So if you been following along, we recently got a new foster cat, that we hope to eventually adopt, just as long as the entire family accepts him. Vernon has been with us for over a month now.
He came to us as a foster, because he had to get through some vet appointments schedule for August, before he can be cleared for adoption through the shelter. So my fiance, who volunteers at the shelter, thought it would be a great idea for us to give Verny a home, while he waited for his appointments.
I liked it, because we could test the waters, before committing to another cat. We had lost our boy Philly back in early May, and weren't sure we were ready to adopt a new cat yet. Also we weren't sure how our girl Topsy would take to a new cat too.
Now before Phil and Topsy, I never had any prior experience with cats, so I was relying on my fiance's expertise, when it came to introducing a new cat. She not only is a life long cat owner, but she has also fostered just about 100 kittens in the last 5 years.
First of all, when we went to see Vernon, I gave no indication that we were taking him home. I wanted to see if he was going to be a good fit for us, even before introducing him to Topsy. Needless to say he made a great first impression on us.
He seemed to be a happy, quiet, lovable feline. The only thing I didn't like was that he was obsessed with drinking from the sink faucet. All the volunteers there thought it was the cutest thing though.
Now on the ride home from the shelter, we found out he is a very vocal cat. We also found out, he still has many kitten characteristics. If you been watching any of my recent videos, you can see how much of a handful, he really is.
Ok enough about Vernon, how did we introduce him to Topsy? you ask. Well even though my fiance had all this experience, I still Googled, how to introduce a new cat. The plan was to keep him in our foster room in the basement until they had a chance to get to know one another.
Well my fiance changed that plan, once we got home. We brought Vernon to his foster room in the basement, while he was still in his carrier. Topsy followed us down there, and proceeded to circle the carrier and sniff.
My fiance mistook this as them getting along, and despite my objection opened the carrier, while Topsy was still there. Nothing happened for the first few minutes, until Vernon yelled out, and Topsy attacked.
After we separated them, Vernon threw up, apparently that is why he yelled. After that he stayed in his room for the next few days. We would only let him out, when we visited, but still keeping him contained to basement, while Topsy stayed upstairs.
Little by little we had Topsy go down, and sniff him from the other side of the foster room door, eventually we let him out. Topsy would grumble and hiss every time he got close, even though at the time he had no interest in her.
He was more interested in exploring the house than anything else, especially the main floor. If we were home, we would let him out, and just watch as he explore. Things were going well, so probably a week after he arrived we kept him out while we left for a couple of hours.
Shortly after that was when I witnessed him chase Topsy. The whole time he explored, she would continue to hiss and grumble, when he got close. Finally he started to notice her, and that is when the chasing began.
This lead to me putting him back in the foster room. We literally had a couple of weeks of this. We would let Vernon out, he would chase and catch Topsy, she would scream, and back to the foster room he went.
As of late Vernon has not been closed in the foster room for some time now. The chasing still happens, but Topsy also starts with him, so I am no longer worried about her, she can hold her own.
For the most part the hissing has stopped, but she still grumbles after being chased up a cat tree, or if he is annoying her by getting too close. I think it is a work in progress, but I definitely feel Vernon will be able to stay.
A couple of days ago, I found them side by side on the couch. So they will be besties before you know it. Phil and Topsy's relationship wasn't purrfect either they fought a lot, but in the end they always had each other.
The title of this post is How to Introduce a new Cat; not sure if this was the right way to do things, but in the end we are making progress. Also I was considering a more tutorial type of post, but once I started typing it came out more like a story.
