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Meet Horatio

post #1 of 32
Thread Starter 
Yesterday was Horatio's first week anniversary in the basement. Unfortunately, hubby and I worked late, so I didn't get a chance to take pictures of him to post. I'm posting a couple tonight, they are a bit grainy but I think you will be able to tell how sweet he is. We're planning on letting him come discover the upstairs on Saturday afternoon. We have started the smelly rag project, with his under their food dish and the girls' under his. He is getting more and more clingy during our visits downstairs and sometimes cries a bit after we return upstairs. I think he is ready to socialize. We're planning on putting our indoor kitties in the bedroom and letting him go around to smell the place. If he seems comfy with that, do you think it is wise to let the girls out to meet him? Or do you think that it will take several trips upstairs on his own before he is ready to meet our other cats?
Let us know your thoughts on the best way to introduce everyone. Thanks for all the support through the past week, we couldn't have done it without your help!
LL
post #2 of 32
Such a big - fluffy! - beautiful boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You two have done all the work, and obviously he's loving it!
post #3 of 32
Look at the sweet face! You're doing a great job...
post #4 of 32
Ohhh what a bigggg kitttyy....As soon as I looked at the pics I started doing my cross between Elmer Fudd and baby talking!! *Yea BF thinks Im in need of a daily helmet* Ohhhhh hes a weally biiiiggggg kitttyyyy!! He looks bigger than my Fatty Fatman!
post #5 of 32
What color are those eyes?

He looks like one mighty happy fluffy kitty.
post #6 of 32
He is gorgeous!! I am so happy he found such a great home with such loving and caring people!
post #7 of 32
He's so beautiful! He looks just like my Sunny cat!
post #8 of 32
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all the compliments on Horatio He is very fluffy! He is actually not that big, the vet claims they weighed him in the pet taxi and deducted the taxi's weight and got him at 9.2 lbs. I'd say from handling him he's between 5 and 7 lbs. In the winter time he fluffs up big time! His eyes are bright green. Tonight after work (and payday) we came home with three doses of Frontline to get all the cats protected against any remaining fleas and possible threat of tapeworm. Our 10-year-old girls weren't too happy. My hubby had to hold down Katie, our baby of the twins, while I applied and she cried and cried about it. Bianca, the alpha sister, tolerates Frontline because she's allergic to fleas. With Horatio, even with all the fur, it was a breeze. I was petting him and then just squirted the stuff right on, he didn't even notice. He is crying from the basement now, though, I think he is lonely and bored and wants to come upstairs full time to become a lap cat. Tomorrow, we bring him up for the first time. Wish us luck!
post #9 of 32
Thread Starter 
My husband urged me to post a photo of our 10-year-old British Blue twins Bianca and Katie. They look small in this picture, but they are about 16 lbs. each!!! The really interesting twist to this story is that when my husband went to adopt them a decade ago, they had an orange brother that looked just like Horatio. He was unfortunately spoken for, so my husband could only get the girls for us. 10 years later, Horatio finds us and claims our house as the place he wants to live. What are the odds??? We are just blessed people, I think.
post #10 of 32
Your cat family is adorable!! And Horatio does look a lot like Jake! Take a look at the picture of my Pinky (top row of cats on the far right next to my nickname at top), and tell me that they are not long lost cousins!!

Have you found the introducing an old cat to a new cat thread in Behavior? It makes a lot of suggestions on how to gradually introduce cats. You won't know Horatio's attitude towards others (nor the sister's towards strangers) until they meet. With a new male and 2 resident sisters, my guess is that things will go smoothly, but one never knows with cats.

Have some vanilla extract on hand (real stuff, not imitation) to use as a scent neutralizer on all of them if you need it.

