"Calvin Rice" wrote in message
m...
I appreciate all of the time and effort that went into these thoughtful
responses, and I know of nothing that can refute your advice. I will
try to plan some inside confrontations, but I'm very afraid of the
temporary results, even if the long term results work out to being good.

I already know how hard it is to have a little kitten accepted, for
example. I've introduced new tiny kittens three times, and every time
the cat(s) reacted as if I had brought a grave threat into their midst.
But within a matter of weeks the kitten is always grudgingly tolerated
by my female, and accepted as a buddy by the other male(s).

That was what I was expecting after I had the former stray neutered and
let him live among us. I thought they would get used to him in a matter
of weeks, but I never expected him to be the one who couldn't accept
one or more of them. Of course I was just naive.

One piece of advice I was given last year was to put Feliway diffusers
in the house, and confine the two to a Feliway environment until they
got used to each other. I haven't tried this, but I thought maybe if
I put a Feliway diffuser in Thug's room, and in the hallway outside his
room, maybe I could simply temporarily confine Willie to the hallway, and
then coax him into the room, while supposedly both cats are under the
calming influence that Feliway is thought to have.

Does this alternative seem at all feasible?

-cr

Feliway isn't a silver bullet but it can help.

W