Story of bringing in my semi-feral and introduction technique DIY: You can do it!!

I began feeding this handsome guy, Plucky, when he was a kitten as soon as mom ran off. I fed him for about a year and a half and built a good relationship with him.  He never really let me pet him, but showed other signs of affection - laying down in front of me and showing his belly....anyway he and I had a good schedule and he would always be waiting for me to come outside.  The last few months he became much more attached- really never leaving the immediate area just waiting for me most of the time. So I did what any logical crazy cat lady would do, I trapped him, vetted him, and brought him in. I think he's done fantastic. He has no bad habits except for begging for food at 4:30 am on the dot (we are working on this) but he seems happy and took to being a housecat very very quickly.

I wanted to show you guys what I made (saw online somewhere) to keep him and my other cat separate so we could have a slooooow introduction. It is perfect because its too tall to jump over (48"), and so lightweight I can get in/ out easily just by pushing in the side like a door. I think it would work well for any new kitty to keep them out of a certain room but able to keep the door open. It's so easy to make, I bought 3 plastic closet shelves from Lowes, stood them up and zip tied them together loosely enough so the two on each end would swing like a door. Took 3 minutes and it folds up flat when I put it away.  Hope this is helpful for anyone looking for a method of keeping cats apart or out of a certain area that jump over baby gates. 

(In the pic I have it set up one way, you can also set it up to fold out accordian style with no change to the zip ties.)

Thanks for sharing.  Just be sure to use something like this only with supervision.  The fact that it is so lightweight, the cats could knock it over if they really wanted to.  Yet, this is a great idea since it is so tall and easy to move.  It would work well on supervised introductions.

Thank you for caring for this sweet one.  You gave him a chance for a wonderful life.

Thank you very much for sharing this idea!  I'm in the early stages of socializing a feral & will absolutely use this when its time for him to meet my other cat.  I was thinking of a baby gate but it's too low to be effective.  Saw someone else had the clever idea of a cheap screen door from Lowe's but this seems easier to set up & dismantle once the introductory period is over. 

Awesome! God bless you!

Hes adorable and looks happy!

I use a wire closet shelf when I want to open the door to the deck and don´t want my cats to go out there. Just place it next to the frame and close the (sliding) door until it hits the shelf. This way the shelf is wedged, can´t fall because of the 90° front edge, and you can cut it to any lenght you need.