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Location: the wrong side of the tracks Richmond, VA
585 posts, read 2,015,434 times
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Awwww look at her!! What a doll, I love that little black mark on her face!!
I am so sorry to say this (it's kind of a jerk thing to say) but hearing about not so lovely early introductions makes me all that much more grateful for my bunch. Our latest NYC rescue was cleared by the vet to join the family today and within an hour he was tearing up the stairs with his two foster brothers and holding a chirping pow wow with them in the hallway like they've known each other their whole lives. I wish I could take credit for any of it but as you all know, it really is just a gamble and you never know how they'll get along.
As you know, I'm sure it will all work out in time. Paws crossed (for your and their sanity!) that happens sooner rather than later. Looking forward to seeing updates in the next few weeks of everyone settled in and loving each other
I have always ascribed to the "just get it over with" method of introductions. Whenever I adopted a newbie and also when my husband and I merged our "tribes" we just put everybody in the same room and watched what happened. I know there is going to be some posturing and some squabbles but generally they are short lived. The only thing I would worry about is if your Callie were a really tiny kitten and sometimes males will kill them because they belong to another male.
That's what we feared also. But he's terrified of her. Rather than show aggression, he showed fear. He still hasn't eaten anything and refuses to use the litter boxes because he has to pass where she may be. I found him huddled and shivering on the unheated closed porch 20 minutes ago. I realized we hadn't seen him in several hours so started a search. It's 33F out there. These are all indoor cats. They don't generally go out on the porch or outdoor cat-pen when it's this cold, though they can. My husband is very upset over this and wants me to find Callie a home. I told him it's less than 48 hrs. Zeb' may come around and realize Callie is a baby cat and nothing to fear. I had to carry Zeb into my bedroom growling and shivering, move his food and a litter box in there and shut the door. I don't know yet if he ate or used the box. I'm leaving him alone to settle and calm down a little. We never anticipated anything like this. I never even heard of anything like this,... where an adult male cat feared a kitten to the point of being terrorized by her being in the same room with him. It's not like he never sees other cats. He sees them outside our windows (black feral and cat-from-hell) and the cats in the campgrounds.
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This isn't the situation - and I think Zebulon will eventually come around. It sounds like Callie is calling the shots!! I predict that within a week - 2 at the outside - you will have total harmony in your household. Just make sure they all receive love and individual attention from you every day, make sure no overt aggression is happening, and they will sort it out.
There has been no overt aggression. Phaedra and Callie have been sniffing noses. Zephyr pretends Callie doesn't exist. If Callie gets too close she'll hiss and walk away.
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PS: Good golly - that Callie is absolutely beautiful. I love calico girlies - her markings are gorgeous. I am happy she found a home with you. Is she using the litter box now?
Yes she is, and she's starting to bury her feces. We're sure whoever had her did not keep the litterbox clean. It was probably full and foul smelling all the time. We believe it because of her reluctance to use the box at first and the way she smelled. Cats don't smell like used litterpans when they come from clean homes with access to clean litter.
She is very pretty and she's spunky and fearless and very very curious about everything in the house. She loves the cat trees and cat-condos.
Chloe and her kittens were re-homed and Max and Little Bit were with his mother and he told me she threw them out but I don't know for sure. I can't see her doing that, and I think he told me that to get to me...
I hate that all of that happened.
This is so sad and a classic example of why I stopped allowing younger couples to adopt dogs and kitties I rescued in the past. When they break up, and 50% do, not only do any children born to them suffer, but the pets almost always suffer the most. Often neither will take the pets or can't take them when the breakup happens. The once loved pets become an inconvenience. Instead of finding an apartment that allows pets, they move back in with parents who wont allow them to bring the pets. I saw this over and over and it never changes over time. The pets are sometimes returned to the rescue but most of the time, well past their cute puppy or kitten stage, end up being shuffled around until they end up in a kill-shelter where they lose their lives. And we all know some people simply dump them along a road or street to fend for themselves.
Another group I avoid are college kids and young single mothers. The college kids graduate and move on with their lives and the dog or cat becomes a liability in their view. An inconvenience for any number of reasons, and another dog or cat ends up being euthanized or abandoned. The young mother has her own reasons and excuses to dump the cat or dog when she finally marries or remarries. The new husband or SO who moves in with her claims to have allergies or simply hates pets. So she drops the pets along a country road or at a kill shelter. Or she another baby and claims it's "highly allergic"... a favorite expression/excuse used on places like Craigslist for getting rid of unwanted pets. The truth being she has a new baby and doesn't want to bother with the cat anymore.
