Zeus introduction to entire family

[Eolsurion]

My kitten Zeus has endeared himself to everyone in my human family ... We never had a chance with his cute looks, charming personality (he loves to talk with everyone) and his love of cuddling when sleeping (he seems to have a thing for our heads). I count myself very very lucky to have such a tolerant and socialized kitten.

All my animals have been spade or neutered respectively.

Now my non human family wouldn't give such a raving review about him. First my 65 lbs weimaraner is scared of him and I'm not sure I blame her (any animal with such a size differential (Zeus is only 3lbs right now) that will so aggressively and determinedly go after another animal has to be crazy and should not messed with right?). They get along pretty well now, but it was rough at first. I wouldn't say they are on a cuddling lvl yet, but they sleep pretty close.

Secondly my female cat about 5 yrs old doesn't want anything to do with Zeus. She used to be the sweetest cat, and I figured would be the easiest of my two cats to introduce Zeus to. OMG !!! She is now miss hell cat, she won't even associate with me now ... I just get hisses unless she is hungry and her food dish is empty. And she is being nice to me in comparison to how she reacts to Zeus ... I've never seen so much spitting from a cat before ...

My other cat is a 28 lbs 11 yr old domestic male and only a bout 1/3 of this weight is due to chubbiness. He is the biggest domestic my vet has ever seen. Anyways, I haven't tried introducing Zeus to him yet. Not till Zeus is larger (I had a kitten that my mom's alpha male killed when I was a kid). I know very well how quickly even a neutered cat will kill a kitten if the kitten is in its territory.

I know better than to push anything with the cats so will continue to leave socks rubbed on the other cats left around in areas that the cats frequent so they get used to the smell of each other and once a day allow them to see each other from a distance. I will let them be my guide when they are ready. I will build a temporary screen door and place so it will allow Zeus free reign where the bedrooms are upstairs and put it in this weekend. This will allow the cats to see each other all the time but not get to each other.

Can you all suggest anything else to make the introduction of my cats go any smoother? How long did the introduction period take for you all that had alpha males when introducing a new sv male kitten?

 

[MK Anderson]

LOL! I tell everyone no-one took longer than my white deaf cat! 6-8weeks here for him, he spit, hissed, growled, he is just stubborn boy! He's all talk tho LOL! We put up a screen door on the quarantine room which worked great, so keep that up. I also just switched them back and fourth(from quarantine room) till all was good. I did not push it....My female did the same thing as your girl did, hissed and all. Give her time I think she will come around, it's normal what she is doing. Marilyn has a good article on this if I can find it I will share the link.

I think it all sounds normal, it just takes time.

 

[MK Anderson]

you could try these worked well here; ttp://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2755197

 

[Eolsurion]

you could try these worked well here; ttp://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2755197

I will definately give these a whirl, TY !!!

 

[MK Anderson]

another thing that worked good here, is I rubbed the socks on the new cat and put the socks underneath the dish of food for the residents cats.

 

[Patti]

I think you are doing the smart thing by letting the animals tell you when they are ready to interact. It may take a few weeks, but I'm sure they'll all learn to love each other eventually

 

[Eolsurion]

It has taken time, and the screen door has definately helped. We made some real progress today. Shadow (ms anti social) did very well. I allowed Zeus to come down the stairs from the bedroom this morning, he took his time and investigated the whole way. There is a half way landing where the stairs double back, that Shadow loves to sleep on, so he took extra time investigating there. Well Shadow wasn't about to give up her favorite spot without atleast a growl or two. She came a running when she heard Zeus talking to me about what he was smelling (he loves to talk).

All was good for about 20 mins, a few low growls and a bit of tail lashing, but all was going well. The look that Shadow was giving me was "only for you dad, only for you would I be laying here instead of beating the doo doo out of that kitten".

So near the end of the time, Zeus is feeling more comfortabe and starts playing, you can never truly stop a kitten from wanting to play can you? ... Well Zeus forgot himself and in estatic glee of chasing and catching his tail thought he would play with shadow. It was all of two high spirited hops and he was giving her a big kiss right on the nose !

Oh my ... You would have thought the world was coming to an end with the screaming shadow did !!! LOL was the funniest thing, i think Zeus jumped 4 ft in the air backwards away from her and was at the top of the steps in a blink. Not wanting the situation to end on a bad note, i gave it a few minutes for things to calm down, and then brought out the sectret weapon. Kitty treats. I rewarded both of them for their bravery with a few treats, and they both ate them, about 2 feet apart, but ate them none the less.

I'm thinking ms anti social is starting to melt a little. Now the true challenge. Mr Alpha male is next up for introductions. At a whopping 28 lbs, but still light on his feet, I've been very apprehensive about their getting to know one another.

 

[MK Anderson]

Glad to hear it's going well, Rob. In the next week or two all will be good!!

 

[MK Anderson]

Pergie made so much noise at Keeba I was like Oh, man, really! but thats all it was, noise! they love each other.

 

[WitchyWoman]

LOL. Poor Shadow is probably very conflicted now that she discovered that the spotted devil alien just might be interesting after all and contact with him doesn't cause her fur to fall off. My grouchy old lady will never admit that she likes the companionship of the SVs. She's currently curled up on a bed napping with Juba but if you ask her about it, she'll deny it.