Friday July 24, 2009, 10:46 pm
Two new kittens just invaded the territory of our older cat. She's responded by spending nearly all her time outside, even more than usual for the summer season. She has always been the dominant cat, and I don't expect her attitude to ever change.

Saturday July 25, 2009, 5:08 am
My Fletchr was jealous at first and tried to dominate, but my Felicity is no scaredy cat, she stands her ground and isn't afraid to do the chasing... now they are two pea in a pod... :) Thanks Raffi!

Saturday July 25, 2009, 8:04 am
I had the same problem when I brought in a very small kitten that I picked up in the middle of the street. Mona the big cat tried to kill Nonnie, but I managed to be around everytime. Now that Nonnie is an adult cat, he takes no nonsense anymore.

Saturday July 25, 2009, 11:18 am
Having a new cat is like having a second or third baby. With cats, there is a psychological method of introduction that works every time. Put the new cat/kitten(s) into a room and leave them for a week to settle. Obviously spend time in that room with the new pet(s) so that they get used to you then introduce old cat (one at a time) into this room. As this room is now the new cat's territory the original cat will be subdued. Once this has happened and all have met, pref a couple of times, then leave the door open. The new pet(s) will gradually explore the house but has a safe place to retreat to. They may be a few subdued scuffles but eventually they will either be friends or just ignore each other but peace settles fairly quickly. It takes a while to feed them together, you will have to move the food bowls of new pet nearer to old pet.

The only time I didn't feed my cats together was because my older cat was on senior food and the litter twins went from kitten to adult food and I found that there was a lot of bowl swapping. the only way to prevent that was to feed in different places otherwise the cats have always eaten together after a few days of domination but no fighting. The way around that was to feed original cat first then new ones before putting bowls down together.

The successful method is patience and certainly by the end of a month they are together even if not speaking!!

Saturday July 25, 2009, 4:11 pm
Thanks

Saturday July 25, 2009, 4:56 pm
I have always used the method Gillian mentioned with great success. There are some cats that just won't ever bond with others of their own kind usually the older ones.
Thanks Raffi

Saturday July 25, 2009, 5:08 pm
I can understand that jealousy could be a problem. Our case was a bit different. Tommy (please see picture)
was the "senior cat". He had to be put down two weeks ago at age 22. Three years ago, my husband brought in a little stray kitten from the street. She was about six weeks old and not tagged or microchipped. After waiting for responses (that never came) to posters and animal shelter notifications, we could not part with her. We named her Tar. Within a few days Tommy allowed her to cuddle him, and he began to show her the ropes.

Tommy was 19 when Tar came in. They became very close, and in his last months Tar actually seemed to try
to take care of him.

Tommy's picture is still on my posts because I can't quite let go yet, but I'm sure Tar's picture will be exchanged for his someday.

Friday July 31, 2009, 4:08 pm
Great information. Thanks Raffi and Gillian for the input.

But it does not work on a Feral that is battling to accept love and a family. My feral regards my son's room now as his territory. He sleeps there at night, door closed. The Feral still attacks my other three kitties, especially the Siamese who fought him tooth and nail before the 'adoption'. I trapped this Feral because of his cancerous ears. They are now removed. Having said this, CAM (chaos and mayhem) has come a long, long way since his first visit to my house. One can love and pet him, but not 'lap' him. He allows me to clean his ears and mend his wounds after fights - he will fight... The good news is that CAM protects my aged kitties from a fighter across the street, who comes here almost every night to pick a fight. My kitties duck, and if CAM is outside he takes on the other cat.

If I can grab CAM in time he sleeps indoors. But a Feral is always looking at the blue yonder.