Conference misery::feline_v1

    You may be _very_ pleasantly surprised.  Toulouse may have been
    longing for a buddy.
    
    I had similar apprehensions when I introduced a Himalayan kitten
    into my household complete with 8 year old cocker-poo.  I left them
    alone to work things out the first day I got the kitten, and when
    I came back, voila . . . buddies!

    Sounds to me your new addition is a Burmese.  If this is the case
    you have taken in a "love".  Our Daktari who we had for 14 years
    was one to be remembered with nothing but sweet memories.
    
    Is your new cat cross-eyed at all?  This is one of the traits of
    a Burmese, besides the build and voice of a Siamese.
    
    It may take time but buddies do take time.  (I hope to be going
    through this trama soon myself.)
    
    Many happy hours of purrs..
    
    Barbara
    

    I wouldn't leave them alone together until you have some feeling
    for what's going to happen.  I had to keep S&H separated when I
    was out of the house, for the first couple of weeks, I think.
    

    Congratulations on your new addition!  When we adopted Half-Pint,
    we had already had Honey for over a year.  It took about three days
    of hissing at each other before Honey realized she now had a playmate.
    It just takes a little patience.
    
    Diane

    Okay, I was going to add a note of my own on this topic, but now
    I guess I will just add to this one...  I am already in the middle
    of this situation and don't feel like its going too well.  I have
    a 4 year old spayed female cat.  Last Saturday I finally went and
    got a male kitten about 6-8 weeks old from the Worcester Animal
    Rescue League.  I knew that Tiggy wouldn't be too happy about it
    at first, but figured that she really could use a buddy.  But she
    is so upset that I can't stand it!!!  I can almost see the smoke
    rising off of her body she is so mad!  They have had no real 
    confrontations as of yet, but thats mostly because I have been
    seperating them when I'm not around.  I'm just kind of afraid that
    she would really hurt the kitten!  I guess my question is how do
    I get them (or help them get) to the next stage???   Until last
    year, Tiggy and I lived in a house with her littermate (the landlady's
    cat) so its not like she has never been around other cats.  I know
    that this is definitely not the same type of situation, but it is
    why I decided that she probably is lonely these days without her
    brother around.
    
    What to do...
    
    I am also in the middle of editing a formal introduction to my babies
    to include in note 2 so be on the lookout!
    
    Thanks!
    
    Lesa

    It can take several weeks.  I know there are a bunch of notes in
    this conference on this subject with helpful suggestions.
    

    Well, Lesa, here's my story...
    
    As you may have read elsewhere in the conference, I brought a 7
    week old boy-kitten home to cheer up a twelve year old lady-cat
    who was suffering from depression after her dog died.
    
    I read your note and ... like ... Deja Vu!! [apologies to kitty-DejaVu]
    
    Maggie [my darling girl] was NOT pleased. Milo [my boy] was in seventh
    heaven.  In the first days, Maggie so rejected me that I was nearly
    suicidal, but she never has hurt Milo.
    
    After six months, they still aren't what I would describe as friends;
    but Maggie accepts that he belongs in her house.  Her biggest trouble
    is relaxing when he's around, but she has gradually come to be her
    loving self with me again and is now lavishing attention on my husband
    -- previously she graciously allowed him to live with us because
    it made me happy.
    
      Ann

    Things are not going too well for Cher (my new addition).  She seems
    shell shocked.  Toulouse seems to be his mellow, loveable self but
    he is definately intimidated by the strange cat.  As soon as I let
    Cher out of the cat carrier, she ran upstairs and hid under the
    bed, hissing and growling.  She won't let Toulouse or I near her.
    When I left to go to work this morning she was still under the
    bed (thankfully she let me in the bed last night).
    
    Toulouse is confined to the back bedroom and bathroom during the
    day (as usual) so I gave cher run of the rest of the place.  I hope
    she comes out and looks around.  Poor baby...she's had a really
    rough week, spaying, kitty conjunctavitis, a FELV test, and her third
    new home.                
    
    Hoping things will work out...
    
    -Lauren
                            

    The first few days after Sweetie came to live with me, he spent
    all his time behind the frig, coming out just to eat (and use the
    litter box, thank goodness).  I think new cats should come with a
    couple of weeks supply of tranquilizers for the attendant humans.
    

    After we added Emma to the Max and Lucy show, it took about 10days
    for Lucy to accept her. Max took to her right away - now they are
    all getting along famously. The originals were about 20 weeks old,
    the new one 8 weeks at the time.                        
    
    Gary

    Mee too!  I've been going through the same situation.  I had written
    a topic a week ago asking people's advice on bringing an 8-week
    old kitten home to a 13 year old cat.  I did it and things aren't
    as bas as I had suspected.  Tinkerbell hisses as Mittens, but that's
    it.  Mittens keeps on stalking Tinkerbell and trying to play, Tinkerbell
    either ignores her or hisses and Mittens just goes on with her business
    as if to say "oh well, I'll try again next time". 
    
