Need Help introducing new cat (one eyed oreo ) to two kittens (torties)

[DanCa]

Hey everyone I got a problem . I havent been on much today because I found an old oreo colored cat in my garage today. She's about two years old and is missing an eye. She's also very malnourished. Now I ve been getting her healthy all day and she's a doll, sleeping purring the whole bit.

The problem is my two kittens, both torties, hate this cat. I just tried to play with tsonga and she scratched my faced and hissed at me because she smells, Domino the new cat, on my shirt. Kimaul just goes around peeing on everything and knocking things of the counter.

Now my mom wants me to keep Domino because she says no one will adopt a one eyed cat. And that the kittens arent being sociable and are being destructive. I dont want to split the kittens up because they've been here a good three months now and are brother and sister. Remember I wrote a thread about getting them from pets in need early. If anyone can give me advice please do.

Also Domino has been declawed and she wasn't wearring any tags.

[WolverineDG]

1. I have a "blended" family

put domino in a room that you can shut the door to. for the first few days, keep her in there, visit her, pet her, etc. put her food & a litter box in the room as well, & some toys. make a comfy place for her to sleep. this will become her "safety spot." gradually move her food & litter box to the areas where you want them. she'll figure it out. :)

the kittens will get used to her (eventually). cats are very territorial, so you need to make sure domino has "her" space & the kittens have "theirs." once that's established after a couple of days, you can open the door to domino's room & let her wander around & the kittens wander around.

i recently took in my brother's 4 year old cat (looong story) & the three that i have weren't too pleased. it's taken a couple of months, but so far, no knock-down, drag-out fights (just dirty words very rarely) & whenever my brother's cat feels "threatened," she runs for her "safety spot." the others don't bother her once she's there.

dg

[Jamastiene]

2. Wow, it sounds like your problem is the exact

opposite of my problem. I brought my two youngest ones, Yogi and Domino, in and Sunday Girl went ballistic at first. She hated their smell. She still hates them, but they have learned to coexist for the most part. It took some time. I would keep your new kitty somewhere where her smell can become more like your smell over some time, away from your kittens. After a while, maybe their smells will be more the same. I took Yogi and Domino to the vet for spaying and neutering purposes. They came home smelling as only the vet's office can make an animal smell. That's the only thing that worked for Sunday Girl to accept them, or at least let them live without trying to kill them. She coexists with them now. Even lets Domino lay next to her in bed. Yogi, she still hates. My aunt does animal voices. She is constantly talking to me as if it was Sunday talking. Says Sunday Girl thinks Yogi smells like "a polecat." It's funny when she does that.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. They will adjust.

I got a new cat just one week ago and introduced him (carefully) to the incumbent cat. There was some hissing at first but by Wednesday they were playing, and today they are curled up together on the couch, washing each others' ears.

[Love Bug]

4. Before you do anything else...

take the oreo cat to the vet to make sure she doesn't have any diseases or parasites she can pass on to your kittens. I'm a cat lover too and understand your compassion to this animal, but your first responsiblity is to the cats you already have. Once she is checked out, it would then be time to introduce her slowly to your other cats. It sounds like you'll have your work cut out for you, because they are reacting pretty negatively just from her smell.

Good luck with this -- hopefully between you and your vet the oreo can find a good home!

[Richard Steele]

5. One approach which has been recommended to me:

(after she is tested for diseases, as mentioned above)

Is to put the new cat in a seperate room for a few weeks.
Seperate food, seperate litter box.

All the cats WILL be aware of each other: your kittens will know she's in there,
and vice versa.
But as the days go by, they will all grow acustomed to each other's smell,
and FEAR is slowly replaced by CURIOSITY.

The friend who told me about this said he knew it was OK to start
opening the door when he discovered one of his furbabies
PLAYING with the new cat:
they were sticking their arms under the door and batting at each other playfully.

[gardenista]

6. The suggestion to take the new cat to the vet is an excellent one.

As for the rest, I have had success with this sort of strange method-

Put tuna fish juice on everyone's head, and they will lick it off, get each other's smells on themselves, and get along fine. This has worked for me a few times.

The time it didn't work, we used the "safe spot" slow introduction method. It took about four months, but they finally made friends.

[DanCa]

7. Thank you everyone things are a little better today.

The male kitten stopped spraying and tsonga is letting me pet her for brief periodsof time. I am going to call the vet the first thing monday morning. Thanks everyone for the wonderful ideas I was going out of my mind with worry.

[barb162]

8. take the new cat to the vet and have it scanned for a microchip

and also to see if it is healthy. Or ask animal control if they have any lost cat reports meeting that description. The will scan her for free. Have you checked around on Petfinder or some other sites, like Internet Lost and Found to see if a cat meeting that description is lost. I know it is time-consuming because of the cat problems and taking care of them. It sounds like the cat has been missing a really long time. Good luck and God bless you. I take in strays too