Introducing Zuri!

[Carykd7kau]

VERY happy for you Laura. It does make you feel like a million bucks when your baby lets you pet him for the first time. This is just step one. Zuri will begin to relax and join in to the family. Again, so happy for you.

 

[dice]

That Sounds like the proverbial nut has been cracked!!!!? Easy does it & the fur family will be all good!!!

 

[WitchyWoman]

That is rapid progress. I'm delighted for you and Zuri. You have definitely earned your Cat Whisperer title.

 

[Patti]

That is sooo cool!!!! I think it's time for updated pics

 

[Laura W]

There was a lot of hissing and yowling last night. Not sure who was doing what. I do know he has decided to see what doors he can open including the 8 ft mirrored sliding closet doors in one of the cat rooms.

We are having a problem with Nala, F3 female. She stares at him until she is worked up then goes after the Bengal chasing and trying to attack her. These two have never been friends and just coexist for the most part. How do I handle this other than stopping her and isolating her for a short time until she settles down? Dolos is very small and I'm afraid she is going to hurt her. Nala won't start with Zuri. I think she knows he could hurt her if he wanted. Zuri backs off from the other cats if it gets heated. I've not seen him one time do more than fluff up and hiss since he has been out in the house. He just goes back to his isolation area on his own where he feels safest and he will case others out sometimes. I know its a time of everyone having to reestablish pecking order, but Nala's anger is intimidating to the smaller ones. It's like the silly girl has lost her mind! lol

 

[Laura W]

That is rapid progress. I'm delighted for you and Zuri. You have definitely earned your Cat Whisperer title.

Hardly! We aren't living in harmony yet, but we will get there!

 

[WitchyWoman]

We are having a problem with Nala, F3 female. She stares at him until she is worked up then goes after the Bengal chasing and trying to attack her.

Redirected aggression. You might try putting Nala in Zuri's room for a few hours a day. That will buy time for the others to continue bonding. If that doesn't work, then you might have to treat Nala as the "new" cat, put her into quarantine and reintroduce her to the family.

There's always Marilyn Krieger for more ideas and lastly, my go to remedy, Prozac. For Nala for a short time until everyone settles into the new hierarchy.

 

[Chris Elliott]

It's taken over year for my household of three cats to come to some sort of an approximated harmony.

Oni (8.5lb F6) still screams on occasion if Ziggy (13lb F2, and very leggy, so bigger appearing than 13lbs) or Jax (10lb fluffy mutt of a cat) chase her. But other times they all run around with no issues. Oni still sniffs Jax and then batts him pretty often, but, fortunately, he just ignores her aggression.

It's taken over a year for Oni to feel comfortable enough to curl up with us when another cat is near.

Are the cats eating together or in sight/smell of each other? I think that's helped socialization significantly. Jax has to be in a crate or another room because his other nickname is Hoover, and the crate did wonders early on to allow them to be close while still limiting interaction during meals.

I agree with WW's comments, with the further observation that it takes time.

And I agree with you, Laura, finding the balance of allowing interaction without damage to anyone can be hard. You're doing great.

 

[Patti]

Redirected aggression can be scary, both for the cats and for the humans. Here are a few articles that might give you some ideas of how to deal with it:

http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-behavior-tips-redirected-aggression-in-cats

http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/redirected-aggression-in-cats/

http://www.cathospitalofchicago.com...I_do_if_feline_redirected_aggression_happens?

 

[Laura W]

The other cats are really picking on Zuri so they are all locked up so he can come play with us for a few hours tonight. I feel bad for him. He loves to play, He is even fine with Danny now and never hisses at either of us, still working on touch. I think the other cats will continue to be locked up for a while each night so we can play and then we will introduce them one at a time. He loves the dogs and will come out during the day and touch Monte with his paw.

Dolos, just screeches and runs off so she isn't starting anything but it makes him uncomfortable, Mitzi is challenging less and they aren't getting into it much and will both play with Da Bird a few feet apart, Nala is the problem. She is down right mean to him and goes after him wanting to fight. He responds by running off and she will persue him. She gets put in timeout. She will watch us play from a distance, but she starts the growling if he gets within about 5 ft from her. If he would stand up for himself, Nala would stop her crap! He is afraid of her which is odd because his previous home said he was mean to his other SV. He is not mean at all.

I think he is marking under the windows but there is no odor at all and it doesn't continue after I clean it. Is it possible it's Nala and not him? She has never marked anything but she has become very territorial.