Expert: Dear Tabbi - 10/6/2008

Question
Dear Tabbi,
My husband and I share our home with 3 dogs and 4 cats.
2 of the dogs are rescues, as are all 4 of the cats, 3 of them were feral rescues, 2 males at about 3 months, a female at just a couple of weeks old and our eldest cat, a domestic male of about 8 years of age who was abandoned by his previous owner 4 years ago. The female cat is only 6 months old, the other males are 1 & 2. Everyone has been spayed & neutered. The cats and dogs get along fine with each other, we do seclude the dogs to a specific part of the house when we aren't at home, while the cats have the run of the place.
Our oldest cat, Pooter has genrally been very paternal with the younger additions, he does occasionally do a little posturing with the 2 year old, a recent development. He also has a history of territorial marking inside the home.
The 1 year old male has not done very well at 'domestication"...he is not quite an indoor feral, but not far from it. He adores the oldest cat, tolerates the 2 year old and enjoys scaring the baby, who, thankfully, has become less and less willing to be victimized, which seems to have deterred him. Just lately has he begun to let us touch him SOMETIMES...8 out of 10 times, he scurries off a few feet when we try.
Basically, we have a fairly stable little pet family.
Now, our problem!
About 3 &1/2 weeks ago, an 9 or 10 month old domestic female cat was dumped at our business. She was VERY affectionate, VERY stressed, VERY thin and walking with a bad right-hind leg limp. We took her to the vet, had her tested, xrayed and spayed. He says that she is healthy, has ALREADY given birth to a litter of kittens and that no physical explanation for the limp can be determined. It has not abated and he suspects that adding her to the mix at home will result in her being a target of aggression from the other cats, I am also fearful of this. She is currently living in our business's offices, three adjoining fairly large rooms. I am very troubled by the fact that she is alone here from 6:00pm until 8:00am, she is VERY people oriented and does not want to let us out of her sight during the workday. Our little town is FULL of feral and stray cats, our "shelter" is filled to the brink also and really only serves as an animal jail where most of the perfectly normal ones are euthanized...in light of all this, the chances of finding this little gal a good home by herself are slim-to-none.
Would you please share with me your feelings regarding the chances of her being accepted by the rest of the brood at our house and the only other alternative, her living here in our shop? Any input you can offer would be deeply appreciated.
Thank you in advance,
Dee

Answer
Dee,

Cats adapt very well. Living at the business is definitely preferable to the shelter!

I do not agree with the vet that because of her leg that she would be a target for other cats. Cats do not have any reasoning ability and cats cannot think "gee, that cat has a bad leg and is disabled". Cats do not know what disabled is or what a bad leg is. They go by smell and reactions of another cat.

I had cat that was born with a twisted back leg, which your business cat may been born with her leg deformed. My cat got along fine with the other cats. Probably because she had an 'attitude' and would be the one in another cat's face (not to fight, she never did that, but she would stand her ground or chase another cat).

Whether your business cat gets along with your other cats will depend on her personality and temperment and your doing the introduction process correctly. The only thing you can do is try it and see how it goes. You can alway bring her back to the office.
The most important thing about introductions is to go SLOWLY! Do not try to rush it or force them together or you WILL end up with behavior problems. I am including some excellent links to articles on how to do the introductions properly. They should be helpful as a guide.
(copy and paste, or type the whole links into your address bar)

http://www.messybeast.com/first-impressions.htm

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=cattocatintro...

I use a large dog crate for new cats and it works out well. They can stay in there with a litterbox, a small cat carrier with the door off to hide/sleep in or get on top of it, cat food and water dishes, and still have room. Other cats can sniff and get used to the cat and the cat is safe during the process. I am attaching a picture of the one I use that I got at Petco.

I hope this helps.

Tabbi