Question about introducing foster kitty

I recently got a foster cat (recently as in yesterday). Due to space constraints, I could not keep my 2 cats seperated from her. She is spayed, shots UTD, and healthy so no health worries. My 2 are fine with her. They are just kinda curious- no aggressive behavior AT ALL! I was suprised because I figured that I might have issues because I couldn't keep them seperated. Aya (the foster kitty) hisses and swats at them. Even with that, Petunia just kind of looked at her like she was an idiot. Pepper didn't seem to appreciate it so much, but didn't really do much other that pin his ears back and growl a little. Is it just going to take time or is there anything that I can do to facilitate the intros?

Well, without being able to separate them, I'd suggest Feliway spray, Rescue Remedy (both available here: http://www.catfaeries.com.

I'd give the foster alone play time a couple times a day, lots of love and attention to the existing kitties. You may also want to take a cloth and rub your existing kitties all over with it and put it under the food dish (if you have more than one, do it for each). And rub foster all over with two, and both home kitties all over with another one, and put treats out twice a day for all of them - for the foster, on the home-scented kitty cloth, and for the home kitties, on the foster-kitty scented cloths.

When we first started rescuing/fostering, we lived in an RV, so talk about no way to separate new kitties! We just told our kitties a homeless cat was coming to visit for a while, and if they didn't like it too bad - they were homeless once, so they should be nice and deal with it. I don't know how well talking to them worked - but we never really had too many problems. It just takes time.

What a wonderful thing you're doing!

Laurie

Honestly, I've never done the separted thing, and as long as the new kitty has been checked out and is healthy, I would say let them work it out on their own. You could try using vanilla under their noses and on the base of their tail, but at this point they already have seen each other. I think it will just take time for the new one to feel comfortable. If your resident cats aren't having a problem or being territorial you should be fine.

When we only had Harley and Monster (around 6 months old) and brought Little One home (around 8 wks), Little one was the one that did the hissing and swatting but after a few days she relaxed and she and Harley became best friends and playmates. Monster just ignored her, but she ignores us too..that's just her.

I would say they probably just need time to get used to each other and get their pecking order straight.

Congrats on your new addition! Can't wait to see pics of Aya!

Thank you both so much for your responses! I was starting to think people were avoiding me for some reason, lol (from my other post, not this one ). I will definately try feliway or rescue remedy. I have vanilla now so I will put that plan into action very quickly. I played with all of them earlier with Da Bird (best $10 investment-ever!) and Pepper tackled Aya while playing and there was no hissing, no slapping, no signs of aggression whatsoever. It was great! Aya is now sitting on my chest, purring like a freight train so I guess I am done posting for now

What great news! Glad to hear things are going so well.

Laurie