New Home For Sgt. Pepper, A CATegorical Success

Recently my wife and I made the decision to adopt a stray male DSH. Our new addition, Sgt. Pepper had been living on the street near a business complex. We would take turns feeding him and when it was my turn I would sit and visit with him while he ate his evening meal. He eventually allowed me to pet him and before long he was sitting in my lap after he finished his meal.

Just after Thanksgiving, I coaxed him with chicken into a carrier and took him straight to our veterinarian. Needless to say he was a little miffed at me and didn't speak all the way to the vet's office.

Taking the advice of a couple of cat advocates on line, we brought Sgt. Pepper home and let him loose in a spare bedroom. He has been there ever since and my wife and I are hopeful that he will adjust to his new surroundings and our two other cats, Beckham and Bailey. We let him roam the house in the evenings thinking this was part of his regular routine at the business complex. He hasn't made friends completely with our other two yet but again we are hopeful.

This is a small but significant success story (so far) for us and I thought I would share it with other TCS readers. We plan to provide follow-up progress reports and apologize in advance for the quality of the the Sarge's first photo.

We would be interested in hearing of other successes.  

Best Regards,

Royal7

Welcome to TCS And how wonderful that you have rescued this sweet boy. He is so gorgeous :love: He must have been a pet at sometime to be so sweet after he started to trust you and your wife. Poor baby - but NOW he has a wonderful new loving home and two new sibling's soon to play with. We just love to hear about these wonderful success stories and please DO keep the updates coming on how Sgt. Pepper adjusts to your family. There are many, many success stories here on TCS. Hope you enjoy your time here on TCS and please make yourself at home . It is a great place to hang with other cat lover's such as yourself :lovegrin:

Agree with Feralvr!

Welcome to the TCS site and  Forums!

Good luck and *vibes* !

Good morning to everyone on TCS. Just wanted to provide an update and discuss some socializing issues regarding our newest arrival Sergeant Pepper and his siblings. SP has been in his new home now for a week and what my wife and I have been doing is separating him from his siblings until the early evening. We then open the door to his room and let him roam free around the house and mingle with the other two.

It seems that he is trying to establish who is the more dominant cat, Bailey who is friendly and sociable but runs when SP shows signs of agression or Beckham who growls then flees whenever SP comes close but sometimes just rubs noses in passing.

We realize cats are cats and despite all of the talk about cats owning their humans we are asking for some recommendations about our current practice and whether or not we should just keep the "open door" policy with SP and let him mingle at his leisure or confine him to his room during the daylight hours. We believe his routine before capture was hunt by night and sleep by day.

Any recommendations you can provide would be helpful.

Happy Holidays and Best Regards,

Dad of 3

Royal7

Im a little suprised he isnt more adjustable to your residents. Most shy homeless are...

How old does is he?  I presume the vet had some guess?  Or you do have a guess?

Did he got neutered?   Or is he still a tom?

Anyway, neutering and the hormones wearing off usually helps. Absolutely necessary if he was a dominant, territorial tom, but helps in most cases.

As you dont have any quarantine but let him meet your residents and road the house at will, it probably dont matters much if you keep him isolated during the days.  Its probably better the first meetings with the residents are daytime, when you can have some supervision.

Good luck!

I am wondering, as Stefan, is SP neutered? I am assuming so, because in your original reply to mentioned you took him to the vet. So I assumed this meant he was neutered. IF he is not. Keep him totally separated from your other two until he is neutered. If he IS neutered then make sure you supervise any "free" time he has out of that room in the beginning - up to two week's - before I would leave them alone. You don't want them to have any bad experiences in the beginning of developing their relationship's. That could cause much damage and bring on multi-cat aggression habit's. So take your time, be very patient about introductions and make sure they go smoothly in the beginning. This is very important for a good, long-term, healthy relationship with your other two cat's.

Happy Holidays to you too Much luck with SP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :cross:

SP is about 3 years-old and is neutered. Because we used to feed him at night we believe he prowled during the night and slept during the day. We have been keeping him isolated during the mornings through the afternoon to allow him to rest. Just today though I opened the door to his room and he didn't appear until late afternoon.

Thank you for the recommendations and continued support.

Dad of 3

Royal7

Sergeant Pepper progress update: We continue to keep him in his room with food and water during the night and allow him to come out only when either of us are around to supervise the interaction with the other two cats. However, there are some questions we have regarding his behavior when he is out.