There was one woman we knew in NYC who would adopt one or two kittens every time a man moved in with her. She also had a few children but had never married any of the men to our knowledge. When they'd break up she'd return the cats saying she couldn't afford to feed them, couldn't find a pet friendly apartment etc. Now adults, the cats would take longer to find someone to adopt them. Then she'd find another man and repeat, repeat, repeat until she was black-listed. She apparently only wanted cats when a man was there to pay the bills.
Cats have the best chance of a forever home with older stable married couples who own their own homes and are financially secure. Those homes are not easy to find outside the big cities. If such couples do break up, they will almost always have the financial resources and maturity and stability to keep the cat/cats/whatever pets they have.
I'm not accusing you of moving back in with your parents and they refused to take in your pets also, but to simply point out why some Rescues are so particular about who adopts their pups and kitties. To point out how cats and dogs, once loved, become statistics. How very said it is out there for these animals.
Remember the thread here on that subject (adoptions refused) not long ago?
We have a 5 1/2 month old male cat who was a stray that came to live with us about 3 months or so ago. Now our son needed a new home for his adult neutered male large cat. We brought him here and our younger (as yet un neutered) cat is VERY hostile toward him. We have to keep one closed in a separate room when the other is loose in the house.
I'm not sure they will ever accept each other. After 4 days, there is still hissing and howling at the sight of each other. Surely the older larger cat can out fight the younger, but the younger one seems to have more fight in him and we don't want him to harm the adult cat.
Could it be that the younger cat is not neutered yet and feels that his breeding ground is being invaded?
What do we do here? Any suggestions.
We have a 5 1/2 month old male cat who was a stray that came to live with us about 3 months or so ago. Now our son needed a new home for his adult neutered male large cat. We brought him here and our younger (as yet un neutered) cat is VERY hostile toward him. We have to keep one closed in a separate room when the other is loose in the house.
I'm not sure they will ever accept each other. After 4 days, there is still hissing and howling at the sight of each other. Surely the older larger cat can out fight the younger, but the younger one seems to have more fight in him and we don't want him to harm the adult cat.
Could it be that the younger cat is not neutered yet and feels that his breeding ground is being invaded?
What do we do here? Any suggestions.
We just "coped" and things worked out. The hissing and growling stopped finally and they're all getting along. As long as they're not hurting each other I wouldn't be too concerned but would get the young male neutered as soon as possible.
=Could it be that the younger cat is not neutered yet and feels that his breeding ground is being invaded?
What do we do here? Any suggestions.
Get the little boy neutered as soon as you can. When he comes back from the vet, he will smell different first because he's been at the vet, and second because he's been neutered. If the cats get used to each other before the little one is neutered, they'll likely go through it all over again once he gets back from the vet. So the sooner you get him snipped, the sooner the cats can begin their permanent adjustment process.
And be patient! These things take time.
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Well don't be, because it wasn't aimed at you.
Words need not be aimed specifically at one person or group of persons for them to find those words offensive.
You wouldn't have allowed me to adopt a cat, either; my late spouse and I did not own our home together (it's mine), we'd been together for only seven years, we weren't legally married ... and horror of horrors, he had bipolar disorder. The last two years of his life, he battled pancreatic cancer.
Yet we were as stable as any of my friends who'd been married for 30 years -- the ones that hadn't gotten divorced, that is. Despite our perceived "instability", we'd fight for our cats with everything we had. I still will.
Life happens. Excrement happens. Nobody plans to get divorced, to be widowed, to lose their job and move across the country, to be beaten, to become homeless. People get by the best they can, and sometimes that must include finding a home for or even leaving a beloved pet. None of these things mean a person is a poor prospect for a pet owner. None. At all.
We have a 5 1/2 month old male cat who was a stray that came to live with us about 3 months or so ago. Now our son needed a new home for his adult neutered male large cat. We brought him here and our younger (as yet un neutered) cat is VERY hostile toward him. We have to keep one closed in a separate room when the other is loose in the house.
I'm not sure they will ever accept each other. After 4 days, there is still hissing and howling at the sight of each other. Surely the older larger cat can out fight the younger, but the younger one seems to have more fight in him and we don't want him to harm the adult cat.
Could it be that the younger cat is not neutered yet and feels that his breeding ground is being invaded?
What do we do here? Any suggestions.
Get him neutered and call Agnes Thomas, or call Agnes Thomas and get him neutered.
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We're sure whoever had her did not keep the litterbox clean. It was probably full and foul smelling all the time. 
Male Cat Aggression Toward Newly Adopted Cat
