Barn cats intro to Indoor Cats

[Trempette]

I just moved into a house where the gentleman has two outdoor barn cats. The cats usually come in a few hours a day as they please. They are both fixed males.

I have two fixed female cats, very pleasant and kind. One is very shy and skittish.

When I was not home, the man let the male cats into the house where they proceeded to chase and fight with my cats.

We decided to bring a large dog crate into the house, and take turns putting the respective pairs in there. The cats were all relaxed and fine. I was planning on doing this for a few weeks and just letting them grow accustomed to each other.

Last night the guy let his cat out when he went to bed and I came home to find my cat cornered in her litter box and the male growling. I grabbed him and right as I went to he attacked her. She got a little scratch on her arm and it bled a bit, but she appears fine.

Is it possible barn cats just can't be socialized with indoor cats? The gentleman is leaving in a few days and I don't know how best to continue getting them used to each other. I am probably going to find a new place to live when he returns as I don't want to risk my kitties health.

Thanks for reading!

[Trempette]

Did it again tonight. Put my two kitties in the crate, then the outdoor cat was fine for awhile. Surprised me when he walked up and took a swat at my cat!!! Scared the crud out of her.

Previously we tried locking my cats in my room with litter box and food for a few hours but the walls arent all the way to the ceiling and the cats just jumped up to get in.

No idea what to do at this point, gonna keep trying the crate thing til they grow used to each other.

[TheCatCoach]

It can take a month or longer to properly introduce cats to each other. It needs to be done gradually, while the cats are separated. The way the "gentleman" has proceeded with the introductions encourages aggression. I have a method of introducing cats to each other that I've put into a .pdf. Is there some way of uploading it on to the forum? I would be happy to share it with everyone, short of sending it individually to everyone...
Marilyn Krieger, CCBC

[Trempette]

That would be very helpful. I've been doing research on introducing cats, and I know it takes time, just hard convincing HIM it takes time.

Thanks

[TheCatCoach]

Any ideas on where to upload it to?
Marilyn

[Anne]

Marilyn, you should be able to attach a pdf file to a post if it's up to 32.5 KB in size. If it's larger, please let me know and I'll either raise the file size limit or I'll upload it elsewhere to the server and provide a link. Thanks!

[TheCatCoach]

Anne,
I don't see the link here that will allow me to attach a file. The size of the document is 32 kb
Marilyn Krieger, CCBC

[Anne]

Sorry about that! The option was indeed blocked for "young cats" but I just opened it and you should be able to upload a file of up to 50KB or so.

[TheCatCoach]

Thank you! I started a new thread...
M

[wenn]

Hi Marilyn,

Great that you share your expertise with the site.