Since it's later than Saturday afternoon, I assume that Horatio is upstairs by now. How is it going?
post #11 of 32
Horatio is gorgeous and I hope he settles in well with the rest of your fur family, I ma sure he will. I just love your British Blue twins, eve more as my Billy is a British blue and no they aren't the smallest of cats . x
post #12 of 32
Thread Starter 
When we came home from work this afternoon, I went down to pet Horatio for a bit and then invited him to come upstairs, leaving the door open. We did not isolate the girls at first, thinking he's so nice and they feel so comfortable. But the minute the basement door opened, they took their guarding spots, Bianca on top of the dining room table and Katie under the table facing the basement door. Horatio came up the stairs, saw the girls and gave a friendly greeting. His soft kitty, "Hey how's it going?" meow, to which our alpha cat Bianca gave a very low, angry reply. Just one meow. She didn't hiss or growl at him, but whatever she conveyed with that one meow, Horatio slowly went back down the stairs and sat at the landing. My hubby went to the door, sat down and talked to him for about 20 minutes hoping to coax him, no go. Then, we put the girls in the bedroom, hubby went in with them and I stayed at the dining room table, kind of doing the ignoring kitty, reading routine. Horatio once again came all the way to the door, sniffed around and went back three steps down. He sat there watching me for an hour. I finally went to pet him. He ran all the way back down to his basement camp, let me pet him for a while. I told him Bianca and Katie wouldn't hurt him and they are nice girls, they just don't know him yet. I came back up, closed the basement door but left the cat door unlocked (our basement door came with a cat door, which we got a carpenter friend make a locking door from the inside, as our girls don't go to the basement unless there is a tornado warning). We're going to try to leave the cat door open as long as we stay up tonight, see if he ventures up. I'm set up at the dining room table, making sure the girls don't guard the door.
I thought this would have gone a lot more smoothly. It's shaping up to be a long, slow process.
Amy and Ruth, thanks for the compliments on the fur family's looks:-) I do think that Horatio and Jake & Pinky might be long-lost cousins, Amy. Billy's fangs are quite something, Ruth. I am kind of searching the behavior forum for advice, but there are a lot more threads there. We have been doing the smelly rag exchange project, which apparently did not help so much this time:-( We do not have a cat tree, that might be a good project. And I am going to invest in some Feliway for sure.
My hubby just asked me "Are our cats bullies?" We didn't think they would be. We thought the stray outside cat would be the one freaking out. Turns out, he just wants to be friends and they think he can live in the basement forever!
Luckily I do have the next two days off and will continue working on this. Will keep you guys updated. Any advice as usual would be much appreciated. Thanks!
post #13 of 32
You do have a gorgeous fur family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...and that went great, actually! A growl isn't bad at all! And isolating the girls while he comes up to explore (if he'll come back up there) is also a good idea for a little while each day. It'll get them accustomed to his scent in their territory.

They may all wind up being best friends - and this is no indication of how long it will take.

The trick with the scent swapping is to get the girls associating his scent with good things like their favorite treats and food. The next step is for them to think his being around is a total party. Not wanting him in their territory (at first) is quite normal... the next time they can see him, praise the one that isn't growling to high heaven and give her treats. See how the other one reacts. Get new toys for them - and try distracting them with play (often doesn't work at first).

But always give them attention first when he's around. They need to be reassured that it's their territory and they're bosses of it... and they get treats and play or pets or praise or whatever when they're ignoring him - because at least at first that is the goal.
post #14 of 32
My biggest advice is to take it slow. Some cats take days, weeks or months to adjust to each other. Your girls are pretty set in their ways and might not welcome a stranger so readily as a cat who lived on the streets who hung out with strange cats. Feral cats can sometimes instantly accept another cat while house cats are used to their "territory".

