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- Nov 16, 2017
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My youngest cat, Sam (6 years old), has a herniated disc (IVDD) and as part of his treatment, for at least the next two weeks, he is having modified bed rest; basically, he is in a safe bedroom unless we are within a foot of him, which ends up meaning around 14 hours a day for him in his safe room, the rest out with us in the upstairs of our house. He is also having every other day laser treatments at the veterinarian's (you can imagine how happy he is about going that often).
Sam has two "brothers," Ace and Max, 7 and 8 years old. They have all lived together with us since Sam was a kitten and get along quite well. Sam is the social groomer and frequently wants to groom his brothers (they reciprocate, but get tired of it easily). I am hoping to maintain a good enough relationship and group scent that we won't have to go through a long reintroduction process, but they are definitely not fans of his current scent.
Things I am already doing:
Letting Sam out into the shared space when I am there to watch him and allowing the other two free access to his room during that time (including litter boxes, bedding, and scratching posts).
Petting all cats regularly to help with scent swapping and playing with them to try to make sure they all get attention.
Allowing the cats to sniff each other - this has meant occasional hissing and one swat so far. Face-to-face has been fine. Nose in butt has been causing hissing about half the time- and even groom together for a long as they can do it without wrestling (have to avoid that because of Sam's injury). He was genuinely thrilled by the 90 second mutual grooming he got yesterday!
Placing either a t-shirt of mine or a towel that has most of their scents in the pet carrier that goes to and from the vet.
Things I am not doing:
Feliway, because it didn't seems to have any effect the last time we used it.
Bathing Sam because he's never been bathed and I can't currently risk that additional stress and opportunity to freak out lest he injure himself more.
Does anyone have advice on what other things I should do to help them?
Sam has two "brothers," Ace and Max, 7 and 8 years old. They have all lived together with us since Sam was a kitten and get along quite well. Sam is the social groomer and frequently wants to groom his brothers (they reciprocate, but get tired of it easily). I am hoping to maintain a good enough relationship and group scent that we won't have to go through a long reintroduction process, but they are definitely not fans of his current scent.
Things I am already doing:
Letting Sam out into the shared space when I am there to watch him and allowing the other two free access to his room during that time (including litter boxes, bedding, and scratching posts).
Petting all cats regularly to help with scent swapping and playing with them to try to make sure they all get attention.
Allowing the cats to sniff each other - this has meant occasional hissing and one swat so far. Face-to-face has been fine. Nose in butt has been causing hissing about half the time- and even groom together for a long as they can do it without wrestling (have to avoid that because of Sam's injury). He was genuinely thrilled by the 90 second mutual grooming he got yesterday!
Placing either a t-shirt of mine or a towel that has most of their scents in the pet carrier that goes to and from the vet.
Things I am not doing:
Feliway, because it didn't seems to have any effect the last time we used it.
Bathing Sam because he's never been bathed and I can't currently risk that additional stress and opportunity to freak out lest he injure himself more.
Does anyone have advice on what other things I should do to help them?
It looks like you've got it all under control 
This article might be useful, just in case 
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