introducing new cat

Hi Everyone,
I am new to this site and have really enjoyed it. I do need some help from the experts. We are hoping to bring in a stray/feral cat. I think he's more stray than feral. We have been feeding him all winter and little by little he adopted us. We can now pet and play with him although he still does not like to be held. We took him to the shelter to see if they could find him a home but he was really scared there and was very difficult to handle. They said he was feral and wanted to put him down, so we took him back. They did give him all his shots and wormed him. We now want to have him fixed and bring him inside, but we already have two cats and a dog. Can anyone give me some tips on how to introduce him to our pets? We are going to bring him in tonight and put him in his own room to see if he'll use a litterbox. We filled it with clean potting soil. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Gail

Confine him to one room of the household, put up a baby grate and let the other animals come to him, sniff the bars,ect. Then over the course of a few days take a towel and rub your existing cats and throw it in with the new one, this should help them become scent aquanted.

first you cant use a gate as both cats and dogs can get over them easily , consider using a screen door instead, easy to put on and take off when you dont need it anymore.

next it is very important to get him neutered ASAP before he begins to mark territory by spraying for scent. !!! you realy should do this asap

we have always preferred vanilla, just a little vanilla on a paper towel wiped on all the animals for a few days will also aid, i do agree with the first post that separation is part of the key, into to new home for both the existing animals as well as the new animal. use a screen door and use vanilla.

make sure hes got a number of places to hide from you and from being seen by the other animals. spend as much time as you can down at his level but not trying to interact with him. read to him ,sing to him, work on your laptop. But let him adjust, ignore him meaning don't force yourself on him. wait until he shows interest or a comfort level with you. he needs to learn you dont want anything from him. he will be terrified of new space new sounds new smells and there are other unknown animals. kind of like if you were dropped off on planet mars even though martians had been leaving food out for you

most important ingredient to success is time. time, time and more time. don't worry about other pet intros until hes comfortable in his space and with you and the other people.

thank you for rescuing this kitty.

oh - litterbox thing. you may want to use potting soil no chemicals on top of litter and he may want to lie on it. he may hold out for a day , but when he has to go , he'll use it. then you can scoop into a pure litter litterbox but leave both out for him to use for several days.

spend some time searching this site, this forum, and here's a great link just on socializing ferals http://www.straypetadvocacy.org/html...feral_cat.html

gary

Hi,
Thank you for the tips. I do have a question. Why would I want to wipe my pets and the new cat with vanilla? We will also call on Monday and make the neutering appt. Luckily, we have a place near us that will neuter strays for a small fee. Thanks,
Gail