I welcome any advice on adding a young male cat to our household,

[jean]

which currently includes just one 12 yr old spayed female. She is smart, mellow and fairly sedentary. She eats Waltham Calorie Control and is a former binge eater: would eat ALL the kibble, then puke it up later. She has grown out of this behavior.

The youngster is 10 months old, neutered and lively. He'll be arriving in about two weeks. He has just been switched to adult Science Diet kibble.

We've never had a male cat and wonder (for one thing) if there are litter box issues we should be aware of. Our female is tidy and predictable - will our new boy be any different? Do you need to allow for inadvertant litterbox overspray with male cats? (or, as my husband puts more simply: Just what we need - cat piss all over the wall!)

Also, how should we introduce the new cat to our resident kitty? Any advice is golden - thanks!

[Princess Turandot]

1. This website has a collection of articles on introducing a new kitkat..

as well as lots of other things:

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/9352/owners.html

I use covered litterboxes but don't seem to have a problem with any of my 4 boys spraying the upper sides of the box.

Congrats on your new kitty!

[jean]

2. Thank you! That site is a treasure trove of great info!

[demnan]

3. I use a covered litter pan

I find it makes the litter kick out much less. My male cats, when well, have always been pretty good, Pad Thai does stand up and spray inside the litter box though. The covered litter pan takes care of any "thinking outside the box" though.

[jean]

5. I should have been using a covered pan for our female all along - she

does kick the litter out, even though we use one of those high-sided pans.

Thanks for info on your boys - I can't wait to get to know the new little guy. Our daughter, at college, adopted him and has been keeping him in her apartment, which doesn't allow pets. She wants to bring him home during spring break, and let him have the run of our house, permanently.

[Eurobabe]

4. Covered litter pan is necessity

I have always had male cats, never had a problem with spraying or peeing out of the box unless someone was ill. They let you know.

As for introductions, take it slow...put your male cat in a small room at first, bathroom, or bedroom, and let them sniff each other under the door. You will probably find the older one a bit miffed at the prospects of an "intruder." I would give it about 3 days of this, to let them smell one another. Alternate putting the older cat in the bathroom for periods and let the little one run amok in the house. This way they really get each other's scent. Live intro may see some fireworks, hissing and spitting, growling. But then they will get used to each other.

I have followed this intro protocol two times now, and never had a problem with my cats bonding. They routinely groom each other and play like they were blood brothers, even though the older one is 8 yrs. older than the little one.

Slow and easy does the trick. And make sure you give your older one plenty of love, she'll no doubt be overwhelmed at having a kitten around. But I bet she'll come to love the company. :) GOOD LUCK!!

[jean]

6. thanks for the transition info - I wouldn't have thought to let them trade

spaces. That makes perfect sense - to let them check eachother out without actually meeting right away.

My husband is so certain the little guy will feel the need to mark his territory...but if we follow your guidelines, he shouldn't feel threatened and the instinct won't kick in (I hope!).

[Eurobabe]

8. He's neutered right?

I doubt he will mark or spray. If you are afraid of this, give him his very own cat box, hey, you'll have two to clean, but then they each have their own, and won't get ticked off at having to share a box.

My mom has a male cat that is neutered and sprays, but we think it is because the older cat is a very agressive alpha male, and it takes nothing to set Magellan into piss and vinegar phase. M. is getting better, but for the longest time, he had this huge personal space bubble and if the little one invaded it, feathers flew! Biddy is a bit neurotic anyhow, a very high strung guy, won't let you hold him at all, squirms and claws to get away. So I think the combo of personality and environment is why he will piddle at times.

[jean]

9. yes - and he's been around other cats for short periods of time and

has been very comfortable - not scared or hissy...so I hope my elderly female won't be a threat to him. I doubt she will - we're going to bathe her in love and attention so she won't get cranky.

[underseasurveyor]

7. Congrats on your new kitty

I intro'd a new kitty (10 mos old) into our house of 2 cats and three dogs last week. I was surprised how easily "Earl" slid right in the bunch. The dogs were never my concern it was our other male cat Mister~M~ that concerned me the most. I thought it would take at least a week for him to even begin being civil but he never got nasty with Earl. They still hiss occasionally but now I notice the ice breaking between them. They want to play with each other but they're still not quite sure of each other, ....yet ;-) Catnip seems to be helping. Common ground maybe I don't know.

48%er offered some great common sense advise. Err on the side of caution and listen to your girl kitties body language. She'll be your best gauge on how fast or slow to take things. It's her house first so she will need some extra catering to until she gets use to the idea of the new arrival.

Earl came to us last Tuesday Feb. 22nd. And at this moment, there are 3 dogs and 3 cats comfortably asleep together on my bed.
One big happy family we are.
:-) :-) :-)
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

PS: (years ago) When I first brought the female kitty I have now into our house she refused to go potty in the box that my male kitty used. She pee'd under my bed so I had to get another kitty box just for her to use. Not a big deal and now she uses the same box the other 2 males use.
Don't know what was up with that:shrug: But I guess kitties sometimes have their individual quirks just like people do.

Bless you :hi:

[jean]

10. yes - we've been so busy focusing on the new guy...it's going to be

most important (thanks to all of you guys for the input!) to focus on our girl, so she'll send out happy vibes!

She's a cat who purrs pretty much 24/7, so she's very easy to read. (I think that was part of her problem with throwing up - she'd be purring AND eating, getting too much air down with the food.)

[arikara]

11. We brought a young male into the house

with a female torti. We were really anxious about it because everyone from vet to people at the shelter and the books were saying that torti's are people cats and don't like other cats. It was a bit of a challenge at first but it worked out really well. They get along with Turtle, the torti, being the queen and Tuffy, the little black guy tolerating being bossed around.

We kept them separated for a few days. At first we had Tuffy in a spare bedroom with his food and a litterbox. He was extremely nervous anyhow so this was good for him too. Then we separated them by a screen so that they could see each other. If you have a more mellow older cat, it may not be necessary to go this far.

The most important thing to rememeber is to fuss over your original cat to the point of ignoring the new one when your older cat is in the room. It makes them feel really insecure to have a stranger come into their house and then to be ignored and have the stranger be fawned over. When you want to play with the new cat, make sure that your original friend can't see it because they are going to feel left out/hurt. As soon as she accepts the stranger, then you can all start acting naturally.

As far as litter boxes, I haven't had any problems with male cats. We use one covered and one open box for 2 cats. Our 18 year old male that we lost a couple of years ago used to spray outside, but never in the house. The little guy that we have now I've never seen spray.

Good luck, and congratulations on your new addition!

[jean]

12. thanks! This is very cool because our old female is a torti and the

male newcomer is black, with amber eyes. The female has kiwi colored eyes. I have never heard torti's are people cats, but should have known - because ours definitely is. She is a direct eye contact kitty who seems to almost read our minds at times. Plus she's very conversational and likes to have the last word, if at all possible.

The new guy (we're welcoming him this Saturday) is somewhat talkative and will answer your inquiries. Right now he's just very busy keeping busy. Last night he spent lots of time (in my daughter's apt) gathering up things that made crackly noise, and then playing with them - of course, making them crackle.

[jean]

13. Update: Everything went really well. The two of them are buddies

and he's keeping her more active and engaged all throughout the day. (She used to nap ALOT) .

Thanks again for all the advice!