Integrating the new kitties

Takayuki wrote:

I said to him, "I'm sorry, but I have to go to bed now with Dot." And
now I hear him crying in the other room. I want to be there for them
both when they need me, not just for one or the other - and I want so
much for them to get along, so that that can happen.

When I got Miranda, she would sneak into my bed at night and get under
the covers and snuggle up to me. I'm not sure that Frank and Nikki even
realized the intruder was in the same bed as them (except when Frank was
sleeping on the pillow next to mine, and a tiny grey paw would shoot out
from under the covers to catch his tail every now and then).

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...
mlbriggs wrote:

On Sat, 16 Jun 2007 12:57:30 -0400, Takayuki wrote:

Buster kept up a murping, trilling commentary as he reacquainted himself
with the room. He came to me nudging my hand for pets, and finally
climbed on top of my chest and lay down. Later he moved down to my left
side and curled up in the crook of my arm, and then eventually moved
down
to the cat bed.

Day (night) No. 2 sounds like a success. Remember, it took 7 (?) days to
create the earth (according to scriptures). Just be patient and give it
time. New mothers of bare children are told to nap when they nap. God
luck. MLB

Actually, that was night #1 - today is night #2. After doing some
housekeeping in the living room, I reclined in the couch, and called
Buster over. He trilled and jumped up. After getting on my lap and
fidgeting for a while, he fell asleep, stretched out. I never had a
tabby before, and from my angle, he looked like a comatose badger.
After about a half hour with him on my lap, I decided I should go to
bed, and woke him up. I tried to relocate him to the side, on the
couch, but the cheeky little guy just kept trying to climb back on to
my lap.

I said to him, "I'm sorry, but I have to go to bed now with Dot." And
now I hear him crying in the other room. I want to be there for them
both when they need me, not just for one or the other - and I want so
much for them to get along, so that that can happen.


When I adopted Duffy and went through a fairly long introduction period
(longer than you will probably need -- as explained in another of my
messages), I alternated bedrooms. I had Duffy in the guest bedroom (with
the temporary door after a week), and I would alternate sleeping in my own
bedroom -- where Holly could join me -- and the guest room -- where Duffy
could be my companion.

MaryL

"Sherry" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jun 16, 8:35 pm, Takayuki wrote:
"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote:
"GaDragonfly" wrote in message
roups.com...
Tak, I've done something similar with Lacey, Sam and Barnabus although
not as elaborate. I bought a window screen for about $14. It fits
over the door and is tall enough that they can't go over. Since I
didn't want to take a chance of someone going through the screen
during the day when I was away I would close the wooden door when I
was at work and then when I came home I'd open the bedroom door, put
the window screen in place and duct tape it to the door frame. This
also offered me the opportunity to "divide" the house after a week or
so. I moved the screen to the doorway between the sleeping part of
the house and the living part of the house so that the new cat has
three bedrooms and two baths and the older cats had the family room,
dining room and kitchen.

Julie

This arrangement would depend on the age of the cats and how agile they
are.
That would *never* keep Holly out because she is so agile that she can
scale
anything. She makes a leap to the mantel seem completely effortless!
For
that matter, Duffy would probably have climbed right over -- he may be
blind, but he's like a little gymnast. But it would be a great idea for
kittens.

Dot, who is by far the older and chubbier of the two, has leapt from
the floor to the top of the refrigerator with one standing jump! It
makes me wonder what the limber Buster might be capable of.- Hide quoted
text -

Wow, Dot has excellent cat math. I don't think anyone here has ever
jumped on top of the
fridge. (at least not when I was looking)...That's a pretty high jump
from the floor.

Sherry


Holly does that. She jumps to incredible heights, at least by my standards.
She has jumped to and casually sat on the top of a bifold closet door (with
just a bound from the floor, nothing to help), jumps to the mantle, flies to
the top of an 8-ft. bookcase (but here she first gets on the TV stand), and
then jumps from one bookcase to another. If I could do something
comparable, I think I would be leaping over buildings!

MaryL

There are *very good* reasons for keeping the cats apart during
the introduction period.

We tried the keeping-them-apart thing when we introduced Muriel
to the household. The result was that it took years for her and
Ishmael to get along. Every other time, we've just let them get
on with it, letting them have the run of the whole house with no
attempt whatever at keeping the new arrival apart, and they've
settled down in a week or two.

