Advice introducing adult stray female into a multicat household

Hello! First time poster, long time reader

A little background: I have four existing cats, two boys and two girls. All spayed and neutered. Three of them are eight years old and one of them is six going on seven this fall. Everyone is in great health and gets regular check-ups. I even had to do an ACL repair on the youngest this past summer and he's doing amazingly!

I NEVER planned on getting another cat, I can promise you that. I LOVE my babies, but my husband and I definitely agreed that four was enough. We also have a few dogs floating around too, luckily they are very good with the feline members of the household.

But, as sometimes happens, we get thrown a curveball.

A stray showed up on my doorstep. The sweetest most affectionate little stray I've EVER met. I had nothing but good intentions of getting her fixed (done), shots (done), and clearing up any health problems she might have (ringworm, almost done) and sending her on her way.

Well, that didn't happen. No one trustworthy enough was interested and we fell in love with her, so now we're working on making her a part of the family.

I've had all of my cats since they were kittens, so a new feline hasn't come into the house in six years if you're doing the math. We're taking things VEY slow. She's been living in the guest bathroom while she heals from surgery anyway, but in the last few days we started cracking the door and letting them sniff each other. So far we've just had hissing and some spitting on occasion. Last night and the night before we brought her into our bedroom and did a double baby gate door so that she could be on one side and the other cats on the other. Again, there was hissing, but nothing major. My husband and I stationed each other on either side to comfort and encourage.

Last night after the hissing, the new addition just walked away and hopped on the bed and ignored the others. The existing cats are fascinated by her, and only a few seem to be feeling hostile. I take all of this as encouraging but...

I guess I'm wondering what the next steps are? We have another few days at least before she's completely healed, so I don't want to let them meet without barriers until at least this weekend, but I'm afraid of just tossing her into "the lions den" if you will. I have a clowder of cats for her to mix in with. Any tips?

Welcome to the forums.  My best advice is to take things slow.  Your new cat will feel very overwhelmed with 4 other cats.  Give her time to adjust to being in the home with you and your husband.  Take intros very slowly.  If you rush the steps, you will end up back at square one and then the process takes a much longer time.  Remember she is upsetting to your other cats too.  Their territory is being invaded.

I would get a few Feliway diffusers to have throughout your home.  One for the bathroom for the newbie and another where the other cats hang out.

Here are some articles and a video on some tips and tricks.  Start with scent swapping.  Try not to move to the next step until there is no hissing that progresses to growling that progreses to posturing that progresses to yowling and attack mode.  A little hissing along the way is ok as long as it doesn't escalate.

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/the-ultimate-yet-simplified-guide-to-introducing-cats

http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/a-simple-little-trick-to-use-during-new-cat-introductions/

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/introducing-your-cat-new-cat

http://jacksongalaxy.com/2010/10/01/cat-to-cat-introductions/

i forgot to mention that we've done some scent swapping with socks, although honestly that hasn't seemed to fuss anyone. The other cats have only really taken notice of her scent when she's been on their bed! But even then, no negative reactions, just very cautious sniffing, then rolling themselves on it to make sure that THEIR scent was on it and NOT hers.

After this weekend if we still feel the need to confine her I think we're going to move her to the guest bedroom so she has more space/is more comfortable. We didn't want to put her in there at first because we thought we wouldn't have her long AND i wasn't sure about fleas, and with their being a bed in their I didn't want to risk getting fleas in the mattress, but she's now been treated for them and seen by a couple of different vets and appears to be in the clear. the only problem i can forsee is that right now our cats eat in the guest bedroom. THis is a fairly recent switch- a few months ago they were eating in our bathroom, so i think they'd be okay to switch back to that.

Minor setback:

Tonight we were having "baby gate time" and new cat (Dora) was on our bed. This is the only time of day right now that she's not im her bathroom (the baby gates are too wide for that door) Before we could stop it, our Persian Janie had scales both gates and ran under the bed. Dora completely ignored her and seemed not to care, so my husband decided to put Janie on the bed with Dora and see what happens. Well, he held Janie, and I hekd Dora. Both hissed and dora let out a very loud and aggressive yowl. Janie escaped back under the bed and didn't come back out until after baby gate time was over. Dora stopped caring.

After that, Dora interacted with my other female, Beatrix, who is a tortie. Just hissing and some meows. Eventually the hissing stopped and there were just some throat sounds or little meows, so that seems like progress? This all happened through the gate.

After this Dora was clearly done. She turned her back on the gate and settled in. we snuggled her, and then took her back to her bathroom where she tucked in to dinner.

I'm worried about that bad interaction with Janie-I don't wnat to ruin their chances so early.

I should also say-Dora is amazingly comfortable with my husband and I and always has been-from day one. She loves being in the house and being with people.

One more detail-this is Dora's 10th day in our home. Seven days past spay.

Setbacks happen.  It doesn't sound like a terrible one.  For 10 days; her progress sounds good to me! 

And it's possible I made it worse than it would have been by restraining her. I thought about that after the fact (of course).

Well, we moved her into our guest bedroom tonight so she could have more space and a bed. She seems okay, but she really wants me in there with her, more I think than she did in the bathroom. I laid on the bed with her for almost an hour and then had to get up (im pregnant-I NEED those bathroom breaks). We also have a bad storm here tonight and I think it has all the animals spooked which I'm sure is affecting her. After I left she stuck her paws out under the door after me-enough to break your heart! I ordered her a feliway diffuser and it should be here tomorrow. We didn't do baby gate time tonight since everyone seemed stressed, but I'm hoping to tomorrow.

That's probably a good call with the weather like that.

Give the Feliway time to work; it needs to build up in the room.  

Here's a question: should I be expecting the hissing and growling through the gates to stop before we introduce? It's not getting worse, but it seems to just be the same every night. Hissing through the gate, some growling, then everyone gets bored and moved on. At what point do I say we need to move on and try some face time?

Okay, I haven't gotten a response in a while, but hoping someone will see this.

Last night we let dora out of her room. She did fairly well. They all mostly avoid each other, and she'll hiss if she feels like someone gets too close. We did this twice for about 30 minutes at a time.

Tonight I let her out again and let her stay out for quite a while, supervised of course. Things were mostly the same as last night. At one point they were all even in the room together. Then she decided to get on the bed with me (it miraculously was clear of cats at the time). Then my large fluffy yellow male (Dewey) jumped up very close to her, startling her. She hissed and swatted at him and he dove under the bed. I spritzed with the water bottle Ive kept close at hand and then swiftly put her back into her room for the night.

So....thoughts? She accidentally got my knee because she was sitting so close to me when dewey jumped up, but I would much rather her make me bleed than him!