Any advice for me?

[AA]

This is a kind of odd situation and I was wondering if anyone had any advice. I have an 11-month old female spayed cat who is not allowed outside, and have been feeding a cat someone abandoned who shows up at my back door every morning and evening. The latter is a rather large female cat, I looked at her belly but couldn't tell if she is spayed or not.

Anyway, it is getting pretty cold where I live and I've found the second cat huddled in our trash bags on several occasions trying to keep warm, since I'm pretty sure she was abandoned (I've asked everyone in our neighborhood whose cat she is and no one knows, and in addition I put a collar on her with a note instructing her owner to call me and let me know she's not stray, and no one did), I want to take her to the vet, get her spayed if she is not already, and keep her in my home as I do not feel safe having any animal of mine outside for a long period of time (I live in a somewhat congested area).

I realize it is going to be very difficult to deal with not only bringing an outside cat in, but at the same time having two cats of the same *beep* suddenly living together, especially when the first cat is a lot smaller and younger than the new one, and very trusting of other animals which may lead to her getting swatted or bitten (She steals food). I can't in good conscience let this poor animal freeze to death outside, it may be her first homeless winter, so I don't feel like I have a choice. Does anyone have any advice on how to make this transition run more smoothly? Should I let the 2nd cat in at night and put her out in the morning until she gets used to being in the house all the time, or should I just keep the two on different floors?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[melissaranks]

First, get that cat inside. Second, quaranteen it until it sees a vet and wash your hands thouroughly after playing, feeding, changing litter. FHIV and Feline Leukemia are extremely contagious. Your vet will do simple tests to determine is she has them.

After the vet and the spay, bring her home. Booker was an abandoned stray. She howled and hissed like a banshee and beat the crap out of Maximus when they first met. It took SEVERAL months for them to TOLERATE each other! Then, they became best of friends. What I did was every other day take turns quaranteening the kitties. The new kitty out then the other kitty out. I did this for a week so they could smell each other and hear each other, but couldn't fight. Then, after that I got out the HUGE crate and put a litter box, food, water, etc. in it. It's one of those nice metal crates. Anyhow, they could SEE each other and touch each other. And holler at each other which they did. This was also a 'take turns' situation. Then, when I was home, I'd let them both out together (never EVER confine to strange cats together). Eventually, they stopped the bickering and just LOVED each other's company!

[Traci]

You can also use the search function on the board and search for "introducting cats", etc...which should bring you to several posts in our feline health forum.

Melissa has pretty much summed it up, most of us here use similar seperation methods, and with love, time and patience, your kitties should feel accustomed and comfortable with one another.

Do be sure to get your new kitty thoroughly examined by your vet BEFORE introducing her to your indoor kitty, including testing for FELV/FIV, dewormed, vaccinated accordingly.

Thank you for taking her into your heart and home!!

[Auntie Debbie]

Thank you for caring so much about the outside kitty!
I have some links on my website (See Debbie's Feline Health under Favorites on the menu on the left side of the screen) for links on "Introductions" and "Indoor Kitties"/ There you should find some links with info on convincing your kitty to stay inside and how to get both cats introduced and liking each other.
Good luck and please let us know how things are going, ok?

[AA]

Thanks to all for replying to my question, I took the new kitty to our vet and had her spayed and tested this past weekend. I have been keeping her upstairs and my little cat downstairs when I am not there to watch them, and each gets their turn having free roam of the house each day while the other is confined to a bedroom. The new cat meows at the window to be let back out on a regular basis, but she's been using her litter pan and hasn't destroyed anything as of yet, I'm hoping she'll get used to being inside. For the most part they seem to ignore each other when they're together, which I guess is better than having them fight. Hopefully in time they'll become friends but at least they're not killing each other.

My vet said that in my area it's common for people to move away and just leave their cats to fend for themselves and that's probably what happened to my new cat, it makes me sad that people can be so cruel.