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I recently got a new job that is going to require a serious relocation on my part. I have two college friends a husband and wife who recently bought a house in that area. They've offered to take me on as a long term tenant in their new house to defray the cost of their mortgage. The deal they're offering me is honestly a way better deal than I'd get renting in that area and includes two rooms to myself and no hassles about me bringing my cat. I also know the couple quite well and think we'd be a good fit as roommates. I've lived with the husband in the past and we got on fine. His wife and I have always gotten along when we've hung out too. All around a great situation. I do have a few cat related concerns and a point of cat etiquette to ask about. They have two cats and I have one. Their cats are I think 11 and 3 years old both females. My cat is 6 years old and also a female. Their cats have been together since the 3 year old was a kitten and the older cat definitely has a sort of mother cat relationship with the younger one. My cat has never been around other cats and has reacted poorly to other animals she's been exposed to in the past. My cat is also much larger than both of their cats. Their older cat also no longer has any teeth as she was a rescue and whatever happened to her prior to ownership resulted in a nasty bout of tooth decay which lead to all the teeth on the older cat being pulled. The young cat is very tiny compared to my cat as well. I'm obviously worried about my cat being a bruiser and hurting both the older toothless cat and the younger smaller cat. For reference my cat has already hurt my grandmother's dog when they were temporarily being housed at my mother's when both my grandmother and I were out of town on trips. The dog was not seriously injured, just a scratch on his nose but if my cat will fight and injure a much larger dog I'm worried about what she'll do to a much smaller cat and an old toothless cat. So I guess the main question is what would be the best introduction method here? I'm guessing keep my cat and their cats separate to start and plan some small supervised introductions until they all get comfortable with each other. Also, I know they sell various products to help calm cats down at pet stores. I'm guessing I should get some of this and use it liberally in the areas the introductions are taking place in. Finally, I wanted to ask should I get any additional shots for my cat? She's indoor only and so are the other two. She's up to date on her most recent boosters I'm pretty certain but I'll double check with my vet before the move. Is there any thing else I should consider though? I'm also not terribly sure where they are with flea treatment on their cats. I treat my cat with a preventative regularly. I've never noticed fleas on their cats so I'm guessing they use something on them. There are other concerns here that I don't really think have solutions. I'm going to buy another litterbox for my cat in addition to the one I already have. I know for a fact they do not keep up as well as I do on litterbox cleaning. I clean my cat's every day and they only clean I think once every few days and their cats share a box. It's pretty gross honestly. I'm pretty much resigned to the idea of cleaning my litterboxes for all three cats on a way more frequent basis than I would normally. Also food is a bit of a concern but again I seen no easy solution. They feed cheap crap food from the local supermarket and I feed a decent quality more natural food that costs me significantly more than them. I can't really think of anyway to prevent my cat from eating crap and their cats from eating my cat's brand. I'm guessing I'll just have to deal with that as well. My main worry is that my cat will come to prefer the crap brand.
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Aug 15, 2014 16:44
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 08:55 |
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You seem to have it all pretty worked out. I would do a slow introduction period over about a week, or 10 days if it isn't going well. You can get feliway plug-ins and stick them in all the common areas. Use a lot of positive reinforcement. I wouldn't think you'd need any more vaccinations, assuming your cat is all up to date. I see the food situation as being a bit of a problem. Do you think you could talk to them and get them on board with a better quality food, and then you guys can just split the cost 3 ways? As far as the litterbox sitch, I think unless you can get them on board scooping every other day, you will have to pick up the slack. Some cats are just more tolerant of poopy boxes.
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Sep 11, 2014 02:38
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