Adult Cat Intros? ***modified 5/14 with aggression question***

[strangeduck]

My dog Cera's license expires this month so I was at animal control today to renew it, and because I couldn't resist, I looked at the dogs and cats available for adoption.  It breaks my heart every time, but one of the cats just caught my heartstrings.  He's an eight year old orange tabby with recurring urinary tract infections.  He was surrendered by his owner for tearing up the furniture.   He was rubbing up against the bars and trying to get us to pet him.

I talked to one of the volunteers and was told that since our shelter isn't a no kill shelter and it is kitten season, his future isn't looking too bright given his age and special needs.  After a long (okay, really short tearful debate) my girlfriend and I decided that we would adopt this boy and bring him home on Saturday, since we weren't going straight home and I have no car for the next two days since my girlfriend works 10 am to 10 pm and we're a one car family at the moment.

Now, my question is how do I go about introducing him to my current kitties.  I have two seven year olds and two seven month old females.  I have had all my cats since they were babies and since both pairs are sisters it was actually pretty easy when the new kittens came home (they were dumped in the back of my girlfriends truck in a very small box...we had no idea how long they'd been in the box, but they were covered in poo...) because the older cats kept their distance for awhile, and slowly adjusted.  I have no idea how to go about introducing this boy into his new family so any help would be greatly appreciated.


***Okay, so I know Tiger hasn't really had time to settle in and that could account for some of his aggression issues, but I've never seen a cat this aggressive.  He will be just fine, then out of nowhere he'll turn around and smack me while I'm petting him.  And he's really against the other animals.  I'm going to take him into the vet for his healthcheck on Friday and ask that they check his thyroid because I know that can cause aggression.  Is there anything else anyone can think of that could be medically responsible?  And if it's not medical, how long should I give him before the aggression isn't attributed to being in a new place?  And what kind of things can I do to train him not to be aggressive?  I will not under any circumstances return him to the shelter, so that is not an option.  He has apparently been outside before, so he could become an outdoor cat if all else fails, but I live in a rural area and we have a resident mountain lion, and I'd rather he not be snack food.  Plus...I adopted him to give him a good home, which is what I want to do.  Am I being concerned about this too soon?

[Marybelle]

Slow intros usually work best, unless the cats decide differently.  Start off with the new guy set up in a room where you can close the door, so that the cats can smell each other, and "talk" to each other.  If they all adapt to that pretty well, you can usually start letting him out a bit, and see how everyone reacts.  It's possible they'll accept him with no issues.

[nakedrats]

I take in stray kitties all the time to foster and adopt out.  I like to give a new cat its own room for a week and let it out towards the end of the week with supervision with the other cats.  If you can get your other cats to swap with him without theatrics, let one group walk the house at night and the other guy during the day.  Pretty soon the whole house will smell like all the cats and it won't be a strange cat in "my house".  It will also give the new guy some familiarity with the house before the free for all.  After the initial introduction period under the door, let him out and see what happens.  Cats are naturally territorial, so expect a lot of hissing and some swats and chasing going on.  I use a no-blood-no-barricading-no-foul rule.  As long as there's no blood and the new guy is allowed out from the closet or under the bed to use the litterbox and eat and drink, let them sort it out.  If the current residents are going to chase the guy around the house until he's blue in the face every time they see him, then that's not fair and you need to give him a closed room to hang out in when you're not home to police things. Separating them will prolong the fights, but if you need to be there to break things up, then that's what has to happen.  I get a water bottle and teach them a "leave him alone" command.  If things are getting out of hand, give the command and if they don't leave him, squirt the offender.  They pick it up pretty quick, and learn that they aren't allowed to chase or beat up on the new guy or they get squirted.  It worked great with my old cat that used to beat up on kittens.  He had a wonderful time, but the kitten didn't appreciate being slapped around.

Things usually sort out around here in 2 weeks.  Sorting out sometimes means hissing or swatting at the new guy whenever they feel like it, but things will calm down.  Good luck!