Some people use baby gates or screen doors in doorways (floor to ceiling) so that cats can exchange their scent and see each other before they go face to face.
post #15 of 32
Thread Starter 
The day started out not so good. A friend of my hubby's just had to do laundry and even though I was with Horatio in the basement and even though said friend had seen Horatio back in his outdoor-only days, Horatio freaked out and found the only cubby-hole in the basement, above the stairs to the basement and hid there all day. Finally around 7 p.m. he must have gotten hungry enough that he came out to eat. After that, we unlocked the cat door in the basement and waited to see what he would do. He has come out several times in the last few hours. The first time, he came through the cat door, looked around the hallway and went right back down. I think that was to test that the kitty door worked both ways:-) The second time he went into our bedroom walked around for a bit, knocked over a shoe box, scared himself & ran back down. The third time, he went into the spare bedroom and looked around & went back down. The last time he came up, he came into the dining room, saw our alpha cat Bianca in the living room, started walking and talking to her in his kitty voice, "Are you my mommy?" Bianca wasn't thrilled. She sat there for a while but as Horatio approached she started to run toward him. He ran straight back to his kitty door and disappeared into the basement. I gave Bianca some cheesy treats and told her what a good girl she was for not hurting Horatio. But part of me wonders if I didn't just reinforce protecting the territory behavior... Hard to tell. She did seem to enjoy her treats and went back to her favorite cat scratcher. Throughout all of this activity, our other female kitty, Katie has been sleeping on the couch.
I'm going to count today as progress unless you guys think otherwise. I think unlocking the cat door for a few hours a day and letting Horatio come up at his convenience and comfort level is the only way to do this. I am beginning to realize this may take weeks... But he is out of harm's way, i.e. the cold and traffic, and seems to enjoy his basement camp. We put a "cat wheel of fun," a cardboard scratcher and a stuffed toy down there for him. We've also switched his litter from potting soil to corn-based litter. I'm hoping he adjusts to that. In the meanwhile, there will be plenty of his scent upstairs for the girls to get used to. He really is a sweet little boy.
By the way, do they really make floor-to-ceiling baby/cat gates? I thought those only came in the 20-30-inch tall versions...
post #16 of 32
You made progress today. He came up 4 times on his own and is exploring enough things - he'll get over the scary part soon enough.

I own 4 baby gates and stack them one on top of each other. It is a royal pain if you have to go thru the door with those gates, but it might be an idea for a couple hours each day. Do you have friends you can borrow them from?
post #17 of 32
Anyone suggest a screen door yet? A regular old fashioned wooden screen door can be put up and fixed in place with shims. About $20 at Lowes.

We have one (permanently - long story) between one bathroom door (its a Jack and Jill bathroom) and one bedroom - the domain of Teresa, who thinks she's our only cat.

She and the others visit without the racket she makes when anyone feline dares enter her territory. Honestly, you'd think they were skinning her alive the way she yelled.

Anyway, a screen door may work better than the baby gates, especially at the top of stairs. I've stacked gates when I've had guests on the porch and they work great but they are a pain in the butt when you need to go in and out.
post #18 of 32
IMO things seem to be going great!!!!!

I love reading these updates! Horatio is such a lucky kitty. And your whole fur family is beautiful!!!!
post #19 of 32
Thread Starter 
Things got a lot better last night, before they got worse. After my post, Horatio came through the kitty door two more times. Went straight to Bianca, who was sitting on the floor. They did the sniffing faces thing without incident. Horatio kept circling her and talking to her and when she had enough, Bianca sat up and raised her right paw at him, but did not hit. Horatio seemed to get the message and sat about two feet from her submissively. Then he walked around again and went downstairs after a few minutes. He came up again and got close to Bianca, she didn't feel like she had to threaten him that time, he walked around the dining room, jumped up to the window looked out and ran straight back to the basement. My hubby made the joke that he saw there was still snow on the ground and decided the basement was a good enough place to be for a little while longer. It was way past midnight by this point, we thought that was enough exploring, so we locked the kitty door, told him good night and went to bed. This is when things took a turn for the worse. Horatio kept going at the basement door, trying to figure out why the kitty door was no longer opening and cried and cried and cried, until about 3:30 in the morning. I kept telling him it's sleepy time and we can all see each other in the morning, but really it did not seem to reassure him. He finally must have worn himself out or we must have passed out from exhaustion. This morning my hubby fed him breakfast and unlocked the kitty door and told him he could come back upstairs. I went down to pet him and Horatio ran from me for a little bit and seemed timid even after coming to get some pets. He's been sitting on top of the stairs in front of the kitty door for several hours but has not tried to come through once. I keep pushing the kitty door to show him it's open, but I think he's confused and we've lost some trust here. Poor kitty. Luckily I'm home all day today, so I'll keep trying to coax him to come out.
I thought the kitty door held a lot of promise, but I'm afraid to keep it open all the time just yet, I thought they needed to get to know each other a little better. But are we messing with his poor little mind too much by locking and unlocking it at our convenience?
post #20 of 32
Well, given there's no actual real aggression between him and the girls, I'd probably consider just leaving it open. He's got a place to retreat where the girls don't follow. ????

