Horatio's Two Month Anniversary

Well, Horatio has been with us for two months now and is making amazing progress! Within the first few weeks, he made the adjustment from living in the basement to living upstairs full time; and now, he has made the leap to become a lap kitty. I think we can establish for sure now that though we fed him outdoors for almost a year that he isn't a true feral, but a stray that most likely knew of being in a home, but was abandoned at a young age. He loves to be loved. He constantly looks for the available lap, whether someone is on a couch or chair. He has even started coming to bed overnight to sleep with us. His relationship with our female cats, Katie and Bianca has not improved much. He does use their litter box as well as his own; fortunately, this has not made them act up. He eats out of their food bowl as well as his own, they seem to tolerate that. But I would say that they are saddened the most by him being the love hog. They retreat to the bedrooms when he is in the living room with us, or to the living room when he's in the dining room. He continues to chase them playfully, so sometimes they need our assistance getting from one room to the next, i.e. being carried and placed at a high enough location as not to be bothered by him. Bianca is preening a lot, as she is apt to do in stressful times. Luckily, so far she has not created any bald spots. Katie is doing a little better because she is still holding on to her bedside spot. The first morning she realized that Horatio was on the other side of the bed by my hubby, she was none too pleased and told him as much. Little chases and fights continue, but don't last very long. Horatio has also learned to like some toys (especially ones with catnip in it).
Is there anything else we can do to speed up the friendship between the three? Or do we just let them take their time?
We feel so blessed that Horatio has done so well adjusting to being an indoor kitty that it is hard to complain. But I am a little worried about the girls' mental health. We try to give them a lot of love, but they have always been, well, more independent. And Horatio is, dare I say, a little clingy:-) Is this all normal? How long before I come home from work to find the girls grooming him? Soon? Please say soon!

Originally Posted by KansasCats

How long before I come home from work to find the girls grooming him? Soon? Please say soon!

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I'd say soon, but I'd be pulling an answer out of thin air.

Your update is absolutely wonderful and I'm so glad to hear that you've replaced the feral label with just stray (I removed my Lucky's feral label about 2 weeks ago). Some labels just come with a stigma.

You never know with cats, particularly with a male/female mixed household. I've seen the strongest bonds between same sexes and mixed results between opposite sexes. My girls typically poo-poo the boys until they want something from them then they make up the rules for the interactions.

My opinion is that your girls will relax over time. Give them as much attention as they can tolerate (and you can spare) to make them understand that Horatio is not there to replace them. It sounds like they need some extra reassurance right now. It's hard to say if Horatio will always be an attention hog - he might just be loving life right now and as he relaxes more, he won't be so clingy. See if you can set some boundaries on where and when each of your cats get their special time with you.

And please, oh please, keep us updated on what is happening with all of them. We love to read happy endings!

Its nice to hear how good Horatio is doing!!! I cant say for sure how long it will take for everyone to get along but I can share my own personal experiance. I have three cats, two male one female. Both of my males barely tolerate each other. Hercules (1st cat) LOVES to chase and stalk Fatman (2nd cat) however as much as they do not get along I do find both of them in bed together not laying with each other but both sleeping in their spots on the bed. Fatman up at the pillows and Hercules down at the foot of the bed. Then we have GiGi (3rd "stray added in) and her and Hercules are boyfriend and girlfriend they give each other kisses and loveys all the time, they also play together in their bedroom and GiGi being the princess in the house loves to dominate Hercules and Fatman both. Fatman barely tolerates her as well but gives a bit more leeway to her to sleep next to him in bed. Alot of times though I have found that Herc and GiGi will keep Fatman out of their bedroom (those two think that it is their personal domain). I have found that by giving Fatman the extra attention that he doesnt get by having his own girlfriend or partner it makes up a bit for the other two ganging up on him.
I have never found any of my cats grooming each other but I do once in a while find all three in bed sleeping in their respective spots or all three on the couch sleeping together. One thing that definately worked for us was making sure everyone has their own alone time space even away from the dog. Fatman does get to go outside onto the front porch when he asks to. I put food water and a litter box out there and he just lays and bakes in the sun and gets his much needed space.

I hope that everything keeps progressing and keep those updates coming in!!!

Aw, such a wonderful update!

As to the girls..... we have three girls and four boys. Two of our girls just do not like new additions - especially of the same sex. That said... Ming Loy hissed and swatted at Billy if he was walking by for the first.... 3 or 4 months. Sometimes we'd hear a howl and it sounded like she was being completely mauled. Well - after witnessing what happened, turns out she'd grab at him and hiss as he was walking by. He'd swat her to let her know he just wanted to walk by - and she'd howl bloody murder.

She'll still hiss and grab at him - it's one year and four months later. BUT - they also play together - chasing and romping around - AND they'll groom each other. Not sit there and go at it - but she'll shove her face into his chest, and he'll give her a couple of licks on the head. Or, he'll shove his face into her chest, and she'll give him a couple of licks on the head.

If your girls are like our Spooky - it'll be 6 months before they relax a bit and a full year before you'll catch them grooming him if he asks for it.

So..... pretty much any time from "SOON!" to..... a year (in my experience).

I've been wondering how Horatio has been doing!!! That is all wonderful news! I'm sure your girls will continue to accept their new family member. The first time you catch them grooming each other, I'm sure your heart will melt.