As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, four-month-old Lucky spent the first few days in our home in the bathroom, set up as a cat safe room for him. He was able to get acclimated to our home in a quiet, calm environment. It also allowed our resident cats–Linus, Inca, and Coco–time to understand that there was a new cat in the house and calmly come to terms with that.
During Lucky’s stay in the safe room, there was a great deal of curiosity about the little fellow behind the closed door. Every time we exited Lucky’s room, there was at least one cat on the other side of the door. When we exited, we tossed a treat to our resident cats, allowing them to get the idea that this little guy just might mean good things could happen!
After a couple of days, we also worked to feed Lucky fairly close to the door, and feed our resident cats fairly close to the door.
Lucky became restless after a few days, even with a safe room full of toys as well as a large window looking out on trees. He was soon ready to explore the rest of the house.
Rather than allow him to join the rest of the cats, we first had the cats switch places. I brought Lucky up to my office for an afternoon to work with me, leaving the safe room door open for the resident cats to explore. Lucky was able to check out all their cat beds and favorite perches while, downstairs, Linus, Inca, and Coco could explore the all the scents left behind by Lucky.
Once it was time for everyone to become one big family, we added additional water bowls and moved the food bowls apart so the resident cats wouldn’t have to eat side-by-side with Lucky unless they chose to. Lucky quickly took to Linus–and we were very pleased to see that 14-year-old Linus took to Lucky as well. They’ve had daily play sessions with Da Bird wand toy.
Coco took the middle ground, with some hisses and growls on the first day. After that day, she quickly adjusted and now just watches Lucky. She’s not playful with him like Linus is but she doesn’t avoid him or hiss.
Inca, who is the most mothering of our cats, was the biggest surprise: she was our hisser. Inca ran and hid beneath my desk and remained out of sight the first few days. She wouldn’t eat with Lucky in the same room.
I plugged in a Feliway diffuser we had; it dispenses synthetic pheromones like those emitted by a nursing cat so that stressed cats feel more relaxed. Feliway also makes a spray; I didn’t have any of that on hand so I went to PetSmart and purchased Whisker City At Ease, an inexpensive spray with simulated pheromones. I sprayed dish towels with the At Ease and placed them in Inca’s favorite place to nap.
I don’t know if it was the pheromone products or just the passage of more time but the next day Inca and Lucky shared the catio together! They weren’t sitting side by side but they were sharing the catio peacefully. That evening, Inca played with Da Bird with Lucky then slept on her favorite spot on our bed (while Lucky was in the floor in a pet bed.) They still have a ways to go but each day I can see Inca relaxing more around Lucky.
We’re still careful to pay extra attention to Linus, Coco, and Inca, petting them rather than Lucky when they’re all together. We’re also sure to spend some quality alone time with each one daily, doing the activities they enjoy the most, whether it’s sitting with Inca on my lap in the office or brushing Linus by the sink. We want to show Linus, Coco, and Inca that they’re not being replaced in our hearts by this new arrival, just that our family–and our love for them all–is growing larger.
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