Expert: Tina - 4/15/2004

Question
I have recently inherited a male cat. I already have 2 1 male, 1 female. The new cat has been here for 2 weeks and seems to be doing fine. My male cat is having issues. I have the new cat in a safe room and he is allowed to roam the house a couple hours a day/night when I have the other cats in a different room of the house. I have done th scent exchange with a cloth, whether they pay much attention to that Im not quite sure.

Right now I have been feeding them on opposite sides of a common door that i wege on both sides leaving a smalll opening so they can see eachother. I am on day 3 today. Day 1 was ok. Limited hissing and it seemed to go ok. Day 2 was a different story. The hissing was quite frequent and the male cat( not the newcomer) let out a few howls. and i say howls because it did sound like a wild animal. And that made my husband and I a bit nervous. Im sure its their way of communicating and I am aware that this is going to take time. I  just need to try every trick there is. The new cat belonged to my father who has passed away so there is nothing more id love than to have him be a part of our home. So any positive feedback or any other helpful tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Answer
Dear Elaina,

I am very sorry to hear that your father has passed away. I am sure he was happy to know that you'd be taking care of his kitty when he was gone.

You're definitely doing things right, expect the process to take 2-3 months. It can even take a year for a new cat to be really accepted if there is friction there. Your resident male obviously feels threatened by the appearance of a new male, so try to reassure him that he is still your baby. He is trying to scare the other cat and make sure he knows that he means business and will defend his turf and his family! Pay him lots of attention in the vicinity of the other cat, and never reprimand him when he's around the net cat - even if he spits or yowls or smacks at the other cat, usually that just results in greater resentment of the newcomer. You're taking the right approach by trying to reduce the possibility of a real confrontation by keeping them separated at first and wedging the doors. Eventually they will have to meet face to face and there may be a confrontation. If that happens, throw a blanket over the cats and separate them again. It is normal for this hissing, growls and yowling to go on and frequent for confrontations to occur. It's actually pretty rare for a new cat to never fit in... usually it just takes some time.

One thing that may help is the product Feliway - it's designed to stop territorial urine spraying but also helps reduce territorial aggression. It mimicks the facial "happy" pheremones cats give off in their cheek glands when they rub on things. I've had success using it when introducing new cats and even in reducing displaced aggression (cats who see a strange cat outside and then attack another animal or human inside the house out of frustration). You can get Feliway at most pet stores, it comes as a spray which you apply to doorways and areas at cat hieght especially where cats would rub their cheeks. It also comes as a plug-in diffuser which I have not tried myself but sounds like a great idea. Probably using both at first would be most effective. You can also get it online at www.drsfostersmith.com

Finally, if your resident male doesn't want to calm down you could give him a calming herbal supplement for a while to reduce his anxiety. I've used Nutricalm before with very good results http://www.catdoctor.com/storessl/merchant.mvc?Product_Code=10225&Screen=PROD&Ca...

Good luck!

Tina