• When he meets one of his siblings in a room and they are close enough that it appears there will be a fight do we allow them to exchange blows or do we separate them?
• We  believe that he is a night cat but can we change his routine to coincide with the other two cats i.e. eat/play during part of the day, sleep then sleep again during some of the night?

More questions to come for sure and we continue to value your support and recommendations

Best Regards,

Mom and Dad of 3

Royal7

Royal7 said:

Sergeant Pepper progress update: We continue to keep him in his room with food and water during the night and allow him to come out only when either of us are around to supervise the interaction with the other two cats. However, there are some questions we have regarding his behavior when he is out.

• When he meets one of his siblings in a room and they are close enough that it appears there will be a fight do we allow them to exchange blows  or do we separate them?

Best Regards,

Mom and Dad of 3

Royal7

Click to expand...

It depends on what sort of blows it is.  Are they for real, claws out?  So you must stop it.    But I presume it is not real fights. Otherwise you would surely notice it!  When they do fight for real you cant miss it for anything else.

But hard play, or even teaching blows, can be misunderstood.

It is soft paws, it is their normal ways of teaching.  And you can and probably should, allow it.

I will continue about the night/day scheme later in the evening.

Some controversies are natural before everything is settled up.  So some hissing, and some exchanging of hits with soft paw...

It is possible to avoid it by a "scientific" approach...  You did choosed to go on the natural way.  So you must let them some allowance.

ps. Do you have more pictures of the newcomer?

I think his head looks almost as on a russian...

I'd like some pictures too   Is one of his ears, tipped?  If tipped, he may have been TNRd at one time and is use to living on the streets. 

Cats are naturally nocturnal; they hunt at night.  This is especially true if SP has been living on the streets for any length of time.  (Condition of nails and fur can indicate this.)  But once SP knows that food will come regular and that he won't have to hunt for it, his schedule will self-adjust.

Expect some regression; SP was friendly to you in his 'safe' environment. 

Anticipate success:  since January 2011 I have retrapped five cats from the colony I take care of and moved them into my friend's spare room in her house ('cattery').  The resocialization process was slow but ultimately rewarding:  two cats have been placed into Forever Homes; two are available for adoption; and one (the most feral) is a 'work in progress'. 

Ritz said:

Cats are naturally nocturnal; they hunt at night.  This is especially true if SP has been living on the streets for any length of time.  (Condition of nails and fur can indicate this.)  But once SP knows that food will come regular and that he won't have to hunt for it, his schedule will self-adjust.

Click to expand...

I second and lend Ritz answer as the promised other half of my answer.

He will more and more adjust to your day- oriented rhytm.

There may be ONE exception though.

I suppose your residents are mainly day-oriented, and sleeps with you in nighs?

IF it is so unlucky he never gets pal with them  (although I think he will, after all, there are hisses but no real fights!),  they may "come agree" to separate their territory in time:

They are the dominating at days, sleeping mostly at night,

he is the prowler in nights, sleeping mostly at days...

My wife reminds me to that before he gives any blows to the others he takes on a low to the ground, slow moving stalking posture. This is intimidating to my wife and I so we can imagine how this must look from the siblings perspective. And sometimes this behavior is accompanied by some short "wrestling" activity before the sibs cower to another room, under a bed or get trapped into a corner.

His right ear is clipped so we believe he has been a part of the TNR program.

More photos to come if he allows it.

Mom and Dad of 3

Royal7

SP does look like a Russian Blue. What a gorgeous shiny, sleek coat and look at those eyes. :love: :love: Good that you are supervising their interaction's and keeping a watchful eye. Especially in the initial stages. Again, you don't want your resident cat's to become fearful of SP if he is being too dominant. The blows are very normal and sometimes seem very scary to us. But ..... if they are still learning about each other, then those blows during play CAN turn into all out aggression rather quickly. If this does escalate, put SP back into his room and wait till the next day to try again. I always keep watch out for a few weeks during introductions until I know for sure that each cat settles into the "pecking" order, which you have no control over either, , and that there is an established sense of trust and security. They will figure that out on their own after they are fully acclimated to each other.

As the other's mentioned too, he will adjust to the home schedule quickly. I would try to incorporate a couple of play sessions each day, one of those should be in the evening before his bedtime meal. Then he will be ready for a good night's sleep and get on your schedule and the schedule of the other two cat's. I find that if I keep up with this routine in the evening, the playtime - then the last meal of the day - my cat's are ready for a good night's sleep :cross:.. Except my Presley :lol3: He wakes me up about 3:00 a.m. for cuddling - like clockwork. But all in all the cat's are all quiet during the nighttime hours.

