Need Help With Cats

I am not a cat expert, but I do have two cats and a dog in our household. Both of the cats were rescues (at different times). Might I suggest Feliway cat diffuser? It is a plug in diffuser that helps calm cats. I used it when we brought the second cat into our home. I don't know if you can keep the newer little guy separated from the others for a while until he gets better acclimated. Poor fellow must be frightened still, and like you said, he may be hungry or he is testing the waters that there WILL be food available for him. I would feed him in very small portions throughout the day. If it is canned food, maybe 1-2 tsp. every couple of hours or so.

My cats are now 17 and 6. Are they best friends? No, but they tolerate each other and I see that everyone get attention. Now, the older cat and my dog seem to be the best friends! Go figure!

Good luck with your kitty and hope he settles in. I have found the Feliway diffusers on Amazon and also at PetsMart. Thank you for giving him a home.

My 6 pound semi feral was TOTALLY obsessed with food. She would SCREAM in the mornings when I got near the refrigerator, and she did it so often that her "brother" learned how to meow (he wasn't a talker) and then they both did it in stereo. It took her a couple of months before she calmed down. She was housed in a no cage cat facility with about 50 cats, so I'm sure being so tiny she was always concerned about getting her share. Her "brother" is a bit of a hog, so I have to feed him in another area so that he doesn't eat her food too. If you aren't already doing that, you might consider feeding them in other areas. We also supplement the wet food with some dry kibble, delivered in treat balls, and they enjoy the ritual of nosing it around to deliver a snack. Even though they both get fed at the same time, she still gets antsy (and a bit aggressive) over the treat ball. I think it will take him several hundred exposures to food, where he can make sure he's not hungry anymore, before he calms down.

You can also take a damp hand towel (or microfiber) and wipe down your new kitty so his smell is on the towel. Then wipe down your other kitties with the same towel so they all "smell" the same.

You can train the new kitty how to get along with the established cats. Here are some of my tips:

Don't allow the new kitty to run loose in your home. You can either keep the new kitty isolated in a bedroom in your house or keep him in a large wire crate -- about the size of a large dog crate. This keeps the cats from chasing, cornering and fighting with each other.

In my experience, it's easier to buy a large wire crate, put it in the kitchen or somewhere in your home where the other cats hang out and put the new kitty inside to experience daily life in your home and to be able to safely observe the other cats.

You can put the new kitty in for about an hour or two, a couple times per day.

You need to put a small litter box, a little bed, food & water in the crate. New kitty can watch, sniff and get used to the other cats while safe in the crate. Your established cats can come up to the crate, sniff, hiss and so on and they are safe as well. At first they ay hiss at each other, but it will eventually stop.

Just place kitty in the crate with his litter box, bed, food & water. Keep him in there for an hour or so. Then put him back in the bedroom. (Make sure you have a litter box, bed and food & water in the bedroom too.)

After a few weeks you'll notice that the new kitty isn't so ruffled by the other cats and you'll see that your established cats aren't too concerned about the new kitty. New kitty is now a just a part of the household.

What I do then is I take the new kitty out on a leash. Buy a harness (small dog harness) and a leash and let the other cats come up to him and sniff him. If you see any aggression you can safely pull the new kitty back. If kitty needs more time to observe the other cats then put him back into the crate for about an hour, a couple times a day. Keep him isolated in a bedroom when he isn't in a crate.

When you observe all of the cats getting along OK then you can let the new kitty loose in a bedroom with the other cats. If there is any aggression, take the other cats out and go back to keeping new kitty on a leash.

I took in a cat that was deemed hostile to all cats and was not supposed to go to a home with any other cats living there. It took me 3 months to get her used to the other cats. I accomplished this by keeping her isolated in our bedroom and then put her in the crate twice a day for 1 to 2 hours. The crate was in the kitchen where all the cats eat and hang out.

I also put some old t-shirts in the crate for the new kitty to sleep on and let my other cats sleep on some old t-shirts (or towels) and I swapped them back and forth so all cats would get used to each other's scent.

I put a Feliway diffuser in the kitchen close to the crate.

I gave treats to all of the cats, including the new kitty in crate, when all cats were together in the kitchen.

And I sweet-talked to them all when they were together. They love being sweet-talked.

Just remember to be consistent with the time spent in the crate. I think it will take 2 to 3 weeks for them to get used to each other. Some cats will take longer to adjust -- mine took 3 months. But now she tolerates all of the cats and even LOVES a couple of them!

About the new kitty being addicted to food: Cats that have been abandoned and have suffered starvation may have issues with food. Abandonment and starvation causes a cat to be unable to predict that he will be loved, sheltered and fed. Once he can predict (the routine) of being loved, sheltered and fed, he may stop eating so much.

Consider that he may be underweight and may need the extra food until he puts on a normal amount of weight.

After he has put on sufficient amount of weight, you can incorporate playtime for him and that will help to balance out his craving for food. The TURBO- Scratcher from Walmart is a good toy he can play with by himself and you can play with him with a wand with feathers on the end. But he may always be preoccupied with food. That is normal, in my opinion, for a cat who suffered starvation.

Are there actual fights happening or is it just posturing and swatting? How did you handle the introductions of the new cat to the resident ones? If there isn't any actual fighting happening but just some hissing and swatting he might be doing it out of fear or defensiveness. He was living outside and outdoor cats maintain their own territory. Now he has to share this new space with your resident cats. Do they eat next to each other without fighting? Will they play in the same room together? I would work on redirecting him when you see him start to target one of the other cats. Draw his attention with a feather toy or something.

Also I think it can take a few weeks for the hormones to fully leave the body after neutering, so depending on how long it's been since the surgery part of it could be residual hormone levels.

Thanks, everyone, good suggestions! We kept him in the basement for two weeks, both until we could get him checked and for his safety, but we would bring him up for supervised visits. One day, he decided he was done with the basement, although we still feed him there. He has no fear, even though he is half the size of the other cats! There is more than swatting and hissing, our older cat is starting to hide, I really don't want to upset the harmony which the cats have.

On 7/11/2014 autumnfaire said Thanks, everyone, good suggestions! We kept him in the basement for two weeks, both until we could get him checked and for his safety, but we would bring him up for supervised visits. One day, he decided he was done with the basement, although we still feed him there. He has no fear, even though he is half the size of the other cats! There is more than swatting and hissing, our older cat is starting to hide, I really don't want to upset the harmony which the cats have.

Jeremiah2911 gave excellent advice. If you follow it, you will probably have happy kitties. Several good websites are ASPCA.org, alleycat.org and catchannel.com. Alleycat.org is specific to outdoor and formerly outdoor cats. If you have someone who lives with who or someone who is willing to help, I would try the eating on the opposite side of the door process as well. You can google this or find it on the above-mentioned websites.

Introductions are really important with adult cats and if things aren't going right, it is best to start back at the beginning. A few weeks or even 2-3-4 months of working at the introduction can result in a lifetime of happiness for you and your cats.

Bless you for bringing this kitty into your home and good luck!