So the NEW CAT has arrived - a little more advice needed!

Snookercues

Hi all

Posted a thread a few weeks ago about the arrival of the new cat and how to get her settled in with the resident cat - well she has arrived, and is really a lovely lovely cat - completely the opposite of resident cat - wants to be up beside you on the couch, giving head butts etc etc. So all good there.

The two cats have had very little interaction inside the house - resident cat has pretty much been outside in the lovely weather and refuses to come in at night (she has more or less adopted our neighbours anyway, they are always at home, and I guess provide better food ha ha). But when they did meet inside the living room, there were no major rows -just deep growling from resident cat and that was more or less it.

But I just have two quick questions on new cat:

1. We live in a terrace house that has a common back lane between our back door and the long back garden (hard to describe sorry!) - thats where all the cats hang out. There is a relatively quiet road way down the very end of the garden, so all in all its a very safe place for cats, and if they wanted to, they would never have any interaction with cats.

But I am PETRIFIED to let new cat out! I let her out last night - she was meowing and meowing and meowing but still hopped up on walls, down the gardens, etc. I am not sure if she was totally freaked out with all her meowing or just freaking out!!!! I cant really recall exactly how my other cat reacted (I was living in a different house at the time - and its 10 years ago!)............. should I just let her out and about and leave the back door open so that she knows where "home" is?

She doesn't necessarily show any real passion to go out - not like the other cat!!!!! Maybe I should just keep her inside? Overprotective mother alert!!!

2. I am keeping her in at night (as with the other cat... when the weather gets cooler ha ha)...... The last few nights, we woke at 2am with her roaring and scratching at the bedroom door, so i opened it and she was all meows and running around the bedroom - husband relocated to back bedroom (typical man ha ha), and I finally got her settled to sleep so that we both got a few hours sleep til i get up at 6...

Last night, we decided we needed a decent nights sleep and i put her back in the downstairs bathroom (the room that she has all her bed, food, litter tray in i.e. the room she first was put in when she arrived)..... I felt bad closing the door at 11, and not being back till 6 to let her out.. I just had images of her meowing and meowing and being distressed........... any advice on this one?

Sorry, Its a long one for this early in the morning! Oh I have the Feliway diffuser plugged in since the day before she arrived so thanks for that tip!

kathleen37

I think you need to keep her in the house for a couple of weeks, so she really know's where her new home is.

Problem with letting her out at the moment, is she may get scared and run, and then not be able to find her way back. It's a big move for a cat, new home, new owners, new feline house mates, so I'd let her chill before you start letting her out.

When you do start letting her out - if you already have a feeding routine/time in place, then let her out half an hour before you would feed her so that should get her back in (we feed ours morning and evening - but none of our are grazers - they wolf all down)

Just keep an eye on your resident and give them an extra cuddle if you can, so they don't feel too put out by the newbie

Congrats on your new kittie!!!

Ms Doubtfire1

Firstly, new cats should be kept inside a minimum of 2 weeks before let out to make sure they realize the area is ;home;. But since you are living in a town.city where there is traffic...no.I wouldn't let any cat out if they don't want to.Cats can live full and happy lives inside when i was living in the big smoke mine were inside all the time. They never had any interest going outside.

morgana

I agree with the others, she needs to be in for at least 2 weeks to know where home is.
If you decide to let her out, I would go for very short supervised periods at first. Maybe 15 minutes and then take her back in. In my experience, cats first will go very slow and sniff out the immediate area before venturing out further.
And let her out when she hasn't eaten for a few hours, so that, in a worst case scenario, hunger will bring her back home pretty quickly.
By all means, keep them all in at at night, for your own peace of mind and the wildlife's.
We found that meeting resident cats actually goes easier outside where territories shared between many cats (at different times :P). This was where our break-through happened, as ours didn't really engage with the newcomer inside at all.
And yes cuddles and treats all round of all cats