I took in an abandoned cat 3 months ago and introduced her to our family of then 4 cats, now 7...8 including her. She's been living with them for 3 months now but still not getting along. At all!
When i brought her, i put her in a carrier with anorher cat that was visiting the vet who not long afterwards died. She seemed perfectly fine being locked up in a cage with another cat.
Brought her over and kept her with us in our bedroom away from the other cats untill they could familiarize themselves with eachother by smell. A few weeks later, i open the door to indroduce them to each other. Fail! Lots of hissing and growling on her part and the others basically just confused by her reaction.
We thought it was just temporary and that she would soon be friends with them. So i slowly started putting her around them trying to gradually build up trust by either putting her in a carrier in a room where they stayed or by keeping them behind doors. But no matter how long that went on for, when it was time to mingle...its growls, hisses, ears pulled back, running away and hidding on her part.
For our last attempt we figured if we removed her litter from our bedroom and had her share the litter box with them she would be OK...nope, that didnt work either. She would be wanting to use the litter so bad, sitting at the door to go use it but if they are around she would never leave the room, but if we lock them away in another room, she would causiously tip toe to the litter box like she is on the look out for snipers and land mines. As soon as she is done, she bolts back to the bedroom. A few times we picked her up and put her in the litter box the whole day while they were around, she would be so terrifed that she would curl up and hide in a spot between the litter and the couch, too scared to use the litter or eat untill she is rescued
She is way better around our mellow female and her daughter (hyper but independent). But the rest, 2 two-year-olds, 2 two-months-olds and 1 one-month old...all male. The 2 two-year-olds nuetured, she is really terified of even though they did nothing to her. One male cat would get really pissed off at her and slap her whenever she hisses at him, but we seperate him from her as soon as they start to get physical...which is about every time.
Any ideas what is going on and how we can fix this issue. We're really at our wits end. We cant keep them seperated all the time. Thats just not feasible any more.
When i brought her, i put her in a carrier with anorher cat that was visiting the vet who not long afterwards died. She seemed perfectly fine being locked up in a cage with another cat.
Brought her over and kept her with us in our bedroom away from the other cats untill they could familiarize themselves with eachother by smell. A few weeks later, i open the door to indroduce them to each other. Fail! Lots of hissing and growling on her part and the others basically just confused by her reaction.
We thought it was just temporary and that she would soon be friends with them. So i slowly started putting her around them trying to gradually build up trust by either putting her in a carrier in a room where they stayed or by keeping them behind doors. But no matter how long that went on for, when it was time to mingle...its growls, hisses, ears pulled back, running away and hidding on her part.
For our last attempt we figured if we removed her litter from our bedroom and had her share the litter box with them she would be OK...nope, that didnt work either. She would be wanting to use the litter so bad, sitting at the door to go use it but if they are around she would never leave the room, but if we lock them away in another room, she would causiously tip toe to the litter box like she is on the look out for snipers and land mines. As soon as she is done, she bolts back to the bedroom. A few times we picked her up and put her in the litter box the whole day while they were around, she would be so terrifed that she would curl up and hide in a spot between the litter and the couch, too scared to use the litter or eat untill she is rescued
She is way better around our mellow female and her daughter (hyper but independent). But the rest, 2 two-year-olds, 2 two-months-olds and 1 one-month old...all male. The 2 two-year-olds nuetured, she is really terified of even though they did nothing to her. One male cat would get really pissed off at her and slap her whenever she hisses at him, but we seperate him from her as soon as they start to get physical...which is about every time.
Any ideas what is going on and how we can fix this issue. We're really at our wits end. We cant keep them seperated all the time. Thats just not feasible any more.
