Adding a beautiful gal to my crew

I've had a few threads in Caring for Strays and Ferals, and have posted pics of my newest, Squeaky, in Fur Pics, but as she was obviously once a housecat, I have decided to talk about her here. She now has a brandy new furever home, here with me.

I started integrating her into my household this evening, and so far she has met Baby Bonnie (that went better than expected) and Ferris (that went AS expected.)

Baby and Squeaky are both unsure of each other and there has been some hissing and growling, but both laid down on opposite sides of my bed, tucked their paws under and threw eye-blinkies at each other - as long as neither came too close. I call that successful already.

Ferris slightly reverted to his former feral self, eyes got HUGE and he growled and "wooooooo-ed" at her until I distracted him. He hissed a few times, then wandered off when he heard Max on the wheel upstairs. Squeaky was just really watchful, and didn't seem too threatened. I spoke to each of them while this was taking place, very calmly, explaining and literally, introducing them.

Squeaky is sticking to my bedroom so far this evening, and has gone back to "her" laundry room a few times. I'll close her in there for the night, but will let her wander around tomorrow, and then I'm sure she'll get to meet the others.

*note: I usually do the vanilla extract trick on the backs of the cats' necks, but didn't have any in the house, so I will probably get some at the store tomorrow before I let her out of the laundry room again. I just LOVE it when all my cats smell like cookies, and it really helps move things along!

I do have Feliway diffusers running both upstairs and down, and that tends to help as well, as intros can be really stressful.

I think Squeaky is going to blend into the family REALLY nicely. She's SUCH a sweetie-pie!

I'm so glad she is staying. She is a gorgeous girl.

Wonderful news, congrats hun!

Great news Congrats on the new addition!

We've considered letting our feral Tom Cat join the ranks of house cat, but he's lived outdoors for too long, hubby doesn't want to stress him out and turn him into an indoor kitty. He's been outside at least 5+ years by the vet estimate and he could get territorial with the indoor kitties. Hoshi would probably be picking fights

Awl congrats on the new kitty!

Tara I had a old man cat vet said about 10 maybe older...took him in neutered him and he lived a few years as one of the calmest cats ever. goe figure sometimes they have thier own mind sets of what they will be like

Originally Posted by Tara & Rob

Great news

Congrats on the new addition!

We've considered letting our feral Tom Cat join the ranks of house cat, but he's lived outdoors for too long, hubby doesn't want to stress him out and turn him into an indoor kitty. He's been outside at least 5+ years by the vet estimate and he could get territorial with the indoor kitties. Hoshi would probably be picking fights

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Well, my Sissycat is definitely staying an outdoor cat. I tried intros a year ago, but she was having none of it and pooped all around the house - she has no clue what a litterbox is, but she knows how to go under a bush!

She's been living on my front porch for about a year now, and thanks to Kai Bengals, she's got a wonderful igloo to live in on the front porch, with her very own queen-sized comforter inside it.

This morning I got some vanilla extract, and was able to put some on Max (boy, is he mad at me,) Ginger (who knows all too well what THAT means, LOL,) and Baby Bonnie. Ferris and Penny wouldn't let me get close enough to either of them - they know what the vanilla means, too!

So ok, maybe that trick is old hat, now.

Squeaky is upstairs and is meeting all the cats altogether. She and Baby had a small altercation, and now Baby is keeping her distance.

Ginger hasn't made a peep, is obviously not pleased, but is being really good.

Ferris is really upset and lets Squeaky know when she's too close with some serious growls.

Penny is growling non-stop.

And Maxwell is watching her intently, and had some choice "words" with her earlier. It was quite an interesting range of sounds. But beyond that, nothing else interesting.

Squeaky has since wandered about the house several times, comes into my office, squeaks at me for a bit, lies down for 5 minutes, then is up and off to wander about again.

I think it's going relatively well.

Congratulations on the new addition!

I'm SO HAPPY that Squeaky is going to have you for a mommy!!! I'm sure she already knows how lucky she is

Originally Posted by Bellaandme

I'm SO HAPPY that Squeaky is going to have you for a mommy!!! I'm sure she already knows how lucky she is

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Thank you, Cheryl. I really think that she does.

Squeaky has completely made herself at home, used the community litter box downstairs, found the water fountain upstairs, checked out where the two food dishes are, and took a VERY long and deep nap on my bed this afternoon.

She really doesn't seem to care what the other cats think; she's just really happy to be here!

The others will adjust. Max isn't mad at me anymore, but Ferris has gone into hiding up in the guest room (he still doesn't understand that it isn't really "hiding" if you can see his tail sticking out from under the bed! )

Ginger is acting like all is normal, ignoring the newcomer like she ignores all the others.

Baby, well, she's quite upset that Squeaky screamed and whacked at her this morning, so now she's acting like she hates her. Poor Baby, so used to being Max's minion at #2 status. She's such a bossy little brat. I think she needed someone like Squeaky to come along and take her down a notch.

I will have no concerns about leaving them all to their own devices Monday when I go back to work. As far as Squeaky is concerned, she belongs!