Multiple cat household not accepting newest member

How many Feliway plug ins do you have going? How many litter boxes?

I don't have any ideas right away but I'll be thinking about your problem, and hopefully others will be chiming in soon.

Welcome to TCS!

Have you tried mixing smells? If the only contact has been through glass then they may not be be very familiar with her smell and attack her as strange each time they see her. Cats recognise each other by smell more than by sight. You may have to add some open litter boxes for a while, mixing the used litter from time to time. Let them all sleep on old towels or blankets and switch them every few days, putting treats on them. But sometimes it seems that nothing works, and a particular cat just does not get accepted.

Sounds like you did everything in your power to make the introductions go smoothly. It just takes some time. You've already gotten some great advice. Rubbing a towel or blanket on Turtle and putting it underneath the other cats' food may also help. Cats like food so before long they will start to associate Turtle's smell with being fed, i.e. happiness.

But I have 8 cats myself and I'm going to tell you frankly, sometimes you just have to let them work it out. It's not fair if they are ganging up on her and you should break it up if you see this happening but IMO (though some may disagree), a one-on-one confrontation isn't always a bad thing. Obviously make sure that no one gets badly hurt but my cats didn't truly get along until some sort of hierarchy was established among them. After a few months of fighting all is now well in my house. There is the occasional squabble but for the most part everyone gets along, at least as much as 8 cats and a dog can with less than 1,000 square feet of living space. You seem to have much more space than I do so chances are the fighting won't persist as long as it did here. Keep an eye out for what everyone else has to say and definitely try everything you can first but if you find that nothing works, keep this in mind.

I think if you could bear it for a while, I would get at least two open trays, and let them use those for a week or two at least, mixing the litters. I don't think they would get enough of each others' scent from the Genies. Not very nice for you, I know, but it might help.

Definitely. With as many cats as you have I know it will be a pain (I speak from experience, I still do it the old fashion way because most of my cats would be frightened by anything motorized like the Cat Genie ) but it probably will help. Put out at least 2 open trays (they're cheap so you could even throw them out when you're done). Put one in with Turtle, put one out with the rest of the cats. Make sure that ALL of the other cats use their tray at least once, you may have to put them in a room with just that tray if they prefer the Genie. You can scoop them out, but I would use a cheap non-clumping litter so the smells of each cat are strong and distinguishable even after scooping. After about 3 days switch them, put Turtle's box out with the other cats and vice versa. Then try to get the other cats to use Turtle's box after it has been soiled. This may be hard, again you can shut each one in a room with only that box and I recommend it be in a room where the floors are washable in case they refuse and go on the floor instead.

Another thing you could try: Put Turtle in a kennel or PetTaxi type thing and set it in the main part of the house with the other cats. They won't be able to hurt her but they will be forced to smell her scent in "their" territory. Try doing this for a little while each day. You could also take turns doing the same with the other cats and putting them in Turtle's room.

I would defintely add more litter boxes, at least for the time being.

You can also try some vanilla extract just under their chins. That way no one will smell a new kitty in the house, everyone will smell like vanilla.
Thats also a good trick to use when one has to go to the vet and comes home with a "new smell".

Oh yeah, and have you tried scent-swapping? What you would do is take a blanket or towel and rub it on Turtle (be sure to get her cheeks real good where the scent glands are strong) then rub it directly on the other cats (again get the cheeks good). I would use a fresh towel for each cat, rubbing Turtle each time, that way Turtle's scent isn't diluted by the other cats' smells when you get to doing the second cat, third cat, and so on. Then take those same towels and rub them all, one at a time, on Turtle. Poor her will be rubbed several times but afterward they will smell like her and she like them.

Any updates for us?

These are my suggestions:

1) Vertical space. How much vertical space do you have for them? Cat Trees, cat condos? When you have as many cats as you do, vertical space dedicated to the cats - and as much as possible - is imperative. You can do it cheaply, by buying large plastic storage boxes and stacking them against a wall into pyramids and cutting holes in them so they can go through some of them into others, up, and look out.... You can make a "cat wall" or cat walls - or cat walks - like this: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...highlight=wall And check these out: http://www.katwallks.com/customerphotos.htm

2) As others have mentioned, for now, lots of litter boxes (FYI, the rule of thumb is the number of cats you have plus one, but we've got 7 cats living in an RV using 3 boxes).

3) More Feliway - lots of it.

4) Bach's Flower Essences for the three meanies and Turtle. http://www.bachflower.com/Pets.htm Dab it behind the ears, the back fo the neck, the base of the tail, and a good dab under the chin (so it wafts up into the nose). Daily for... months, maybe.

5) It's not just about scent swapping - it is about helping the other three think having Turtle around is a total party. Take one of them and Turtle into a room and play with the one that doesn't like Turtle. Before you start, rub Turtle all over with a cloth and the meanie with a cloth (keep track of which is which). Let Turtle just watch. When done with the play session (do you have da Bird?), put treats down for both - for the meanie, on the cloth that smells like Turtle: treats for Turtle goes down on the cloth that smells like meanie kitty. Tell them both what GOOD cats they are.

Any time you see one of the meaning cats ignoring Turtle - any time they come into a room she's in and don't stare at her or whatever, tell the meanie WHAT a good girl she is!

Let them know what you want - and praise them as often as possible for doing nothing negative. ALWAYS give the meanies attention first. Get them to associate Turtle's scent with fun, with play, with good things... and after a few months, if they're still after her, start putting them in the bathroom for a 5-minute time-out when they go after her. Tell them they don't need to like her, they just need to ignore her. When the five minutes is up, open the bathroom door without saying anything and walk away. They learn they get isolated and ignored for being mean to her.

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We've had this problem twice. We have a very pissy female that does not like other females when we bring them home. Spooky took 6 months to stop hissing and batting at Ming Loy. It took a year before she began basically ignoring her, though we do on occassion see her grooming her for a couple of licks on the head.

We had to adopt Billy last year, and Lazlo, who has always been good with our new kitties, decided he did NOT like Billy. Of course, this is the first time we rescued a feral that was almost two years old. But we used the above methods, and Lazlo finally stopped staring at and rushing at Bill - who was exactly like your Turtle. Billy would not defend himself, he would not fight back, he would just scrunch up as small as possible. Bill, the perpetual optimist, continued to try to make friends with Lazlo, and always got run over, rushed at and slapped in the face for his effort. We just kept at it, giving Lazlo attention first, a lot of alone play time, with treats on a Billy scented rag (and Billy scented rags under all the free food dishes) - and then began isolating Lazlo when we caught him in the process of tormenting Bill. It takes time, but the Lazlo/Bill conflict resolved inside a few months vs. doing nothing really other than scent swapping for the Spooky/Ming Loy conflict.

Just keep at it. Use praise for "not negative behavior" a lot, and your efforts will be worth it over time.