I have a 2 year old male cat which iv had since christmas, 10 weeks ago I took in a 1 year old pregnant stray cat,which has been around the area I live since at least october and has had at least 2 litters before this one that havnt survived.I took this cat in and the day after she gave birth to 4 healthy kittens,2 boys and 2 girls,I have this week (9-10weeks old) rehomed the new kittens and took the cat to get spayed.from day one mama cat and her kittens have stayed in one room and my cat has had the rest of the house.I'm happy to give mama cat a home but am having difficulty trying to get her to socialize with my resident cat who is literally like a baby and no harm to her,now need help trying to interact the stray cat with my boy cat,so far with difficulty as soon as she sees him she runs and attacks,whether he's at her level or in my arms,which as resulted in me being covered in claw marks.I have strong feelings about getting this to work! Any advice on how to introduce them and get her used to my cat?
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stray cat and resident cat ADVICE NEEDED
- Thread starter lillydz16
- Start Date
Aw, bless you for rescuing this girl, finding homes for this litter, and getting her spayed and adopting her! :rub: :heart2:
If she hasn't been out of her safe room long, you may want to put her back in there for proper introductions. This process, especially given her response, is best done slowly.
The place to start is to help her associate your boy with good things. Rub him all over with several cloths (preferably washed / dried with no scents), and put one under her food dish. Have play sessions with her (or petting sessions or brushing sessions - whatever she loves), and when you're done, put her favorite treats down for her on another cloth that smells like him.
Do they both liked being brushed? Brush him, then use the same brush later to brush her.
Do they both like catnip? Let him drool and rub all over a catnip toy. When it's dried out, give it to her.
Every once in a while, take one of his pee lumps and put it in her litter box. Same with a poop. Let her get used to the idea of his "territory" scents in "her" spots.
If you REALLY want to go all out, replace the door on her room with a screen door. When she stops hissing at him or lunging at him when he's on the other side of the door, bring him in her room when you're going to have a good play session with her. If you can't do the screen door, if he's curious, crack the door as often as possible while he's there, and let them get used to sniffing each other through that 1/2" crack (with you holding the door!). Again - when she stops being aggressive is when you can begin to allow them in the same space.
But when they're in the "same space," the focus should NOT be on them meeting or interacting.
You want to do something to distract them from each other, and play is great for this - especially if he'll just sit and watch while you play with her.
Normally I recommend focusing on the resident cat during this process. But as she seems very aggressive, and is displaying signs of being the alpha, I'm recommending the opposite here.
Just make those initial play sessions a few minutes at most, then take him out of the room. Reward her with praise for focusing on the toy, not your other kitty. Feed them both treats before you take him out of the room.
Of course you need to make sure to give your existing boy a lot of time and attention. But as he's more submissive, they key is to make her feel comfortable that he's no threat, that she's in control, and that HE means FUN things. HE means treats, HE means play, HE means wonderful things for HER.
arty4: 
:lol3:
Vertical space will help. :nod: She can display her alpha status by being "up."
When you're able to take him in her room, and she focuses on play, not him, after doing that for a while, you can start letting her out for little bits of time. The best is for meals, wherever you'll be feeding them. Do you feed wet food in meals at all, at a regular time, in a regular place? I hope so, because this really helps. :nod: Feed her "up" on something, and put her food down first. Let her be higher and get her food first.
If this proves really difficult, here is another thread with similar advice: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/239399/cat-we-all-just-get-along
Vibes you can make this work for both of them!
If she hasn't been out of her safe room long, you may want to put her back in there for proper introductions. This process, especially given her response, is best done slowly.
The place to start is to help her associate your boy with good things. Rub him all over with several cloths (preferably washed / dried with no scents), and put one under her food dish. Have play sessions with her (or petting sessions or brushing sessions - whatever she loves), and when you're done, put her favorite treats down for her on another cloth that smells like him.
Do they both liked being brushed? Brush him, then use the same brush later to brush her.
Do they both like catnip? Let him drool and rub all over a catnip toy. When it's dried out, give it to her.
Every once in a while, take one of his pee lumps and put it in her litter box. Same with a poop. Let her get used to the idea of his "territory" scents in "her" spots.
If you REALLY want to go all out, replace the door on her room with a screen door. When she stops hissing at him or lunging at him when he's on the other side of the door, bring him in her room when you're going to have a good play session with her. If you can't do the screen door, if he's curious, crack the door as often as possible while he's there, and let them get used to sniffing each other through that 1/2" crack (with you holding the door!). Again - when she stops being aggressive is when you can begin to allow them in the same space.
But when they're in the "same space," the focus should NOT be on them meeting or interacting.
You want to do something to distract them from each other, and play is great for this - especially if he'll just sit and watch while you play with her.Normally I recommend focusing on the resident cat during this process. But as she seems very aggressive, and is displaying signs of being the alpha, I'm recommending the opposite here.
Just make those initial play sessions a few minutes at most, then take him out of the room. Reward her with praise for focusing on the toy, not your other kitty. Feed them both treats before you take him out of the room.
Of course you need to make sure to give your existing boy a lot of time and attention. But as he's more submissive, they key is to make her feel comfortable that he's no threat, that she's in control, and that HE means FUN things. HE means treats, HE means play, HE means wonderful things for HER.
arty4: :lol3:Vertical space will help. :nod: She can display her alpha status by being "up."
When you're able to take him in her room, and she focuses on play, not him, after doing that for a while, you can start letting her out for little bits of time. The best is for meals, wherever you'll be feeding them. Do you feed wet food in meals at all, at a regular time, in a regular place? I hope so, because this really helps. :nod: Feed her "up" on something, and put her food down first. Let her be higher and get her food first.
If this proves really difficult, here is another thread with similar advice: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/239399/cat-we-all-just-get-along
Vibes you can make this work for both of them!
Just want to welcome you to TCS 
. AND thank you for doing SO much for this momma kitty and the babies 
Laurie gave you excellent advice!!!!!! :winkblue: Here is another article that might give you some more food for thought on the matter of introducing cat's! 
. http://www.thecatsite.com/a/introducing-cats-to-cats DO keep us posted and GOOD LUCK
. AND thank you for doing SO much for this momma kitty and the babies Laurie gave you excellent advice!!!!!! :winkblue: Here is another article that might give you some more food for thought on the matter of introducing cat's! . http://www.thecatsite.com/a/introducing-cats-to-cats DO keep us posted and GOOD LUCK 
