cat problem of the day

[franksolich]

I just got back (circa 9:30 a.m. central time, 8:30 a.m. mountain time) this morning (Saturday morning), after having taken the new cat, Decker, in to be inspected by the veterinary.

Decker is a black cat, other than with a white throat and white paws.

No idea his age, but he is enormous, and enormously strong.

Decker was given all of his shots, but there was good news and bad news.

The good news was that Decker is already neutralized, so no need to go through that time and trouble and expense.

The bad news is that Decker is already neutralized.....

There are "issues" between Decker and the other cats here, issues usually resolved when the new cat is neutralized.....but since this new cat is already neutralized, that won't solve the "issues."

Of course, the cats here have been basically shut up inside the house since the first week of December.  They've been outdoors in bits-and-pieces, but anywhere between 90% of the time, and 99% of the time, they've been indoors.

There are variations among all the cats here, but on the average, as a general rule, if all added up and divided by the number of cats, they're 50% indoors cats, 50% outdoors cats. 

This is a big place, with plenty of acreage indoors for all cats, for each cat, but they still have "territorial" "issues."

I'm assuming that as the weather gets better, and they all can spend more time outdoors, the "issues" will dissipate, but anybody have any ideas on how to for the meantime get the other cats to get along with this new one, Decker?

[debk]

When my daughter moved home with her 2 cats(litter mates) joining our 3(litter mates) it took about a month for 5 females to accept each other.

Her's were rescued feral cats and ours were from the pound. Ours are only 4 months younger and at the time she moved back in....her's were not quite a year old. Ours just turned 4 yrs old.

Last Christmas, we gave one of the rescued ones to a friend of my son's. Cleo never seemed happy, and was destructive, and became more so.

Cleo is now very happy living with Courtney, is no longer destructive and leaving nasty surprises anywhere there was a window. Her sister, Jaz, has turned into a totally different cat....she has become very loving, to the point of clingy sometimes, and she now gets along wonderfully well with the other 3. I guess Cleo just wanted to be the one and only cat in the household. She is alone all day while Courtney is at work and waiting in the window when she drives up in the evening.....with no nasty little "gifts" anywhere.

Give it time and see what happens. All of your cats have gotten along well together prior to Decker. Decker will either adjust and there will be no problems with the other cats or you will have to find Decker another home.

Do you know anything of Decker's previous home life? If he lived with other cats, he should be alright in a new household of cats.

You have other males, maybe they are working out a new cat hierarchy. Even with our 4 females...there is an alpha female. Also two of them are equal opportunity attention seekers between M and I, while the other 2 have each picked one of us....and don't pay much attention to the other's human.

Though cats are domesticated.....they still have many traits of their "wild" cousins.