introducing stray to inside only cats

Some of you know my story with Riley. I am asking for any advice on how to get him and my 2 indoor kitties used to eachother. I feel that I can't keep Riley (stray) in a room all day until they smell eachother enough through the door. He is used to being outside and is happy out there. He is very friendly and lets us pick him up and carry him.  On the other hand, when we let him sleep in the basement, he is content in the house. Never meows to go out or scratch at the door. Any advice on getting them aquainted would be apreciated. Thanks.

Riley eating breakfast this morning.

In the behavior forum there are often threads about proper and scientific introduction.

How is Riley, I suppose he is male. Is he a tom? Is he territorial tom or is he a cat friendly, rather docile tom?   (observe, not so few territorial toms may be friendly to humans, but ferocious to everything they think is rivals).

If neutered, how long ago?

 Ex homeless are often more used in interaction between cats then home raised cats.

Thus, they often have much easier to adopt to the residents then a home raised, bough cat.

A typical reaction is they are submissive to the residents, eager to please themselves in.

The big exception is territorial, non shy toms...  They can often beat up the residents.

So that is why it is imperative to neuter them several weeks before you even think on letting them meet the residents.

Shy, not aggressive toms are much easier.  

So that is why Im asking.

If your answers show he is neutered long ago, or a very cat friendly, non territorial tom - you can start rather sharply. No big need of waiting much longer, now when the quarantine period is over.

Make sure they all have nails cut. Make sure there are places to take shelter in the meeting room.

Let him (and the residents of course) make himself comfortable with the meeting room. One hour does suffice.

And let them meet.

You can preferably begin with the friendliest of the residents.

This should work good enough. But if you want to be thrice safe, take it more slowly and more scientific of course.

Vanilla on the base of tails, swapping smells, etc...

Good luck!

If Riley is happy outdoors, but also likes sleeping in your basement, why not accept that happy arrangement? Our 3 males are very happy outside and have shown no inclination to come inside. They have warm cozy beds in a crawl space under the sun room for the winter and seem very content. One of my female cats stays mostly outside, but sleeps in the basement. She will not venture into any other room. Our 5th cat is indoor and outdoor, but mostly spends her time indoors.

Every cat is different and if Riley is content with what you have provided so far, I would leave it at that. My cat that is indoor and outdoor would never allow another cat in the house with her so I would not traumatize her by trying to introduce another animal into her domain.

I should mention that 4 of our 5 cats were strays and the 5th cat was born in our backyard.

Sorry I havent gotten back to you guys. Riley was neutered 3 weeks ago. He is happy outside and likes to come in and sleep in the basement for a little bit here and there. Most of the time he will look at us as if to say "please don't close the door, I want to go back out" so we leave the basement open and if he wants to he can stay or go back outside. I have been spraying Feliway spray around the house on occasion to clam everyone down. Mainly my resident little girl . We will see how it goes but for now, I think he's just glad we are taking care of him. Thanks for the responses!

Happy to read your update :happy3:. I am sure Riley is happy you are caring for him :heart3: He really seems happy to have things just the way they are for now. I hope that in time he will be more inclined to just stay in the basement - especially with the cold weather coming. He might then be asking you to close that door :lol3: I think you have a great, relaxed attitude about Riley coming in and out on his own. Doing it this way is really the best first step to eventually keeping him totally indoors - if he chooses :nod: He will let you know - Smart boy that one

Well all is going well. Riley wants to come upstairs and be with us so we are supervising the meetings between him and our 2 residents. I have one question though. My little girl, Missy recently had a double ear infection and my little boy, Max, now has a UTI. Could Riley be bringing germs in and making them sick in some way? They are using separate litter boxes until I can get Riley to the vet to get checked out. But there has been one or 2 times that they have gone downstairs and went potty when Riley was outside. Could they have caught a little bacteria and gotten different illnesses? Max is going to the vet in about an hour. Thnx.

No I dont think so.  Especielly as Riley isnt openly sick? He is healthy as far as you can see?

Sure, theoretically it is possible for them to catch. As there are changes in the house, including a little different bacteriae flora. And more stress.

But for it they should be very sensitive, with a bad immune defence.

Normal, healthy cats simply arent that sensitive for normal changes.

Ask your vet when you are there!   

Good luck!  *vibes*

Riley is as far as I notice, healthy. He has the sniffles a little from time to time but that's about it. My vet said there shouldn't be any reason to believe there is a transfer of germs.

For Max and his vet visit.

It is possible that they are getting something from Riley, especially if you think Riley has had the sniffles. I would try to keep them separated until you can get Riley checked out again at the vet. He probably was so stressed about his neuter and trip to the vet that it brought on a cold. My Perkin's get stress URI from vet visit's. You can start Riley on L-Lysine. http://www.netrition.com/now_lysine_page.html. It is very cheap and will help when the kitties start to sneeze or are stressed. You can even give it everyday. 1/4 tsp. 500 mg. twice daily to start then go to maintenance 1/8 tsp. 250 mg. once daily. It has no bitter taste and mixes easily into wet food.

Also - has Riley been checked for worms and had a clear stool sample ? I would then also keep your other cat's out of his cat pan until such time as a negative fecal. Much luck at the vet and hope all of your babies get well very soon :nod:

I think that you are doing the right thing. My feral is still happy to be outside but I worry that it is getting cold out. My husband does not want him in the house. He thinks that my inside cat will be upset. So I sit out side with my feral until he goes in his heated house at night. .