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Problem introducing new cat to existing cat
Our household has two current cats. Both female. One is an eleven year
old spayed female. The other is a year and a half old unspayed female. The older cat has lived in our house since it was a young kitten, just after being weaned. The younger cat was introduced to the house about a year ago. While it was a little rough at first, the older cat eventually learned to tolerate the younger cat. The young cat frequently annoys the older cat by trying to physically engage it, but the older cat isn't interested in playing. I'm now trying to introduce a spayed female of undetermined age (not a kitten, but not real old either) to the two existing cats. The new cat is quite playful, and I think it will hit it off nicely with the younger cat, once they get used to each other. The new cat has lived a separate room for several weeks. It's been seen by a vet and given a clean bill of health. Every once in a while, while the two other cats are elsewhere in the house, I've let the new cat go into other rooms. After several weeks of this I tried introducing the cats physically to one another. This did not go well. And no meeting since has gone well. Basically, the new cat and the older female want to kill each other. It's not like one or the other is the aggressor, they both are. Plus, if the older cat thinks the new cat has been in a room, it will not use it's litter box, choosing instead to use someplace in the room where the new cat has been. Any suggestions on how to get the new cat and the older cat to be more accepting of one another? --- John |
#2
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Problem introducing new cat to existing cat
First and foremost, give your previous cats lots and lots of love, they
might become a little insecure. Here are some strategies I have used - I have many cats.. 1. Sometimes canned food (which is a treat at my house) and not an everyday thing, is a "peace-maker" Sometimes (not always) but sometimes cats who dislike eachother will tolerate eachother and eat treats together... they suddenly become focused on the food and not eachother and begin to tolerate eachother's presense. To be safe I would put the canned food in separate dishes but perhaps in the same room so cats can start learning how to be around eachother. This is a good trick because cats will not be focused on each-other but will be focused on the treat! 2. Get a water-squirt bottle to humanely break up any fights that occur. 3. Get a few more litter boxes and understand that if you DO not do this you will risk having cats go all over the house. Give all cats LOTS of choices. 4. Another way of getting cats near eachother is to get them playing - again - the focus is on the toy and not eachother.. I would suggest getting a feather toy, lots of cat nip, and maybe several new toys.....when cats are in the same room - get all the cat intrigued by playing with them with the new toy. Cat nip around the house would not hurt. 5. Feliway is a spray that is suggested to put out "good" kitty smells. Expensive but apparently is good. 6. Consult your vet first, but you might consider the alternative medicine "Rescue remedy" to help your older kitty adjust. I think it is great that you are offering your home to another cat and that you are contemplating how to make the transition a good one. Be patient this will take some time, especially for your older kitty. By all means, do not leave the kitties unattended (continue to separate them) when you are not home. 7. Consider getting some lavender oil aromatherapy to soften the mood in your home - no doubt kitties are producing lots of "scents" and the new cat has a new smell which may be intimidating - flood the home with a new smell such as lavender. and perhaps treats such as canned food. Last but not Least - if it doesn't work - closed doors are a good thing - and all cats live safely and peacefully. Good luck - hopefully other readers will give you ideas as well. |
#3
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Problem introducing new cat to existing cat
JJ wrote: 7. Consider getting some lavender oil aromatherapy to soften the mood in your home - no doubt kitties are producing lots of "scents" and the new cat has a new smell which may be intimidating - flood the home with a new smell such as lavender. and perhaps treats such as canned food. Some really good advice, JJ, but I did want to comment on this particularly. Caution really needs to be used if considering aromatherapy for cats. Here's a site that goes into quite a bit of detail: http://www.thelavendercat.bigstep.com/generic.html "Generally, essential oils consist of hydrocarbons or monofunctional compounds from mono-and sesqui-terpenes, together phenylpropanoids and other volatile aliphatic and aromatic substances." "Many terpenoids are rapidly absorbed orally and dermally by the cat's system and are metabolized in the liver. Due to their volatile nature, inhalation of essential oil components is also possible, and these enter the bloodstream via the lungs, also to be metabolized in the liver. The terpenoids and their metabolites are often conjugated with glucuronic acid (glucuronidation) and glycine depending on the type of terpenoid and animal species involved. The conjugated metabolites are usually more water-soluble and are easily excreted through the kidney and feces." "Cats are known to be deficient in their ability to eliminate compounds through hepatic glucuronidation (they lack enzyme glucuronyl tranferases). Glucuronidation is an important detoxification mechanism present in most animals except cats. Lack of this important detoxification mechanism in cats may result in slower elimination and thus build up of the toxic metabolites in the body causing toxicity problems." We have an herbal calmative that we got through our vet that works well for stress in cats (better than Rescue Remedy in my experience). When I get home from work later, I can look at the bottle to see the name of it. Lauren |
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