    Over all, it's going fine.  I don't worry about the two at home
    alone.  Tinkerbell knows she's the boss and I think she's made it
    quite clear to Mittens at this point.  We all believe they'll be
    fast friends in another week or so.  We caught them sleeping together
    once.  :-)                         
    
    Good luck !!
    
    	Judy
    

    Gee, glad I found this note.  I am about to go through this.
    We will be adding an 8 week old male kitten to the household
    this weekend.  The household consists of me, 3 kids, 2 dogs, and
    a cat.  Poor Bitser (the cat) -- she is 11 years old and has 
    been through her share of new friends.  She came to us with a sister
    who developed bladder problems and was finally placed on a farm
    where she could live outside and not worry about control.  Then
    we got another kitten who stayed for about 10 months and left one
    night never to be seen again.  When Bitser was about 3 we moved
    to NH and my daughter brought home the cutest calico kitten.  Bitser
    tolerated her.  Bitser arrived to a home with 2 dogs, both of whom
    have died since our move to NH 8 years ago.  At one point we also
    were adopted by a male cat who decided we were a good home.  So
    there were 5 animals at one point.  After the death of the last
    dog, we placed the calico and the male tabby with friends because
    my son exhibited all the signs of allergies.  Bitser stayed and
    became ONLY CAT...  About a year ago we acquired 2 dogs, as puppies.
    These 2 would love to play with Bitser, but she is definitely NOT
    interested.  So they chase her for fun.  I don't allow it, but when
    they can get away with it, they are off.
    
    At any rate, my daughter's friend's cat had kittens and somehow
    she persuaded me to allow her to get one.  So this weekend we will
    be adding a male kitten to the zoo.  It's been a long time since
    I had a kitten - can't even remember what to do with them.  But
    my biggest worry is Bitser.  Maybe if we are lucky, the kitten and
    the dogs will entertain each other and leave old Bitser alone....
    (I should be so lucky).  
    
    This has sort of rambled.  I'm not looking for specific help, just
    some support.  Should be a fun weekend - huh?!?!
    
    By the way, turned out my son had allergies, but not to cats, to
    dust mites which are everywhere anyway.
    
    Ellen

    re:12
    
    Ellen, all ya have to do is cuddle, love, hug, squeeze, feed, feed,
    feed, and laugh at the new baby's antics!  I used to worry about
    whether or not the babies would get stepped on - I learned to 
    walk around looking down all the time!!
    
    We will be looking for new baby stories next week!

    re .7
    
    Apology accepted...
    
    Sandi (DejaVu's mom)
    
    
    

    re .0 etc......
    
    
    White Lightning (at age 4) accepted two stray, homeless, adorable,
    fluffy white kittens and adopted them as her babies.  One grew up
    to be Star (still gorgeous) and the other went to another loving
    home.
    
    White Lightning (at age 5) accepted, not quite so readily, a scrawny,
    under-nourished, calico runt.  That one grew up to be the in-famous
    DejaVu (BRAT).  The hissing and growling (on Lightning's part) lasted
    about a week.  Since that time (2 1/2 years later), they have become
    good friends.  It's really funny to watch them play together.
    Lightning still acts like a kitten and DejaVu just forgot to grow
    up.
    
    As everyone has stated before, it takes time.
    
    Enjoy them.
    
    Sandi (Lightning & DejaVu's)
    
    

    I don't know how the other situation is going - have the cat's accepted
    each other yet?  But I can tell you what is happening in my house....
    
    Let's see -- Bob arrived about 3 weeks ago.  He is staying in my
    daughter's room - he is HER kitten.  And is he ever funny.  YOu
    are right, all you do with a kitten is feed, hug, laugh, and clean
    out the litter box.  
    
    Bitser has accepted Bob real well.  In fact, when they first sighted
    each other, it was Bob who reared up and hissed.  Bitser just looked.
    Since then, they have come to a truce and even were caught sharing
    the same bed yesterday.  The problem has become the acceptance of
    this kitten by the dogs - or one dog.  The female dog thinks he
    is great.  She just licks him and nuzzles him and is in heaven.
    The male, however, wants to eat Bob.  "Looks just the right size
    for an appetizer, Mom.."  It gets a little crazy.  Nicky really
    goes wild when he sees poor Bob.  I really don't know what we will
    do to handle this. For now, Bob lives upstairs and the dogs live
    downstairs, with a baby gate at the top of the stairs.  Nicky's
    favorite perch has become the top stair - just maybe that little
    furball will get close enough!!!
    
