I need advice on introducing a feral cat to my multi-cat household

I've been caring for a stray/feral cat for 7 years and recently decided to bring her in. She is completely tame and loving to me, but is very cat aggressive. I did have her to the vets before bringing her in and she has an ear infection that I'm treating. I have her in a 4' tall cage with shelves and she comes out two times a day to sit and get a loving, ear meds and treats. While she's out, if any of my other cats come near (within 10 feet), she will attack. She charges them, swats, then freezes to see how I will react. I calmly redirect her, try and console her for a few moments, then return her to the cage. It has been 11 days and things are not getting better. In fact, I think they are getting worse as she has now attacked 4 cats. Should I have her in an area of the house where she is less likely to encounter other cats, or should I continue to keep her in the room where she sees them more frequently? There are other issues I need advice with regarding this introduction too, but I'll stick with this main question for now. Thanks!

Interesting, ex homeless are usually rather easy to adapt to resident.

Yours seems to be one of the exceptions.

first, dont try to let them meet as long as she has any pains. Cats in pain have much less patience than other, teaching lessons either they are asked for or not.

When she is well, let her be in her safe cage, during the time you interact lovingly with your residents.

You can also try with a Feliway diffuser, and also Feliway spray - which is more mobile.  If she feels more comfortable with this spray, she will have easier to accept peaceful meetings.

Her attacks are possibly because she at these moments is outside her safe zone, the cage...

Interesting is when you describe she pauses in her attacks, to wait on your reaction!  Im not sure how to interpret this.

Is she thinking she is protecting you?   Do she understand she does something not so well though, and give you the chance to correct her?

Lets proceed to analyze and brainstorm!

Welcome to our Forums!

Good luck!

Thanks StefanZ! Yes, she was in very much pain from the ears but that's getting better daily. That being said, I've now noticed she has a very painful mouth with a bad smell, so a dentistry is in order ASAP. Researching some options to save a bit of money on this with some local rescue groups. "Mommy's" initial vet visit was quite costly and I need to find a vet with more compassion for rescues.

I'll continue to help Mommy to feel at her peak before I stress her more with introductions. I'm not forcing the intros, they are quite accidental.

She is showing quite a bit of restraint when she does attack. The first attack she actually slapped the floor rather than the cat. She then immediately came over to me as if saying "I'm sorry".

Thanks again, I'll keep you posted.

8catsto9 said:

She charges them, swats, then freezes to see how I will react.

I calmly redirect her, try and console her for a few moments, then return her to the cage.

It has been 11 days and things are not getting better. In fact, I think they are getting worse as she has now attacked 4 cats. 

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You are inadvertantly reinforcing her behavior. She has learned that when she attacks another one of your cats, she will get additional attention from you. 

Do not console. Immediately return her to her cage and leave the room. 

Ouch!   Kitty has a point here.  It is surely so with dogs, I suspect it is so with cats too.

So, I think I will agree with Kitty and her solution.   Dont see on it as if you punish her (she perhaps tries to protect you!), you simply take her back to her safe room = the cage, and let her have a chance to cool down.

During the time she observers the other cats and you are pals, so no defence of you nor of herself is necessary.

There's a good book Cat vs. Cat that has some really good intro ideas maybe it could be adapted to your situation?   I've also had some luck using flower essences - Jackson Galaxy (you know the Cat from Hell) guy has some that I've found helpful http://www.spiritessences.com/default.asp.   Peacemaker really does help my big orange alpha male to chill - I also do timeouts for him.   When he has an aggressive phase I just pick him up calmly and take him to the bathroom and leave him in there ten minutes.    Sometimes it takes a couple of times.