Third Cat -- Any tips?

[Seraph]

Friend of ours had to find a new home for her awesome kitty, and unfortunately, she couldn't find one. She posted on Fb that Link was going to be going to a shelter, and I stepped in.

The big problem that I see with this is our current kitties. We may only end up fostering friend's kitty, until we find a better home, but if anyone has any advice on introducing a third kitty....I'd appreciate it.

Some other info...

Vincent and Victoria are about a year and a half, so hopefully they're not so set in their ways...but they're also brother and sister.

Link is a very friendly cat, was used to being the third wheel at my friend's home back when she had two older cats. So hopefully some of that experience will help him here.... he's also a couple of years older than our kitties. (You wouldn't know it though, he's very playful and almost immature, LOL)

I'm hearing that I should lock Link up in a room for a week to let them get used to his smell ( a WEEK?!) and stuff, but I don't know if I'll be able to do so.

[MaggieTheCat]

Keeping a new cat in a separate room or separate part of the house for a day or three isn't a bad idea...you may need to for a week if the initial meetings go really poorly.

Start by bringing Link into a room that your other cats don't go into very often, like a spare bedroom that you usually keep closed. Obviously make sure there's food, water, litter, toys, etc. ready for him. Leave him in there for a couple of days, while going to see him often so he gets used to you. If the door to that room has a crack under it, encourage the other cats to be curious and sniff around it. You can also take a bath towel and rub it all over Link, then rub it all over your other cats, then rub it all over Link again. This helps them get used to each others' smells. Do this several times a day if you can.

After a day or two, put Link in another room (just temporarily, so your bedroom or a bathroom is fine) and shut the door. Then open the door to the room he was living in and invite the other two in to investigate. This will also help them get used to his smell.

A day or two after that, invite one of your two cats into Link's room while he's in there. Keep the other one separated, either by closing the door to Link's room or closing the third cat into a bathroom or something. Make sure you stay present so if there's any trouble, you can step in. Keep a water bottle with you to break up any fights. Alternate bringing V&V into Link's room so they can get used to each other.

From there...I'd say it depends on how they're all adapting. If all three of them seem to be okay, you can probably let Link out into the rest of the house while you're home. You might still want to keep him in his own room if nobody is home, just in case. If the initial meeting went poorly, you may need to repeat it a few times over a few days.

I've never had a cat be outright aggressive toward a newcomer. (I'm sure that it's entirely possible but I've never had to deal with it, myself.) My husband had Ash and Yume before I moved in with him, and they've always been friends. When we got the house, we got Pluto, and Ash loved him from the start. Yume...not so much, but she mostly just avoided him, rather than trying to harass him or be aggressive. Mint, of course, loves everyone and everyone loves her, except again for Yume. Yume will only get aggressive if one of the cats gets in her way when she's in a bad mood (like when she's hungry and we haven't fed her yet) but she usually just hisses and swats at them once and they run away.

Be careful if any of them have their claws, so that someone doesn't get a damaged eye or something.

[zombiequeen]

Don't do like my grandparents did when they brought Sal home. Grandpa walked into the kitchen holding Sal, and Grandma walked in holding Radar. They then flung the cats at each other so they would...bond? I don't know.
Either way, it didn't work out well. Don't do that.
(I'm so helpful! )

[Seraph]

Much appreciated, Maggie. Link's already quite used to me, thankfully. Whenever we go to visit, he's all up in my face and running circles around me. Couple of the times when we've stayed the night, he's even curled up on top of me and slept there.

Very, VERY good point about claws. Both of ours are fully armed, so I'll definitely make sure to keep a squirt bottle on hand. <.<

Don't do like my grandparents did when they brought Sal home. Grandpa walked into the kitchen holding Sal, and Grandma walked in holding Radar. They then flung the cats at each other so they would...bond? I don't know.
Either way, it didn't work out well. Don't do that.
(I'm so helpful! )

Now I know who is behind this....

[zombiequeen]

Those kitties look like they fell asleep boxing each other's heads.

[dendawg]

Now all you need is to get another female cat and name her Zelda.

[Seshat]

You can also take a bath towel and rub it all over Link, then rub it all over your other cats, then rub it all over Link again. This helps them get used to each others' smells. Do this several times a day if you can.

Give Link a blanket, towel, or something that the other cats usually sleep on or snuggle up to.

