for Little Cat, and LC follows it. (This has been the way since we brought LC home as an 8-week-old kitten.) The plan of action is this: Big Cat and Stray Cat get used to each other; Little Cat is more likely to follow suit and accept Stray Cat. It's foolproof! Nope.
Normally, Big Cat sits in one spot and Stray Cat comes into the room, gets intimidated and slinks out, then comes back a few minutes later to repeat this process. It would be fine if this was all they did, but when big Cat and Stray Cat fight there's a lot of problems. For today's example, they ripped out bits of each others fur and SC chased BC around the house until BC his under my bed and SC was shut back in my mom's room. Both cats were fine physically as always, but Big Cat was hostile after this and did the hiss/ growl routine to Little Cat and I, which was very concerning because she is normally chill and friendly. It took her a while to calm down. This is the first time that this has happened after one of their fights and I want some advice on this face-to-face thing. (It should be noted that the majority of the time, Stray Cat stays in my mom's room and is only let out when both cats are shut in the rec room with glass doors. It is only recently that we started letting Big Cat and Stray Cat our at the same time.)
Am I going about this face-to-face introduction all wrong? Should I be letting all three cats out at once? What can I do to minimize the fighting that goes on? I don't think that waiting three months to let them interact in person was unreasonable, but what do you other cat owners think? If someone has had a similar situation, I would love to hear your experiences. I really love Stray Cat, and I would really hate to have to give her away because she and the other cats don't get along.
TL;DR version: I got a new stray cat and I am trying to introduce her to our two other cats. This isn't going well, and I am wondering if I need a new strategy.
Thanks in advance to anyone who offers advice!
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