Any Advice?

[Flar's Freyja]

When Flar and I met, he had one cat and I had three. He and I since acquired two strays, and when we became engaged it was agreed that my son would keep two of my cats and that I would bring a third. Freyja was a wild stray that adopted me and I ended up taking her in. I've had her for more than a year and she's never warmed up to anyone else, including my son, so I decided that she would need to move with me.

I brought her home a week ago. As soon as I let her out of the carrier, the youngest male, who is not yet altered, jumped her. Pouncy, the oldest and Siamese, attacked me when I jumped in and wrote her name in my leg.........Flar and I decided to separate Freyja from the rest of the den until they got used to each other so we set her up in the guest room with food, water and a litter box. After a few days we opened the door, and a few days ago I took the food and water out so she'd have to come out to eat and left the litter box.

Night before last, she came out into the living room for about an hour and I thought we were making progress. She is back under the bed and continues to spit, hiss and scream at the other cats whenever they try to go near her. Pouncy and Possum are not being aggressive and want to play, and Groucho, the young tom, is just showing his testosterone but is actually a little afraid of her.

I've successfully integrated many cats and this is the first time it's been so difficult. I'm getting so discouraged that I'm thinking of taking her back to my old house. Has anyone had a similar experience? How long did it take to integrate a new cat into your household?

[Blueowl]

Freyja...give them more time...they will be fine. She is just not very accepting of change obviously. She will come around. Give them at least a couple months to get to know each other. You know how territorial cats can be. ANd if you are hers, she is probably picking up your anxiety and such which is contributing to her behavior. My babies are like that too. Boo especially my female takes a while to warm up to any cat...cause I am hers, and it pisses her off when she has to (or so she thinks) compete for my attention. I hope it helps, and let me know how things go!!!

[Flaire-FireStar]

I"m sure it'll just take time, sis..... Cat would always hiss, spit & swat at Pest when we first got her (I tried to keep them apart the best I could during the first few weeks...cuz, well, I was fostering her from the SPCA. ) They still do it, though not quite as often.

How old is Freyja?

[Azure]

I agree - it's just going to take a little time and patience. Emmie Lou, my little stray kitten I took in a year ago took almost that whole year to stop hiding in closets and adjust to my other two cats, plus we lost one dog and got a puppy.

But now she is the happiest little playful kitty, and she and the other two, with whom she had hissing and fighting only for the first two or three months, adore each other.

Just give her some real time to make the transition, and don't expect it to happen immediately.

Also, if you feed the cats together in separate dishes, and pet them all and show affection at the same time, they will adjust more rapidly, knowing that no one is going to get favoritism.

[Yvonne Belisle]

It took my cats a bit over a month to accept the pressence of the kittens here. They still snub them but they don't fight anymore and once in a while I catch the older cats cleaning the kittens now.

[Danustouch]

I really don't have any advice. When I moved in with John, I brought my cat, and after about a week, she was getting along okay with John's cats. When she died, John and I adopted two new kittens from the pound. When we brought them home, Boris, the eldest (elderLY) cat, showed instant animosity toward the youngest of the kittens, a female (my familiar). Hissing, Growling, Pouncing, and pinning her to the floor. I heard that keeping them separate for a while was a good thing. But in an apartment as small as ours, this was difficult. We just tried to give them equal time and attention. Now...she is two and a half years old, and outweighs boris. She's never forgotten how he treated her when she first arrived, and has now turned the tables on him. Now, whenever he enters a room where I am present, she chases him, and pounces him. She doesn't hurt him, her intent is merely to intimidate him, the way he once intimidated her. Of course, Boris has found bookshelves, desktops, and closets to be useful hiding places from this "terrifying shecat". He's a nervous wreck, but..truth be told, he was ALWAYS a nervous wreck. Our neighbor has him over to her apartment a couple of times a week, So this gives him a little break. Other than that, we just try to make due, making sure each of them is given equal time. They eat out of a communal bowl, which is always out for them, and they've worked out "shifts". When we feed them tunafish as a treat, we try to dish it into two separate plates, and put them across the room from eachother. Boris, and Kittenlittle (aka, summer, my familiar) STILL will not eat from the same plate, at the same time.

We just try to keep her from terrorizing him too much, by distracting her, or averting any pounce attempts.

Come summertime, Boris will be outdoors most of the day (he's an outdoor cat) so it won't be quite so hard on him. Little stays inside with us.

I've heard that one thing you can do is create a "Saferoom" in the house for a cat who is having difficulty adjusting. Mark one room off, and keep the door closed. Keep the other cats out of that room if at all possible. When things get tense between them, take the cat who is having difficulty adjusting, bring her into the "Saferoom" and close the door. Spend time in the Saferoom, playing with her/him, petting her/him. Etc.

I did that when my kitten first arrived, and still til this day, she considers it "our room". Whenever she needs attention, she will hop up on the bed in the bedroom, and meow until I come in there to pet her.

Wish I had something more useful to add. Have you tried catnip?

[Old Witch]

No advice except to hang in there..........And I wish you a lot of luck.........

[Rubi Waters]

I will take a while for her to adjust. She's not in familiar territory and these strange cats are there......but she will come around. I moved with my cat into a house that already had a cat. It took a long time(2 or 3 months) before fur stopped flying but now they tolerate each other.

[Flar's Freyja]

Thank you all so much! I've never had this take more than a few days before, and I'm a bit blown away because when I took Freyja into my old house, she moved right in and ruled the roost! She's whupped up on the other two cats all this time and I never expected her to be the one to cower and hide. If anything, I thought that she'd be the one to be attacking the other cats and I was worried about them!

She does already have her "safe room" but closing the door makes the other cats feel slighted - they wanna know why she's allowed in there when they're not! Since they weren't allowed in there before she came due to their messing with the plants in there. She does have the bed to hide under. It's a bed that's unusually low to the floor and none of them have tried to get under there with her.

I'll be more patient and look forward to them all getting along soon. I keep telling Pouncy that now that she has Freyja, they can be the girls against the boys!

Flaire, to answer your question about ages - Pouncy and Freyja are about the same age, a little over a year. Possum is about ten months and Groucho is about 8 months old.