New cat and old cats (1 Viewer)

[Sarah S]

My sister-in-law has 5 or 6 cats; which is several cats too many. Every so often they start pissing wars (literaly) whenever they feel that a cat has encroached over-much on their territory.

I just have 2.

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

You may want to take Rusty to the vet to get checked out and tested for FIV and Feline Leukemia before you let him have contact with the other cats. If this co-worker is that callous about the cat's life, you can't take any chances with its health and the health of your other kitties.

I second pretty much all of the above suggestions. Bless you for your humaneness.

 

[Jack Briggs]

That was very nice, Andrew. Thank you. Please do, for the cat's own good health, have him checked out.

 

[John Thomas]

Since we're on the subject, what exactly is Parvo? I udnerstand that cats can carry it and can transmit it to other animals such as dogs. I'm concerned about my beagle catching it from some cats that run around the house.

 

[DanaA]

Tom,
First of all, I really want to chime in on complimenting you for doing such a nice thing. Now, onto your question. In my house, we always have quite a few animals, including at least two dogs and two cats all of the time. If we find a stray, we pick it up and find it a nice home. Sometimes, this can be difficult, as some of the animals might not be wanted due to their age, etc. As far as cats, I agree with the advice of slowly introducing a new cat into the household. There have been numerous times in the past when I didn't think it would work out due to friction between the older and newest cats, usually on the part of the established cat. Nonetheless, by taking it slowly and not forcing them on each other, it always worked out in the end. Patience is definitely a virtue here and cats usually all of a sudden start accepting each other like old litter mates.

 

[Tom Rhea]

You may want to take Rusty to the vet to get checked out and tested for FIV and Feline Leukemia before you let him have contact with the other cats. If this co-worker is that callous about the cat's life, you can't take any chances with its health and the health of your other kitties.

I thought about this right away and have seen documents. Rusty's had his shots (and been neutered and (grrrh) declawed). I should probably get him down to the vet's for a checkup anyway, though. Thanks for the reminder.

Our other three cats definitely know their names, so maybe we'll just let Rusty be Rusty.