I dont know for sure, but as it sound, they are NOT fighting for real.  It is surely more than just merry play. they are feeling each other out, but it doesnt sounds like a war.

You would notice if they fight or fly in real panic...

Tomorrow I will look in the article section of the site, if I see som good pictures of cats in fight or threating to fight, so you have someting to compare.  

Sergeant Pepper update: As SP continues to acclimate himself to his new surroundings he continues to threaten and chase his siblings Beckham and Bailey. Beckham, the first to arrive in our home displays some signs of dominance but quickly cowers if SP show any signs of advance. Bailey is very loving and we consider him to be the cat less likely to engage with SP and usually cowers even if SP draws near. There have been those moments when all three sit at a distance from one another at the door for some fresh air.

We are trying to use recommendations provided in recent posts but the frustration is sometimes overwhelming. We continue to isolate SP in his room during the late evening and through the night then let him mingle in the late morning/early afternoon. Meanwhile I am continuing to try and think feral.

Everything is new to SP. Sounds, movements, his siblings, the toys. Its like trying to acclimate someone from another age.

Do you recommend use of the water sprayer when advances get visibly aggressive?

Thanks for you continue support and included is a new photo of Sergeant Pepper.

Mom and Dad of 3

Royal7

Oh my goodness,SP is gorgeous,welcome to TCS,I look forward to positive updates and would love to see more pics of this handsome boy and some pics of your other kitties.x

I understand your frustration, really I do . It is very possible that thing's are progressing way too fast with SP in regards to meeting the other cat's. It has been only a month, right? since you brought him inside. It can take many month's for a cat to adjust and feel comfortable with the resident cat's in the home. Don't give up hope - just keep trying. You could try the squirt bottle to advert an aggressive fight but I have had better luck with making a very loud noise in the background, i.e. a can with a few coins in them or even a whistle :lol3:. anything very loud to get them startled and off of each other. And ONLY do this if you are sure they are fighting and not playing. Just something to really get their attention on "what was that" and that will diffuse the aggressive situation immediately. Then calmly and immediately take SP back into his room. I really would try to avoid having to go to those length's though, if you really think they are going to fight then keep them separated for the time being. But it sound's to me like they are doing alright and SP is just asserting his dominance and the other two are backing down by cowering to him. Actually, what I would do at this point - would be to allow SP in the main part of the house with the other two locked in his room 30 minutes at a time and not even allow interaction's right now. That way they can spend some time getting more acclimated to each other's smell's without the other cat's around. I really think they can live peacefully together - but take it much slower and a few step's back. These are adult cat's and it can take much longer for introduction's to go smoothly than introducing younger kitten's or even a young adult.

SP certainly is a very handsome cat :love:

I don't recommend spraying with water. Instead, install some feliway plug in diffusers, to help with stress and territorial feelings and engage in them in play. Set up a nightly play time routine, involving all three as much as possible.

You sit in the middle of the floor with your various interactive toys around you. For instance a long-wanded string on a stick toy and a box of things to toss and chase, especially balls with jingly things in them, and lots of junk mail envelopes to crumple up and throw. If you do this every night at the same time, soon they will come to expect it and gather round as soon as they see you gather the things and head for the floor.

This will help them all bond together, and with you, in a non threatening way. There may be some scuffling over whose turn it is, but I have always had great success with this method to help cats integrate.

Hurray for you, for rescuing this boy, and stay patient. This sort of thing can take a long time for the cats to work things out.

Good afternoon and Happy New Year to everyone on TCS. I thought I would send along a couple more photos of kitties with of course Sgt. Pepper as the newest member to our family. My wife took the attached photos yesterday with a new camera we got for Christmas.

SP seems to be settling in ok. Lately he has been making it seem clear that he is the dominant male and wants to rule the house. Including the Penthouse at the top of the cat tree. He continues to chase our other two, Beckham and Bailey but we believe this is normal cat behavior and something that needs to be encouraged. The confrontations that occur don't appear to be vicious so we don't do a lot to step in to assist. We continue to be patient and enjoy SP's interaction with Becks and Bailey. We do however still keep SP in his room for the night but let him out at first oppotunity. Usually 3:30 a.m. or 4 (yawn...)

Hope you like the photos and we'll provide another update soon.

Best Regards for the new year

Mom and Dad of 3

Royal7