We rescued all of our kitties but one when we lived in a small space, so we had no place to separate new kitties... and no one got injured. A few scratches on a nose here or there, a couple of scabs on a head - but that was only because we didn't keep their claws clipped short enough.

If the girls did more than run at him - or go to bop him on the head when he shoves his face at them - I'd maybe worry a little. But really, it seems like things are progressing really well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
post #21 of 32
Thread Starter 
I'm with you on leaving the kitty door unlocked at all times, Laurie. Horatio knows he can go back down there when he's had enough and honestly I don't know if the girls can even fit through the kitty door:-) They are big boned! But my husband is worried that they will gang up on him when we're asleep or away at work. Did you leave your cats together unsupervised during the socialization process? I'm in agony today. I just don't know what to do. Horatio still hasn't come back upstairs. Not even peeked through the kitty door. He'll probably start exploring right as we are ready to go to bed again... I'm going to give leaving the kitty door unlocked overnight a try. Hope that we haven't lost all of his trust last night...
post #22 of 32
It is so nice to read how concerned you are for the welfare of Horatio. He is one lucky kitty. I think you are doing a great job and he seems to progressing very well. It took one of my ferals a very long time, a year to be truthful, to even venture out of her room. He is doing so well and I am sure the three of them will one day become friends.
post #23 of 32
Thread Starter 
It took Horatio all day to decide to venture upstairs again. He came up at 8:15, spent a few minutes, went back down. Then, Bianca, our alpha cat stuck her head in the kitty door and he must have done something, so she walked away. At 10:45 p.m., he came up when Bianca was sitting under the dining room table and Katie was lounging in the living room. He did OK around Bianca. They sat roughly 4 feet from each other for several minutes, but then he saw Katie (whom he didn't get to meet last night because she was passed out cold on the loveseat) and went to introduce himself. Our sweet little Katie could not have been meaner. Hissing, growling. He would back up, go back to sit by Bianca, come back a few minutes later, same response. This went on for several tries. After a while Bianca got concerned and mover closer to Katie, Horatio went up to Bianca to be like "We're still friends, right?" They touched noses, smelled around but as Horatio was trying to do a full body rub on Bianca, she turned around and swatted him twice. He retreated several feet, sat around for a while. Then, he explored the rest of the house for a few minutes and went in the basement. We gave the girls some treats, they were not amused. I followed him into the basement and pet him for several minutes. Now the girls are in the living room again, he came back out. He is so sweet and friendly and my babies of 10 years are being total bullies... We are going to experiment with the kitty door being unlocked this evening, wish us luck. I don't want to lock him in, but I am a bit worried about safety.
post #24 of 32
No, these are not turf "wars." I know as cat mommy and daddy, it is just awful to watch, because you want them to all get along.

But here's our two notable stories of bringing in new ferals.

Every one of our cats is a feral rescue.

Our very first was Lazlo. Only about 10 weeks old. He socialized with us pretty quickly. Skittish still when we brought his brother inside 10 days later. We didn't know what we were doing, and thought they'd be happy to see each other. NOT. Gary handed Shelly in through the door, and I was holding him. He looked up at me - looked around - realized he was not outside - and LAUNCHED himself off my arms and BOLTED. Ran to the front of the RV - nowhere to go. Turn around, ran to the back of the RV - nowhere to go. He kept flying up and down the furniture, all around everywhere - and Lazlo saw a moving target and went for it. They were a rolling ball of fur. Shelly would get away, Lazlo would go after him. There was no screaming - but hissing, little bits of fur flying. We didn't see any blood or anything.... and Shelly found a place to hide, and Lazlo was pooped, so planted himself in the hallway so Sheldon couldn't leave without passing Lazlo.