See if you can bring one of Link's favourite blankets/whatever from his old home, and put it where V&V will regularly smell it.

If the introductions are going well, you can shorten the duration of each of the stages Maggie mentioned. If they're going poorly, extend them. But Maggie's suggestions are pretty much on the ball.

Very, VERY good point about claws. Both of ours are fully armed, so I'll definitely make sure to keep a squirt bottle on hand.

Clip all three cats' claws before the introduction. Check and/or clip every three or four days until the cats are all happy with each other.

If the cats aren't used to getting their claws clipped, start teaching them how to tolerate it NOW. Your vet can recommend an appropriate set of claw clippers for your size cat: though I just have a pair of generic scissor-type claw clippers that I use for both my cats.

If you have enough time, start by getting your cats used to having you handle their paws. Then used to you handling their paws with the clippers being brought close. Then having you gently (GENTLY!) push their claws out one at a time. Then doing that with the clippers brought close. Finally you clip the claw. One claw per session, until they're accustomed to it.

My big boy won't let me just clip his claws when I'm snuggling him - I have to demonstrate to him that I'm the dominant animal. I do that by basically crouching over him, compressing him (CAREFULLY!) towards the floor with my body, with my feet blocking him from going backwards.
That said, he purrs when I do this, and lets me clip all ten foreclaws during the session. (He doesn't use his hindclaws when he tries to 'play', so we leave them sharp.)

IMPORTANT: get some styptic (blood-coagulating) powder or a styptic pen from your vet before you try clipping claws.
Also, get your vet to show you where the quick is. That's the part of the claw that contains blood vessels and living tissues. You need to NOT cut the quick; just the dead-cells. (Like cutting the white of a human nail.)

If you do screw up, use the styptic powder or pen to stop the blood, and call your vet. They may want you to bring the cat in so at least a tech can look at her. (That said, I've never cut quick. So it shouldn't be a problem - this is just a precaution.)



If you don't have time to train them slowly to get used to you clipping their claws, just start doing it using whatever technique you usually use when you have to do something the cat doesn't want to do. They're already familiar with you doing that, and trust you.
Do one claw at a time, and reward them afterwards. Over time, do two claws at a time, three, four, a full paw... you know.

[crazyofficeclerk]

When I introduced my third cat, I used a playpen that had room for a litter box and food dishes and set it in the middle of the room. I covered it with some plywood and then everybody could see and smell everybody. It works really well. If the cat is too big for a playpen see if you can borrow a large dog crate for a couple of days. This also works pretty well.

[Seraph]

Give Link a blanket, towel, or something that the other cats usually sleep on or snuggle up to.

See if you can bring one of Link's favourite blankets/whatever from his old home, and put it where V&V will regularly smell it.

If the introductions are going well, you can shorten the duration of each of the stages Maggie mentioned. If they're going poorly, extend them. But Maggie's suggestions are pretty much on the ball.



Clip all three cats' claws before the introduction. Check and/or clip every three or four days until the cats are all happy with each other.

If the cats aren't used to getting their claws clipped, start teaching them how to tolerate it NOW. Your vet can recommend an appropriate set of claw clippers for your size cat: though I just have a pair of generic scissor-type claw clippers that I use for both my cats.

If you have enough time, start by getting your cats used to having you handle their paws. Then used to you handling their paws with the clippers being brought close. Then having you gently (GENTLY!) push their claws out one at a time. Then doing that with the clippers brought close. Finally you clip the claw. One claw per session, until they're accustomed to it.

My big boy won't let me just clip his claws when I'm snuggling him - I have to demonstrate to him that I'm the dominant animal. I do that by basically crouching over him, compressing him (CAREFULLY!) towards the floor with my body, with my feet blocking him from going backwards.
That said, he purrs when I do this, and lets me clip all ten foreclaws during the session. (He doesn't use his hindclaws when he tries to 'play', so we leave them sharp.)

IMPORTANT: get some styptic (blood-coagulating) powder or a styptic pen from your vet before you try clipping claws.
Also, get your vet to show you where the quick is. That's the part of the claw that contains blood vessels and living tissues. You need to NOT cut the quick; just the dead-cells. (Like cutting the white of a human nail.)

If you do screw up, use the styptic powder or pen to stop the blood, and call your vet. They may want you to bring the cat in so at least a tech can look at her. (That said, I've never cut quick. So it shouldn't be a problem - this is just a precaution.)

