Re: Cat Introduction

Cathy, I have introduced numerous cats over the decades
without significant problems.  They usually huff a bit for a 
day or two over the food dishes, but they get over it.  
A few times I have fed small kittens on the kitchen counter
for a while until they were more accepted.

The one time I had trouble was when a son brought back
a large unaltered male he had taken away as a small kitten.
His littermate, also large and unaltered, was not about to 
accept this intruder, and full scale war ensued.  Only when 
both had been altered did they resume their brotherly 
relationship.

There was one elderly altered male who adopted a pair of
kittens and mothered them totally - bathing them and herding
them around outside to keep them out of trouble.  When he 
finally died, one of the younger cats - now grown up - went into
a serious depression.

And then there was the time when we had adopted a 6-month-
old female who had been abused.  She was seriously shy and
neurotic, and it took us quite a while to get her to relax and 
adjust to the household.  Then a son brought home a tiny, 
scrawny male someone had found in a snowbank.  Clover, the
female, was not about to accept this intruder.  She chased him
into a corner, turned her back, and scratched the floor vigorously,
trying to cover up this piece of ****,  She did finally accept him 
to the point of having two litters of his kittens before we could 
get her spayed.

Don't worry about cats.  They are pretty smart at figuring out
how things work.  Just love them all.
Auralie

In a message dated 09/11/2005 12:23:42 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
tchessie1@sbcglobal.net writes:
Cathy Carpenter wrote:

>Not gardening, but since there are cat people in the group, thought I  
>would ask for hints on introducing a young cat to older ones in a  
>household. (i saw a grey and white kitten in our local pet store  
>recently and thought about a replacement for Jason.) I would like to  
>have another cat, but don't want to traumatize  either the newcomer  
>or those cats established in the household. Any ideas out there???

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