Hi, folks! We are possibly adopting a third kitty and are currently doing a trial visit via the foster family before confirming his adoption. We brought him home last night (Thursday) and only have until early Sunday morning to see if our other two kitties will accept him before making a decision. I've never adopted a kitty this way before with a trial visit and usually would keep the kitties separated longer before attempting to introduce them. Any advice on whether it's ok to introduce them more quickly if they respond well to each other's scent on a sock and how to tell if he'll be a good fit if they don't immediately respond well to each other's scent? Backstory below.
Backstory: One of our other kitties (Miss Hazel) passed away in December '15. I never imagined myself being open to adopting another kitty this quickly, but some friends of ours were fostering him, he has completely won us over, and the shelter had named him Hazel too (we would probably change that) which was practically a sign we should take him in.
He was originally found in a trap and earmarked for TNR, but he seemed too friendly to release so the shelter took him in. He hasn't been fixed yet (he'll be neutered this Sunday) because he had a respiratory infection he needed to recover from first. He's still finishing out his meds but is doing well now. My friends took him in to foster him while he recovered from his infection, which is how we met him.
It's had only been a little more than two months since Miss Hazel passed away, and her passing was rather dramatic. One of our kitties was her littermate, and he still occasionally seems to sniff around looking for her. Since our other two kitties have only just adjusted to her being gone and since all three cats would now be males, I'm a bit worried the newbie won't have a warm welcome from the resident cats. So we were given this trial visit to see how he manages before committing.
So far, we have the newbie in a separate room, have made sure to spend time with all of them last night, and gave them their food on each side of the door so that they could smell each other while doing something pleasant. Next step will be rubbing their respective scents on socks, exchanging the socks, and seeing how they react.
Backstory: One of our other kitties (Miss Hazel) passed away in December '15. I never imagined myself being open to adopting another kitty this quickly, but some friends of ours were fostering him, he has completely won us over, and the shelter had named him Hazel too (we would probably change that) which was practically a sign we should take him in.
He was originally found in a trap and earmarked for TNR, but he seemed too friendly to release so the shelter took him in. He hasn't been fixed yet (he'll be neutered this Sunday) because he had a respiratory infection he needed to recover from first. He's still finishing out his meds but is doing well now. My friends took him in to foster him while he recovered from his infection, which is how we met him. It's had only been a little more than two months since Miss Hazel passed away, and her passing was rather dramatic. One of our kitties was her littermate, and he still occasionally seems to sniff around looking for her. Since our other two kitties have only just adjusted to her being gone and since all three cats would now be males, I'm a bit worried the newbie won't have a warm welcome from the resident cats. So we were given this trial visit to see how he manages before committing.
So far, we have the newbie in a separate room, have made sure to spend time with all of them last night, and gave them their food on each side of the door so that they could smell each other while doing something pleasant. Next step will be rubbing their respective scents on socks, exchanging the socks, and seeing how they react.