Meanwhile, Gary's mom was visiting, and we had to get her to the airport. Meant we'd be gone for three hours. Should I go? Should I stay? Well - we decided they wouldn't actually kill each other, so I went. When we got home, we couldn't find them anywhere. I mean - we looked EVERYWHERE. Did they figure out some way to get out of the RV?????????????? The very last place we looked was the crate used to get them to the vet. There they were, asleep, all tangled up in each other. Now - we figured they were fighting, Lazlo chased Shelly in there - and they were just so tired they passed out together. But that was it. They're not best of friends, but we often found them sleeping together or near each other. Of course, if there was a new cat bed, one would get in, and the other would try to push the other one out - he'd refuse to go, so they'd end up smooshed together in there.

Next story, a bit more appropriate. It is now 7 years later. We have four 7 year old rescues, one that's six years old, and one that's five years old (all feral rescues). A different long story, we had to rescue an almost two-year old boy. We knew he was submissive, but we also knew he was VERY cat friendly, and ours are put up with each other and we have one ambassador kitty, but....

We release Billy into the bedroom and shut the door (we can block off the back from the front of the RV. We left it this way for a couple of hours, but ours are now running at the door to find out who's back here. They've all been told for weeks a new kitty was coming home and just like they were he's homeless, so they'd better just deal with it.

We open the door. Thankfully they didn't all rush in - they came in at various times, and Bill was nervous, but would walk up and try to headbump them. They'd look at him like he was a total alien - and either run away, or bop him on the head, or grab him around the neck, push him down and grab his neck with their mouths. He'd lie down, and that'd be it.

After that, he ventured out into the living room with a fair amount of confidence. He jumped up on the window seat where Tuxedo was. He tried to headbump Tuxie, who looked at him like he was some kind of freak. Billy got down submissively, and backed up - but stayed. He lay down and watched out the window for a while. Lazlo decided he didn't like Billy, and rushed at him. Billy bolted back into the bedroom.

He kept venturing out of the bedroom OK for the first few days... but when Lazlo kept rushing at him, he decided to basically live in the bedroom for the next few months. He'd come out for meals - and we always fed lazlo and Billy next to each other, and that always went just fine.

But at that point, we just focused on getting Lazlo to stop hating Billy. We put Bill scented rags under all the free feeding dishes, we'd play with Lazlo extra and put treats down on a Bill scented rag when we were done. We kept feeding them next to each other, and we'd put Lazlo's food down first. We'd praise Lazlo to high heaven any time Bill came into the room and Lazlo didn't meowl his strange "I don't want him here" meowl (the equivalent of most other kitty's hisses). After a month, when Lazlo continued rushing at Bill, we'd pick up Lazlo, put him in the bathroom, and tell him "you don't have to like Bill, you just have to ignore him" and leave him in there for a five minute time-out. We'd open the door without looking at him and just walk away. He TOTALLY got that we didn't want him rushing at Billy. Billy never gave up. He'd get down on his belly, slowly kind of crawl up to Lazlo in that submissive position, and slowly reach his nose out - and let Lazlo sniff him. Sometimes this worked, other times Lazlo would rush at him or meowl.

