Adopting Abandoned Cat

[nic22]

A stray cat turned up on our balcony a couple of months ago, I had seen him around but he was so terrified every time i opened the front door he would run away then he started appearing at our back door, the first week he seemed terrified and once he saw me he would run off. After a week he had calmed down and i was able to approach him slowly. He was a bag of bones so i was feeding him until he wasn't hungry. Now he has put on weight and loves to be petted. he'll even stay and eat if we ore outside.

Our cat originally a feral cat that we rescued almost 5 years ago seems to be in love with this new cat we have named Sharky. Every morning and afternoon when he comes to eat our cat runs to the door and starts to rub his head against the glass and then lays down and starts to roll around. He has also started to be more affectionate towards us.

We are thinking to adopt Sharky and make him part of our family. I was wondering how we should go about introducing the two cats once he is inside and has had his castration. I have given Sharky one of Spartacus's blankets as he loves to sleep on our table so he would have his scent. But i have kept the glass door closed as i don't want to pass on any possible diseases to our cat.
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[tabbytom]

It'll be great that you bring Sharky indoors. Since he's accustomed to you and your resident cat seems to accept him, think it should be not much of a problem in the introduction.

Do it slow and if you could, make a safe room for him since he's gotten use to your cat's scents and also get a fresh blanket and let Sharky sleep on it and bring the blanket indoors and let your cat get use to the scent.

As for passing of disease, it's hard to tell but do a quick eye scan on Sharky and see if you can spot any medical issues make an appointment for him at the vet. Once he's back from the vet, use a towel with your resident cat's scent and rub gently on Sharky so that scents from the vet are not so pronounce on Sharky.

Here's a link one of our members who brought in a feral and after a transition time, the new cat made friends with the resident cats:- meet-buggy.331208

Feel free to ask questions and we'll try our best to help out and keep us posted of the progress.

 

[surya]

I love to hear about kitties being rescued into a good home. He's so lucky he picked you to be his human.

 

[nic22]

Thank you, I can't see any obvious health problems other than he has fleas which i think is normal for an outside cat but i want to get him tested for FIV. The only room i have for him is the laundry as Spartacus has the spare room downstairs and there is too much action upstairs upstairs as i have 2 dogs that need to get use to him being in the house. I will make an appointment with our vet to be checked out. thank you again i'll keep you posted how we go.

 

[nic22]

I love to hear about kitties being rescued into a good home. He's so lucky he picked you to be his human.

I feel like i'm the lucky one. I have been looking after a few cats and it breaks my heart when they suddenly disappear seeing as i have fallen in love with this kitty I can't take the risk that something will happen to him.