If you don't have time to train them slowly to get used to you clipping their claws, just start doing it using whatever technique you usually use when you have to do something the cat doesn't want to do. They're already familiar with you doing that, and trust you.
Do one claw at a time, and reward them afterwards. Over time, do two claws at a time, three, four, a full paw... you know.

I wish we had more time, but we literally are picking him up this weekend. Short notice on the whole thing. :|

I'll go pick up some claw clippers tonight, (won't do it without finding out from vet first, I remember those bleeders from my time as a vet volunteer WAY too well) and extra spray bottles. I have a hopeful feeling that they'll get along fairly well, but....we'll see.

Really, really, REALLY thank everyone for the advice. I'm feeling much better about this, more prepared.

...and yeah, Hubby already joked about renaming Victoria to Zelda, until I pointed out he'd already tried to rename her Neytiri. :P

[Squeaksmyalias]

I can't really give advice on socializing them that wasn't already said, but don't forget to get as much vet info as possible, all the previous paper work and all that. Trust me after getting a cat from a neighbor who was moving and having no idea if she was even fixed, I will never forget to get that info ever again.

[Seraph]

Well, we brought Link home an hour ago. As we were sneaking him into the house, Victoria somehow heard me and came dashing to headbutt me as per usual. She spotted Link in my arms and...whoa. I did not realize kitties could do such acrobatics and poof like that.

We are currently doing a bit of both the playpen and the keeping him in a room strats. He's in a playpen all curled up in a towel, sleeping, while the V's are staring at him all stealth-like from under the couch. Husband jokes that it sounds like whale calling with all the low growling going back and forth...but its slowly abating. We will be moving him back into the room shortly, just want to try and combine visibility with the "get used to him" factor.

Also, we discovered that....Link is noticeably larger than our kitties. he wasn't like that *before*, but he apparently had gained about 5 lbs since we saw him last. He's a BIG kitteh. He intimidated the fudge out of both our cats, and I'm just trying to monitor that he doesn't go for one of them and get clawed in defense.

....I can already tell this is going to be fun. <sarcasm>

[MaggieTheCat]

Hehe, when we brought Pluto home, and again when we brought Mint into the house, Yume made some really interesting noises at them. Kind of like the warning sirens that sound right before a big storm.

Good luck! And pics when you get a chance!

[Seraph]

will do....things took an interesting turn a bit ago. The V's seem to be cool with him, not even batting an eye when he walks in. Link, on the other hand....does. not. like. them. He's tried to go after them a couple of times, and I'm halfway tempted to let them smack him around a bit. However...claws. Still need to get those taken care of. <.<

[MaggieTheCat]

If all of them (at least all of them who have claws) are comfortable with you clipping them, then that's probably best to do before you really let them start wrestling. When we brought Mint in the house, she was a feral and she still hasn't gotten used to having her paws handled (we've worked on it, although not exactly diligently, and she's gotten better but still won't sit still long enough for us to get a clippers near her.) She wrestles and plays with the other cats and we've never had any incidents. But, she's just playing. The only cat who would possibly get actually aggressive is Yume, and she doesn't have claws.

[Seraph]

Sad update...


Unfortunately, things have not gone well. Link has not adjusted well, and is refusing to use his litterbox, or to play well with the other cats. We had an incident where I literally chased him through the house as he ran around pooping on various things.

V&V have also been extremely hostile to him, the little bit of tranquility we saw with them changed drastically the very next day. They've actually gone into this creepy synchronized attack mode with Link. Its almost beautiful watching them move with each other, but of course....the point of it all is to pincer attack poor Link.

Then, there's been the problem of cat pee. Oh. My God. Cat pee everywhere. Both Link and Vincent have taken to peeing on EVERYTHING. One of them even got into our daughters' bedroom and peed all over their sheets and whatnot. I've gone through an entire thing of Oxyclean and Clorox 2 this week alone, and thrown out a ton of sheets.

So....we tried, but I really can't keep dealing with this for weeks. I feel horribly guilty, but its tough enough dealing with work, the kids, and getting my oldest ready for kindergarten next week. We're going to let our friends know that unfortunately, we can't keep him.

However, one bright thing is that one of our friends mentioned that he would probably be able to adopt Link in about 2 weeks (he's currently housebreaking a new kitten). So, we're going to check out that option...but in the meantime...he has to go back home.