We never rewarded Lazlo when he meowled (hiss equivalent) or rushed Bill, but whenever Bill was around and Lazlo basically ignored him, we played with Lazlo, gave him treats, told him what a good boy he was, &etc. It took about 6 months total - and even today (a year and two months later) every once in a while Lazlo will run at Bill - but that's usually if Bill tried to headbump him. And Bill should know by now to just leave Lazlo alone. But our ambassador kitty will often groom Billy these days. Even our Tuxedo - formerly the meanest cat alive - will let Bill headbump him and groom him for a couple of licks on the head - and then bite his near (not hard, just a "I'm done with this"). Flowerbelle (our kitty with the most energy) and Billy play almost every day - a LOT of running around, jumping each other - and we figured out they weren't fighting, because when Billy would jump on her, she'd run away - often fleeing up a cat tree - then poke her head out, look around for him - see him, and run back at him and jump on him. There were no ears back, no ridged backs... there was some crying and hissing, but without the aggressive postures, it's normal kitty play.

So... Horatio may keep coming out to explore, and keep retreating when he gets rebuffed - it may take him a little while to figure out it's better not to try to body rub them. Or he may be like our Bill, and just not give up - but retreat to the basement for longer amounts of time for a few weeks.

Do you have cat trees and a lot of vertical spaces? Window seats for them at several windows? Because the more "up" spaces you have, and the more places you have for them to gaze outside or whatever, the less forced they'll be to have to share the same space upstairs, which may encourage them to develop their own territories upstairs that overlap, but enabling Horatio to have safe upstairs space.

But basically this all sounds very normal to me. They're talking to him in cat language, they're not trying to hurt him. They're working out their language, and Horatio's gonna need a little time to learn it. They don't want to share the territory - but so far they seem not too upset about it - only if he crosses whatever "personal space" line they've got - and then they're not full on tackling him with the intent out for blood - they're using polite cat language to say "get out of my face." Bops on the head, hisses, growls - these are all rather polite ways of saying "leave me alone."

Now... if her ears were back, she was low to the ground, her back was ridged, and her tail was flat/down and waving VERY agitatedly - that is "I'm gonna tackle you and show you no mercy." If it's just hissing/growling, and an agitated tail - that's "I'm warning you." If he ignores that, and walks over - he's gonna get bopped. And he should learn that pretty quickly. If he chooses to ignore it? He should know what's coming.

But really, it doesn't sound like either of them are out for blood. They're just trying to let him know what their boudaries are. Katie could have been a LOT meaner. She was just saying "keep your distance, pal." And by sniffing noses with Bianca, she was saying "Yeah, I don't hate you." But when he tried the full body rub, she said - I might not hate you, but you don't know me well enough to do THAT yet!

...at least that's the way I interpret it.

I'd be very interested to have others' take on it.
post #25 of 32
Thread Starter 
Thank you so much Laurie, those stories help immensely That is basically what my hubby was saying about Katie as well. She is the baby of our twins (emotionally) so she was probably just scared and wanted to make sure that Horatio wasn't going to walk straight into her life and start bullying her, like her sister Bianca has done off and on for the past decade... I think that's why Bianca is more tolerant, because she has put a lot of effort into establishing herself as the dominant cat and by now she figures no one can possibly challenge it.
Last night went surprisingly well. A little after midnight, I took Katie to the bedroom (she likes to sleep next to me overnight) and left Bianca in the living room. As soon as all the lights were out, we heard Horatio come up. He always seems to announce he's coming through the cat door, almost asking for permission. When we are up, I talk to him and tell him it's OK for him to come through, but last night we didn't talk to him, because we wanted him to understand sleep time. So walked around the house talking for a bit. Even came into the bedroom and said hello. I kept petting Katie and though her eyes were open trying to see what's going on, she never moved from my arm's reach. Horatio eventually went down and we all managed to sleep through the night.
I work today (hubby's off) and then I am off again tomorrow. So by the end of Wednesday it will have been about four days with supervision that all three have had access to each other. Thursday, both hubby and I work all day into the evening. I guess your airport story indicates I shouldn't worry about leaving them alone all day, Laurie?
We do have some high places, lots of windows with cushions in front of them to sit and look out. The dining room table is a de facto cat throne. The girls love to be on here... Lots of bookshelves, luckily not too many breakables:-) So, I'm not going to worry about a cat tree yet, but sometime in the near future it may be a fun project to make one.
Any other suggestions? Tips? Please keep them coming! They help so much.
post #26 of 32
I'm totally with Laurie on this one (and I remember that airport story! ) I've seen cats that have gotten truly violent with each other and what you are describing is not that at all. Horatio sounds like a sweetie pie, and your girls have known only each other for 10 years. To think that Horatio would walk about and everything be completely normal this soon is expecting way too much. It sounds like they are moving forward together at a very good pace.