    Some kitten antics - Bob's "mom" is a 15 year old girl.  Now at
    that age, putting on the morning makeup is a ritual.  Margaret showers,
    washes her hair, then wraps it in a towel and goes into her room
    to finish her ritual.  (And the towel never makes it back to the
    bathroom - but that is for another Notes file).  She sits at her
    dressing table with her towel on her hair to put on her makeup.
    Now, up comes Bob, up her back, to sit on the towel and watch. 
    Boy, the eyebrow pencil is fun to chase!!!
    
    He also loves to hide around corners and attack when a person comes
    around.  It is pretty funny to watch 2 1/2 pounds of kitten attack
    a full grown person.  No fear, this guy.....
    
    He also likes to sit in the sink in the bathroom while someone brushes
    their teeth in the next sink.  Just sits and watches....wierd.
    
    That's about it for now.  He sure is fun and is fitting in to
    everyone's routine except for Nicky.  NOw, if we can solve that
    one we will be great.......
    
    Ellen
   

Have doberman, add new cat, go through the "No, you can't eat THIS one either"
ritual.....I've been there and I can suggest the following about getting
your dog and cat to co-exist...regardless the breed of dog.

First, show kitten to dog and tell the dog "no way, Jose" or whatever you
tell your dog to get the point across.  Then allow controlled exposure
for the animals...with you present..and be VERY FIRM in punishing the
dog for attempting to chase the kitten...best punishment is to banish the
dog away from the "center of things" any time the kitten is chased.  If
you are consistent and DO NOT ALLOW THE DOG TO EVER CHASE THE CAT by
keeping them separate without supervision, the dog will quickly associate
chasing the *@!#*%$! cat with getting banished.  No dog can stand to
be banished for long so the chasing will stop in a matter of days.  After
that, peace will reign.  Mind you, you will still occasionally see the
dog look at that little devil with less than affectionate thoughts in
his mind, but no chasing will occur.

			Good luck!

			    D

    He sounds like a real doll!  Keep those stories coming.
    
    E.T.

    Thanks for the idea.
    
    Last night we got brave and decided to include Bob in the family
    TV hour.  Now this is the time that the dogs generally tumble around
    for a while and then settle in to their favorite places (Nicky on
    the brick hearth and Tibby on the floor on top of someone's feet).
    The older cat curls up with whoever got her favorite chair.  My
    daughter got the couch last night (that is a big race...) and decided
    to bring Bob down.  Well......
    
    Tibby was thrilled.  She really likes the kitten.  So she got her
    licks in and wagged her tail like mad.  Nicky jumped up on the couch
    ready to have an after-dinner snack.  I hung on to him, telling
    him was a good dog (for not going closer or barking).  The kitten
    meowed and batted a paw every now and then.  This state of affairs
    remained for about 20 minutes, with Nicky just dying to lunge after
    both kitten and my daughter (after all, SHE brought that monster
    into the house!!!)  Then Bob was returned to his upstairs domain.
     Nicky was praised for having been so good (he had no choice with
    my grip on his collar).
    
    This morning Bob went right up to the baby gate at the top of the
    stairs and gave Nicky a looooong "MEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOW".  Then
    he stalked off.  Sure wish I knew what he said.......  Probably
    something close to "Na na ne na na"...
    
    Ellen

    Since this topic apply I guess I'll use this one to introduce my
    new baby instead of writing another one.
    
    My new baby is an male semi-long haired orange tiger.  His name
    is Tigger.  He's about 8 weeks old and very tiny.  I got him about
    a week and a half ago.  
    
    I still have Snuggles.  Unfortunately, Snuggles was not a happy
    about the new addition as I was.  He was so upset that just the
    smell of Tigger made him his.  I couldn't go near him for about
    a day.  He's finally calmed down and even plays (beats up on) with
    Tigger.  
    
    Poor Tigger was so skinny and he wouldn't play.  He just slept all
    day long.  So I brought him to the vets and the vet said he probably
    had parasites in his tummy.  She gave him some medicine and tested
    him for FelV (test was negative).  Now he's getting much more playful
    and is awake alot more.  
    
    He was so cute when I first brought him home.  All he wanted to
    do was be cuddled.  He would push his head into your hand.  He would
    lie down right underneath my chin.  In the morning he would wake
    me up (at 5:30am) by poking his nose all through my hair (boy did
    that tickle).  Unfortunately, he's growing out of that really quick.
    
    He going back to the vets this Wednesday.  She going to check his
    weight to be sure he can have his shots.  I also have to ask her
    whether or not he's got a cold.  When I first brought him home he
    had quite a loud meow.  Now he tries to meow and nothing comes out.
    He was also whistling when he breathed the other day and now he
    sneezes every once in a while.  The poor baby.  I worry so much
    about him.  I hope he's not going to be an unhealthy kittie.
    
    Kathy