Help

Hi,

I am a cat lover with two DSH female and spayed cats. I have had them for 3 years. They are just as spoiled as they can be. My one cat (abbey) a tabby is a little love bug. I adopted her through a cat rescue program when she was about 4 months old. My other cat (boo) is all black with a little white belly. She is also a love bug, but only on her terms. She was a stray and picked up by my friend off the street (about 1 year old) so I figured her behavior is because of her first year on this earth. I had boo first for only about two weeks before I brought abbey home. These two get along well, but kind of independant of each other. Sometimes boo willhiss and swat at abbey but abbey pretty much ignores her.

Well, here is my dilema. My horrible neighbors abandoned an indoor cat by throwing her outside and moving away. A really horrible part of the story is that they had another cat that they picked up and put her in their car right in front of the little abandoned kitty. I saw the whole thing from my window and my heart hurt.

I started to feed the kitty every day. She would wait for me to come home from work across the street. After about 2 weeks I caught her. She was flea ridden with miliary dermatitis from the flea bites and she scratched her neck raw which was infected. I immediately took her to the vet. She was there for 4 days with antibiotics, spayed, shots, tested for all diseases (all negative) dewormed. Now she is a beautiful diluted calico long hair. I have decided to keep her for myself but my other two cats think very differently!!!!
I brought her home and kept her in the basement for 2 days. My 2 kitties knew that there was a visitor present and saw her a few times. Then I brought her upstairs where everyone spends most of their time and put her in a small room off of my bedroom. There is no door so I blocked it off with an old storm window and screen. After 4 days I opened the room so that all cats can go in/out. Well, new kitty stays in that room most of the time. Every now and then she wanders out but not out of the bedroom. My 2 kitties won't even go into the bedroom anymore (a place that they used to spend a lot of time in). When they see the new kitty there is mostly staring and an occasional hiss or growl, no real aggresstion from any of them. Tonight I got the bright idea to switch living quarters for a few hours. I wanted new kitty (Icy) to get to explore her new home without anxiety and the other 2 kitties to enjoy the bedroom anxiety free. Well, that didn't do much. Boo hid under the bed and Abbey was obsessed with what was going on outside the door. Icy just stood at the door wishing she was in her safe spot.
I guess what I need from you all is just a little support that it will all be O.K. after a while and that patience is what I need. My heart is breaking because my 2 kitties are ignoring me and I miss them soooo much. After finding and reading this site last night I figured I could get some excellent suggestions. You all seem to know so much about cats. I have a Feliway plugin which I bought in preparation for the new arrival. Please help. I have fallen in love with Icy and I want us all to live in peace. Thanks for reading such a long dissertation. PLEASE ANY SUGGESTIONS??? Cat

Dear CatBikini...
that action of you neighbors...sucks... ...poor kitty....

and you deserves a big thumb! thanks for take these poor alone soul!

So sorry I just only has Milky and I can´t Help you...

But you can ask to send this post to BEHAVIOUR forum there´s experts there than they can help you!

My best wishes to you!

I'm no expert, but I think patience is the key word.

When our daughter moved back home with her kitten (Mika) we kept her and Bijou separated for one whole month. They were allowed supervised visits in the evenings after about 4 days but were separated quickly if there was any aggression on either part. Bijou is 15 1/2 lbs and Mika was about 6 lbs. at the time so we didn't want her getting hurt.

Now they are best friends. They do occasionally play rough but Mika can hold her own and we don't interfere unless we think things are getting out of hand.

I'm so happy you took this dear little kittie in. What terrible people there are on this earth. I do believe they will pay a price for their mean spirits when judgement day comes.

Thanks very much for replying. I think I just need to hear that everything will be alright. I know, patience, patience, patience.

Hi, congrats on your new kitten. Have you tried rewarding them when they go near each other? Maybe try to get them to associate food treats with each other. Also each day try to get just one kitty alone in a room with you for one on one play time, maybe this will help them be buddies with you again. Good luck!!

Definately just need patience.

Cats get a little shut off from thw world sometimes. Things will DEFINATELY get better. They're cats.. & although smart, they don't really think too much into having a new cat as we might think as to having a new baby in the house or something of that nature. They just need time & some introduction time. Whether that be conducted by you or just naturally by the cats themselves. I'm a believer in the natural way of things. They'll warm up to eachother.

Good luck & keep us updated. Maybe some pictures when the whole gang is happily together??

Agree with the other posters - patience, patience, patience. And maybe add some vanilla to each one (as Hissy often recomemnds - and the towel trick - ) so they all smell alike. It's best to move slowly tho. Take the originnal kitties' towel or blanket and give it to the new cat. And give Boo and ABbey something of hers. Do that several times.


I sam sure in time, they will get along. Good luck and thx for taking in this poor baby!! How horrible can people be!! It makes mse so angry to read what people will do!

Just want to echo what others have said - patience! They will come around eventually, and it doesn't sound as if they are being outright aggressive.

Thank God for people like you who reach out to these poor abandoned kitties

Thanks for everyone's response. I will try the food treat idea, although even though abbey is 20 lbs(!) she only eats her cat food. Icy and Boo scarf up the treats so maybe it will help them. Also, what kind of vanilla should I use on the kitties? Just vanilla extract that I get in the grocery store? Should I put it where they can't lick? You all are making me feel ALOT better. After yesterday's fiasco trying the kitties to exchange living quarters I was just so anxious. I think I will go the natural way and let kitties warm up to each other. I will get some pics posted too!! Of course, I think each of them is the prettiest. Thanks. Cat