I don't think humans can ever know enough about cat psychology
to try manipulative stuff with any hope of it succeeding. Let
them be themselves. They've evolved to be social animals.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

I think that keeping them apart gives them the impression that something
creepy and dangerous is in that closed room, or outside of it, depending on
which cat's view.

Nanny

"Jack Campin - bogus address" schreef in bericht
...
There are *very good* reasons for keeping the cats apart during
the introduction period.

We tried the keeping-them-apart thing when we introduced Muriel
to the household. The result was that it took years for her and
Ishmael to get along. Every other time, we've just let them get
on with it, letting them have the run of the whole house with no
attempt whatever at keeping the new arrival apart, and they've
settled down in a week or two.

I don't think humans can ever know enough about cat psychology
to try manipulative stuff with any hope of it succeeding. Let
them be themselves. They've evolved to be social animals.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk
==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660
4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554
975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739
557

"Nanny" wrote in message
...
I think that keeping them apart gives them the impression that something
creepy and dangerous is in that closed room, or outside of it, depending on
which cat's view.

Nanny


Not at all -- at least, not that I could ever tell. I'm not sure that any
of us can actually "read" a cat's mind, but there is a *great deal* of
literature that supports the view that cats should be separated when a new
cat is brought into the hom and then gradually introduced. I also have my
own personal experience (where my Holly previously was "the black tornado"
when confronted with another cat but gradually grew to accept Duffy), and I
have relied on the advice of experts in animal behavior (who also advocated
gradual introduction).

MaryL

"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote

| I have relied on advice of experts in animal behavior (who advocated
| gradual introduction).

But Tak has a different situation altogether. He has not brought a new cat
into a home where an existing cat already lives.

"Pat" wrote in message
...

"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote

| I have relied on advice of experts in animal behavior (who advocated
| gradual introduction).

But Tak has a different situation altogether. He has not brought a new cat
into a home where an existing cat already lives.




No, but he's bringing two cats into an entirely new environment, and they
are cats that are not familiar with each other. It's better to go slow and
cautious than to go full speed ahead and risk conflicts. I would expect
that "slow and cautious" in Tak's case will take much less time than it did
for Holly.

MaryL

MaryL wrote:

Not at all -- at least, not that I could ever tell. I'm not sure that any
of us can actually "read" a cat's mind, but there is a *great deal* of
literature that supports the view that cats should be separated when a new
cat is brought into the hom and then gradually introduced. I also have my
own personal experience (where my Holly previously was "the black tornado"
when confronted with another cat but gradually grew to accept Duffy), and I
have relied on the advice of experts in animal behavior (who also advocated
gradual introduction).

As you say, we can't know what goes on in cats' heads. I didn't
introduce Miranda slowly, but just let her lose. Nikki had built up a
reputation of hating all other cats, and she did hiss at Mir at first,
but eventually she was the first to start playing with Mir. Frank kept
his distance until after Nikki died. I firmly believe in the 'let them
work it out' method. Nikki never hurt Mir, though she sounded scary, and
Mir was afraid of her at first.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

That's what I mean, Marina, I want to let them work it out together, be it
cat or ferret. I must say I had more problems with ferrets that I had to
separate, to the point that they had separate cages, than with cats.

Nanny

"Marina" schreef in bericht
...
MaryL wrote:

Not at all -- at least, not that I could ever tell. I'm not sure that
any of us can actually "read" a cat's mind, but there is a *great deal*
of literature that supports the view that cats should be separated when a
new cat is brought into the hom and then gradually introduced. I also
have my own personal experience (where my Holly previously was "the black
tornado" when confronted with another cat but gradually grew to accept
Duffy), and I have relied on the advice of experts in animal behavior
(who also advocated gradual introduction).

As you say, we can't know what goes on in cats' heads. I didn't introduce
Miranda slowly, but just let her lose. Nikki had built up a reputation of
hating all other cats, and she did hiss at Mir at first, but eventually
she was the first to start playing with Mir. Frank kept his distance until
after Nikki died. I firmly believe in the 'let them work it out' method.
Nikki never hurt Mir, though she sounded scary, and Mir was afraid of her
at first.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.