[strangeduck]

Err...Okay.  Just found out from my vet that the notch Tiger has in his ear (a triangular notch in the top of his left ear) means that when he was neutered, it was as a feral cat.  So, if Tiger spent time as a feral that would explain the aggression.  So, those of you who have done rescue or rehabilitated ferals, I could totally use your advice.  It's clear that Tiger loves people and attention, and it's also clear that he never relaxes.  Even while he's sleeping he's kind of tense.  He's going in tomorrow morning and I'm going to have them check his thyroid, but I would really love some feedback on other possible medical reasons for the aggression and some advice on how to rehab him into a house cat if he really was a feral.

[nakedrats]

I did have a temp foster like you describe.  I made a thread about her asking for advice:
http://www.goosemoose.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,118/forum,rat/topic,4036618.0
I had her for 3 weeks and she didn't really get better.  We just got better at avoiding her swipes and didn't pet her as much.  Since her swiping made her pretty unadoptable, especially combined with her absolute hatred of other cats, I decided to put her back outside.

Many "feral" cats I find aren't really feral, they're strays that used to be pets and were abandoned or kicked out of the house for stuff like spraying or clawing furniture.  We do true ferals that were born outside and never knew people.  I've taken in a bunch of nice cats and I only had that one problem with random acts of violence in an otherwise friendly cat.  The cats are usually skittish rather than aggressive with people, although aggression to other cats is more common (probably from competing for food and shelter). Your boy may be unsure of how this all works and is worried about maintaining his personal space/territory.  My feral born kitty that failed to rehab, Soot Gremlin, is skittish and only will smack me if cornered.  She also doesn't like other cats, but is more reasonable about it.  She will defend her 3 feet of personal space and rush and swat another cat that gets near her, but will not hunt down and beat up another cat that is staying away from her.  She will usually calm down in a couple of weeks to a month depending on how long the new cat takes to learn to leave her alone.  Perhaps this is just an adjustment phase and the other cats just need to learn to leave him alone and give him his space.  Also you can change your own behavior to respect his personal space.  Does he tend to scratch when you come up to him rather than him seeking you out?  Do you leave him an escape route?

Could you describe what he does and what seems to be triggering his aggressive behavior?  Clipping his claws if he allows that would be a temp fix, but addressing the cause of his anxiety would be more effective.

[strangeduck]

Well, the last four days have seen a bit of a change in Tiger.  He's still pretty tense and slinks more than he walks, but he doesn't really have any desire to be locked in the bathroom anymore.  He's stopped growling and hissing at the sight of the other cats, but now they are anxious about him and start growling when he gets within 3-4 feet of him.  He has an absolute horror of the dogs, and goes into attack mode the second they walk into the room, and Charlie, with his chasing everything that runs isn't helping.  I'm working with Charlie on not chasing the cats, but you all know how some dogs can be with this one.  The other cats have learned through trial and error that running sets him off.

Tiger isn't really swatting at me anymore, but he growls warningly if you pet him when he's nervous or when he doesn't specifically lean toward you for attention.  He's still really tense but sort of settling in.  He really wants to go outside, but I'm afraid that since he's so nervous, we won't see him again.  I'm actually wrangling three cats that want to go outside but can't right now.  The kittens are recovering from their spays and do not understand why they suddenly can't go outside. 

I really think that it's just going to take patience and time for Tiger to adjust to a houseful of pets and people.  He's definitely been lonely for quite some time, and really wants to trust us, but is clearly afraid to do so.  He is eating and drinking and using the litter box just fine.  He has a few spots he's picked out that he wants to claim as his. 

I think that it's just a matter of letting him see that he can trust us, that we aren't going to hurt him or abandon him, that he really does have a home now.  I think some older animals just have a hard time believing that life can be good and safe after they've been dumped or not cared for.

[nakedrats]

It sounds like you have most things worked out.  I'd stick to petting him only when he specifically asks until he feels more secure and relaxes.  He'll get there.  It'll just take him a while to get used to the new place and figure out how things work.  Hang in there.

For the dog issue, you might want to try training the dog not to go after the cats.  It's really not a good thing for him to do.  He might get overexcited one day and someone could get hurt.  It would be better to teach him to respect the cats as members of the household rather than toys to play with.  Then the kitties can relax and enjoy themselves romping around the house without worrying about whether the dog is going to come after them.