Adding new cat to the family..?

My mums boyfriends mother has recently been put into the hospital, and unfortunately she will not be returning home. Her son, my mums boyfriend, is currently taking are of her cat, Patches. But he lives on a boat starting in a few weeks and the cat has no where to go. (he is on the boat from april-oct/nov)

So I have offered to take her in. But I am and sort of regretting it.

From what I have been told, she does not like dogs. Her meowmy dog sat for a relative and she hid the entire time. I have 2 dogs, one of them being a quite large dog. As well as 5 cats.
It will be stressful enough for her to be moving homes.. let alone there be a hoard of other animals at her new home.

I am not entirely sure on how to work her into the family. All my cats I have gotten as kittens and they all adjusted very quickly. Even the adults to the kittens. (Gordito and Potpart came to me at 4 weeks old, and Cappy at 12 days old. So they all got along from the beginning) But my cats try to kill other adult cats.

I am wondering what I got myself into here.

I will have to keep her in my room for the first little while, I am sure. But my one dog, Mia, sleeps with me every night.. so I'm not sure how its going to work out.

Is there anything I can do to ease it along? I have heard about feliway and will try it if it will help.

I am hoping that one of the relatives will take her.. but right now I am the only place for her. Me or one last trip to the vets.

It will take time, but i believe that your cat will get used to everything.

I am thinking that if I get another female cat, it will help my kitten to over come her eating habits, but I don't know if it is a good idea or not, any suggestions?

What kind of (large) dog is it?

Bouvier cross. and then I have a chinese crested cross as well, she's about 30lbs where as Apollo, the bouvier mix is 90lbs.


I'm not sure, DarLy.

I'd set her up in her own space & slowly introduce her. Yes, she'll be terrified for awhile, but eventually I think she will settle in.

How old is she?

Bouvier's are big dogs, and programmed to herd - it may want to 'herd' your cats, who won't like the idea at all, so I wouldn't want to leave them alone together for any length of time - the dog is just so big and could see sitting on the cat as being one way of keeping it from straying. Makes me nervous!

That makes a lot of sense now. Haha. I totally forgot that Bouvs were herding dogs.. and I always get mad at him when he chases the cats. And this is something that he has always done.. I have never been able to stop him from it. And now, after 6 years, it clicks.

I'm not worried about him bothering with her.. I'm more worried about her hiding and never coming out to eat. I've seen what happens to cats that become depresses and stop eating and go into renal failure. I worked in a cat rescue for 4 long years and I saw it all the time.. and I don't want to 'kill' the cat.

Would she be okay in a bedroom by herself most of the time? If she doens't get along with Mia right away, I'll have to sleep on the couch with the dog. But then the cat will be left alone for most of the day. I work full time, my mum works fulltime, and my sister is in school.
And just to let you guys know that the dog has to sleep with me. She has severe seperation anxiety, and I've tried to sleep in the room without her, and she just paces through the house. There was a point where I was working midnights, and that stressed her out.