things I've done for new kitten tomorrow

I'm getting my 2nd kitten tomorrow about 3. Her name is precious, and she was born to a feral mom. She was spayed 2 wks ago and has been microchipped. She is about 6 months old, the same as my Smokey. she is a calico, and Smokey is a diulted cali. Smokey has the run of the house, but still stays in the back bedroom most of the time, due to the dogs. Now, these are my 2 options of getting her used to the family. The foster mom wants her to bond to me before she bonds to Smokey.
1. Keep her in the back bedroom in a crate with Smokey, for a while then if all goes well, I can let her out for the food and litterbox. There are a lot of places for them to climb, hid, whatever they want. Of course, I would be there to supervise to make sure things are ok. I'll just stretch out on the floor and watch everything. Precious has been living in a bedroom with FM and there are about 4 other older cats in the bedroom. There are about 9 other cats being fostered thruout the house.

2. Put Precious in the bathroom with food/water and a litter box for a few days then let her into the bedroom. I figure that with her and Smokey both being with other cats and all that Precious will be lonely in the bathroom by herself.

I kinda think that I may have to play it by ear and see and feel how things are going. I usually do best with animals if I follow their moves and not preplan too many things. That might explain why I have 5 ferals in the barn, and each and every one are big babies. one of the ferals came from this same TNR group. they said open the crate and get out of her way, she will try to attack you. Just feed her, etc. Well, she ran out of the crate, up to my leg and started rubbing away. She loves to be picked up, brushed, brought in for special food, kissed on, etc. I just have been reading all the threads on cat intros and want to make sure I have things together.

PS. Smokey is my first every indoor cat. I've been taken over completely by cats.

Okay. I go for a combo of one and two. I've "integrated" twice in the last six months and this is what has worked for me.

Put Precious in the bathroom for a little bit. Go in there with her and get to know her with lots of pets and sweet talk. Smokey will certainly know what's up and will either hide or come to the bathroom door to investigate. Let Smokey smell you and be very reassuring towards her. Maybe feed her a special treat to let her know she can be calm. After about an hour or so, put Precious and Smokey in the same room (bedroom, somewhere larger but able to be closed off) and see what happens. Obviously under close supervision.

They may smell each other and be best of friends immediately. Most likely there will be some hisses and upset feelings. Just let them feel each other out for awhile. If either gets too stressed out, take Precious back to the bathroom for awhile. Just continue this until they both calm down enough to be left out together (when you're asleep or not home). If neither tries to attack the other, then they'll most likely just hide from each other or cautiously get to know each other. With mine, it seems they made the most progress when I wasn't there watching over like a mother hen.

When introducing Luke to Harvey I think I was way too cautious, keeping them in separate places for days. So when introducing Danny in I took this approach (after getting some coaxing from the BF, ) Smokey will definitely know there is something going on so IMO it is best to take a more direct, yet very supervised, approach. As you said, it's best to have a more flexible approach then have a dead set plan.

Best of luck to you and hopefully it well work out splendidly!

That is perfect. The best of both ideas. I'm going to go with it. It feels like the best approach. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm really excited and I hope that they turn out to be best friends.

I hope all is going well!

Laurie

Well, we have had a fun day . First, I had forgotten that Smokey isn't a fan of strangers. As soon as they got here, we went into the back of the house to the cat room. They wanted to see what I had set up. (they loved it). Smokey hid under the bookcase and didn't come out. We let Precious out and the FM held her for a while. then she passed her to me. She really does turn totally limp. I've never seen an animal do that except for fainting goats. She was like a rag doll. then I let her down and she went over to where Smokey was and they went nose to nose. then there was some growling and a little hissing. Precious came back and went to the top of the cat house and stayed there. she is beautiful. She sleeps with her head on a little stuffed cow, and when she gets stressed out she covers both eyes with her paws. Smokey came out and Precious went under to bookcase and hasn't come out since. It's been about 5 hrs. I moved her bed over to the bookcase, and put her food over there also. I'm hoping that she will relax some tomorrow. She is growling at everything, me included. I understand where she is coming from, so I'm just letting her be for a while. I'll work with her some more tomorrow. she has to come out eventually. I hope things work out and she comes to trust us. I know it will take a while, and I'll give her the space she needs for now. She is a true calico. . I now know what everyone means about the attitude. She will be the boss of the two.

Am I on the right track?

Once smells mix Smokey will calm down. I have one like that - he created the biggest fuss over Sherman, but once Sherman started smelling more like me and the rest of the home (including picking up some of their scents) Tomas got over it.

Growling and hissing are normal at introductions. But given there's no outright aggression, I'm sure things are going to be fine. And yes, just letting her be, not trying to give or get attention is probably the best thing for her right now. Just letting her get used to the new sounds, smells, routines will go a long way to making her feel safe there.



Laurie