If by Thursday you have any doubts about leaving them alone together, put an obvious barrier against the cat flap on the inside of the basement. Something very visual so that he doesn't think it's the flap that doesn't work, that it's the barrier that is in his way. When the visual barrier is removed, the flap magically works again.

What you do have going for you is that Horatio was hanging around your house for a year before you brought him inside. Your girls have seen him, and most likely caught his scent on you when you came inside. That is actually helping you right now, or things might not be as smooth.

When I coaxed my Lucky Pierre into the door for the first time at around 18 months old, my indoor cats were so used to seeing him (and smelling him thru the window screens - he would sit on the outside window ledge with cats sitting on the indoor ledge so they actually touched), that he walked inside, a couple of cats walked up, gave him a good sniff and simply walked away. Stumpy (my alpha), did give him the obligatory hiss just to let him know who owned the house. Had Lucky challenged him Stumpy would have put him in his place. Which is the other thing you have going for you - Horatio sounds to be very mellow and used to other cats. As long as he remains passive, you shouldn't see any real problems.

I look forward to your updates!
post #27 of 32
I love hearing about Horatio

I think he is doing wonderful.

They'll be interacting soon enough.

You may want to search threads about Marlow and Sasha on here - 1 former feral who became an inside kitty, and then later down the road, another former feral who eventually moved into the household (diggerled - hope I got those details right!!!). It was neat to watch their progress. You'll be posting pictures of your 3 kitties interacting soon enough!!!
post #28 of 32
IMO, if Katie had a serious problem with Horation, she'd have bolted off the bed and gone for him. Same with the first time she saw him. She could have tackled him. But if Bianca is the established alpha, and she's basically OK and sniffing him without too much trouble, the I really wouldn't worry too much about leaving them alone. Obviously watch them over the next few days and see what happens.

But honestly, it sounds like things really couldn't be going much better, and I'm pretty sure they'll be OK. If you're at all worried, follow Amy's suggestion.
post #29 of 32
This Horatio thread is SO MUCH help and comfort, as I am experiencing almost the exact same thing! 19 days ago, I took in a male 2-3 yr.old neutered stray (Jake) that I became friends with outside for about 3-months.. My resident indoor only cats have lived here for 10 yrs, David (11-ish) and Lilly (12-ish). David and newcomer Jake, hit it off FABULOUSLY, they can be loose together in the house always, but Lilly is horrible, horrible, with Jake (the SAME crap she pulled with David 10 years ago!).. I still only let Lilly and Jake loose together for only a few (1 or 2) hours a day. When I am at work the newbie is in his own bedroom, but when I come home I try to let him loose with resident cats, but when Lilly starts her posturing, hissing growling crap, I get scared (can't take it anymore, I'm so terrified she will attack him) and put Lilly in Jake's room for an hour or 2 so she gets used to his scent. But just like with Horatio, one step forward, 2 steps back..

Good luck with your Horatio KansasCats, I FEEL YOUR PAIN..lol..keep posting how it is progressing (or as in the case with Lilly, regressing, lol ugh)

These stories from all of you experienced with this is so much help, thanks again and would love to hear more
post #30 of 32
Horatio is gorgeous!

Just add me to the list of people who'll tell you that your intro seems to be going very well. I have three cats. When I introduced the third to the first two, it took almost a month for everyone to settle down. There was a great deal of chasing, growling, swatting, and hissing, and I was sure I'd made a horrible mistake by bringing the newcomer into our happy home. Well, that was a little over a year ago. They all get along famously now; just today I saw all three lying on the bed together.
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