Three cats in a one bedroom apartment

I have all three cats now. My Princess Rita, and my friend's Spot
and Orca(t). So far the other two are locked in the bedroom with
food, water, and a litter box, and Rita has the rest of the
apartment.

Saturday evening they came in, Rita sniffed at their carriers, then
they were rushed into the bedroom to relax. It was a rather traumatic
move, since they fought very hard to not be caught and carried. To
make it worse, Orca(t) remembers me only as That Bad Lady Who Holds
Me and Clips My Claws. Spot is just scared of everybody anyway,
except mommy.

They have food with a drop of Rescue Remedy in it, and the feliway
infuser is plugged into the bedroom wall.

Last night after I got home, I opened the bedroom door and just left
it. Spot is under the bed as far away as he can get, and hasn't
moved. I'm not sure if he's even eaten yet. Orca(t) is out and
about, but only in the bedroom. Rita went into the bedroom and
hissed a little, but she jumped on the bed and held a little
conversation with Orca(t). I thought they were going to be okay.

Then I went to bed. Just as I was dropping off to sleep, I was
awakened by a hissspit cat fight under the bed! Spot is VERY
angry at Rita, and Orca(t) is defending his brother, so after
two of those, I had to lock Rita out of the room for the night.

I think Spot is especially nervous because he's declawed. Orca(t)
and Rita would have been all right, but Spot needs extra help.
Any suggestions to help them get along better, or am I just
going to have to be more patient? After all, it's only been
two days.

They have their favorite food, and a couple of items from home
with their smell on it, including a comforter under the bed that
they used at home, so I'm hoping that they'll feel more relaxed
eventually. Meanwhile, unless I want to sleep on the couch, I
have to sleep without my Rita. *sniff*

Jane
- owned and operated by Princess Rita, Spot, and Orca(t)

Count me on the side of being patient and letting them eventually work
things out. I'd have to go back and check my postings to determine
just when I first brought Spot and her babies inside out of a storm,
but I'm still keeping them in separate rooms when I'm not here to
supervise.

The only thing I'd suggest that it doesn't sound like you're already
doing is rotating rooms. My apartment isn't exactly ideal for
integrating newbies - just a small one bedroom apartment. Sometimes LB
and Sammy are in the bedroom/bathroom with Spot in the living
room/kitchen, sometimes Spot in the bedroom/bathroom and my girls out
in the LR.

I still have hopes that Sam and Spot may eventually become friendly,
but doubt that LB will ever do more than tolerate Spot's existence.
Course she was the same way with Rocky (RB) when I brought him inside,
and that was after knowing and getting along with Rocky in the OUT. It
was a couple months before she'd stay in the same room with him, but
eventually they could be found napping fairly close - though it never
got to the point where they'd play or groom each other. Though I'd
like to someday see them all cuddled up together, I'll be satisfied if
I can leave them alone in the same room without being afraid of them
fighting. Otherwise, I may have to invest in a window air conditioner,
since SW Oklahoma does get kind of warm, and the only A/C / heater is
in the living room, and it get's a might warm and stuffy for whoever
is locked away in the bedroom during the day.

Anyway, purrs that your three soon get along well enough to be left
together.
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and the Evil Spot
with loving memories of Rocky (RB)

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snip story of new cats fighting

Allowing the cats to have contact after only the second day is a huge
mistake and you are seeing the horrible results.You're pushing these
cats way too fast. They've already been traumatized by being in a
strange place with strange person/animal and forcing them into meeting
your cat when they haven't even had a chance to settle in for awhile is
extremely unfair to them and is putting too much on them. It's
alsotraumatic for your cat as her territory has been invaded and her
routine upset. Now you've had fighting, which has traumatized them more
and makes it even more difficult to create a situation where these cats
can all get along.

You need to start over and give these cats some time to adjust before
you even think about starting the introduction process. Leave them
completely separated for a week, and after a few days, IF they are
starting to seem relaxed, you can rotate rooms for a short period of
time and they can explore the rest of your place while your resident cat
is closed into the room they ar in so she can check it out.You should
also then temporarily replace the door to their room with a screen door
so the cats can see and smell each other but not fight, and start
feeding the cats on either side of the door to create a posiitve
association with each others presence. Once you get to a point where
they seem fairly relaxed when they are in close proximity to each other
by the door, you can start allowing them to have short *supervised*
meetings. Never yell at the cats when they hiss or swat as they will
associate getting yelled at with the other cat and it will make matters
worse. Instead just gently intervene and move the offender out of the
situation.
Here's a good article that describes the basics of introducing cats:
http://catsinternational.org/article...roduction.html

Cat introductions take time, and thinking you can just let them "work it
out" results in a lot of stress, fighting, and probable injury, which
are all unnecessary and unfair to the cats. You can avoid that by being
patient and takling several weeks to integrate then properly with as
litlle stress as possible. If you allow things to go on as is, they will
probably never become friends and you will have a very unhappy
household.

Megan



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