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Petey
Petey moved into our house like he was the boss of all our other animals – the other two cats, three dogs, three birds and a chinchilla!
Author: Tom “The Kittenmaster” Cooper
Tom is the owner of 4 amazing cats, and using the Daily Kitten he provides a place for cat and kitten lovers to share the love for their own cats and kittens.
Petey looks very fluffy. And don’t most cats think they are boss? Just don’t tell the other cats that. 🙂
*snort*
“I am king! King of everyone in this house!”
Hee. What a cutie.
What big beautiful eyes you have! Is that a bird cage he is sitting on? Petey, what are you up to?!
suffering sucatash………….love the spot on his back paw 🙂
i think that’s his tail! lol
my little kittie has white stockings with a hole in the back on her rear left leg, She’s such a princess that we don’t dare tell her, she would be devistated to know she had a runner!
Petey is a sweetie. We have a black and white kitty, too. He looks like he’s wearing a tuxedo. Formal wear for cats!
Petey is pushng is little weight around!! Live the white paws
WOW that’s a cute furbaby! His cuteness is off the scale.
Lovely boy!! Looks like a king indeed!!
I need some advice from all of you cat people….
Got home last night, after dark… and there was this little cat wandering around the yard and meowing… very very vocal.. but very skittish. We fed him (I am assuming it is male… as it is a ginger tabby) and gave him water…. he let the ol’man pet him, but was a bit more leery of me.. anyway.. we made a bit of a bed for him in the garden shed…with plenty of food and water…. I have two problems…
1) Our cat is having conniption fits… he is very territorial.(and I have the wounds to prove it!) Any advice for introducing a new cat to the household?
2) I can’t consider bringing the new one in until he has had shots and so on…. so I need to get him into a carrier. He is not feral… he knew where to come for help and wanted pets… but how do I get him into the carrier without entirely terrifying him?
He is about 3-4 months old, I think… and has been on his own for a while… he is very thin.. and quite flea infested… I can solve those two problems… but need the shots and neutering.
Of course, I will post a ‘found; cat’ sign and see what happens… but just in case…..
Thanks guys….
all those recommendations for the carrier are exactly what i’d say myself…so i will address the other question you asked – in terms of “introducing the two cats to one another”. assuming you have the “flea problem managed” by this point, what i did when i had a 4 year old territorial kitty to “put up with” my new 8 month old kitty – i placed the new kitty in my bedroom and closed the door and gave the run of the majority of the house to the first cat. i did this for nearly a week – keeping them seperated by a door that they could scent each other out and “play” under the door with one another. my suggestion is that you play it by ear as to how long to formally introduce them to one another “face-to-face”. one thing to remember from this point on – make sure your first kitty gets some “extra attention” while the new kitty is becoming accustom to the surrounding, just so “first kitty” don’t feel neglected nor replaced. sounds silly, but if the impression is that the new kitty is more important – the older kitty with retaliate it’s feeling upon teh new kitty.
Hi,
I have had cats all my life and may be able to help. Can you pick this kitten up? Two ways you can try to get him in the carrier. Kittens are naturally curious about everything. Place a bit a food in the carrier. With any luck, he will walk right in. If that doesn’t work. Pick him up and wrap him in a towel. Gentley put him in the carrier. As far as your other cat goes. Confine the new kitty to one room at first. Introduce the two cats for brief periods of time always supervised. In my experience it takes about two weeks for the older cat to get over the “Hissy Fits” and accept the new arrival. Make sure you give the older cat lots and lots of attention. Make him realize that he is still top cat and that you love him. Good Luck!!
Tumeria
Well I hate to say it. but sometimes the older cat will NOT adjust…i have that situation where I have taken in a cat who was 10 months old and my older cat just does not like her and is very stressed if I go away overnight because the younger one goes a bit bonkers because she is so full of energy and she terrorizes my older cat when she tries to use the litter box, etc. This has been going on for a year now and the older cat has taken to staying in one room where she sets up her stuffed ‘baby’ at the door (territory marker I assume) and poops on the younger cat’s toys, etc. occasionally. She won’t come into my room and sleep on the bed anymore because the younger one has take over. They have separate areas for eating and that part seems to work out.
If anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate it.
Ahhhh, Petey….bright-eyed, and bushy-tailed and fluffy-faced and whiskers, whiskers everywhere!
I had that same problem when I adopted my kitten April. The little devil terrorized my two older cats for several months. They were constantly running away from her.
The vet’s advice was to never get involved and just let the cats be cats. One time I came home to find that the older cats had lost their temper and had given the baby a good “spanking”. (No deep scratches. The only evidence were the bunches of long pulled-out hair on the furniture. Lots of them.) She’s behaved like an angel ever since. They all get along just fine now that the senior cats have established the pecking order. It’s the cat way of doing things I guess…
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Petey is beautiful. Love those big eyes!
Linda, I have friends that have a situation similar to yours. Original cat has never accepted the other cat. their solution was to have their cats on shifts. During the day the original cat gets the run of the house and the other cat is closed in their son’s room. Starting in the evening the original cat goes to their bedroom and the other cat has the run of the house. Original car gets family time in the morning and exploring time while everyone is at school and work. and of course gets to cuddle with mom and dad all night. Other cat gets family time in the evening and explore time at night as well as cuddle time with the kids in their rooms at night. It is a weird system but it works for them. both cats seem to behave as if they get enough attention and no bad behavior out of the original cat as far as breaking litter training. Its been at least 8 years and both cats automatically go to their rooms when it is time for their expllore shift to be over.
there’s a product out there called “Rescue Remedy”. It’s a spray that’s supposed to calm a cat or even a human. I’ve heard a few people say that it has helped them a lot trying to get two cats to socialize.
I’ve heard good things about it.
Good luck
I’ve had several different situations, sometimes the first kitty completely accepts the new one (my 6yr old Siamese male was letting a kitten suckle at him within an hour of arrival) and now I’ve got 2 cats that still just cannot get along after 2 whole years! (And lots of grey area situatiuons too)I think it just depends on the cats, they have just as much personality as any person and know they rule the house. Some cats can get along, some just can’t. Keep them both anyway, you’ll figure somethig out.
You may want to try setting a live trap. You can purchase one or make your own. Just put something yummy (like tuna) in the back of the carrier and rig it so that you can shut it when the lil guy gets in.
The cats may or may not accept one another. The best thing to do is to leave them out there together when you are home and show them equal amounts of attention. They will learn to live together or else the baby kitten will become very strong willed as well. Who knows, they may turn into best friends. Let them do their thing. When you have to alter your lives to provide special needs to the cats, then they own you, and believe it or not, you don’t want them to own you. Just do what you have always done. If you fear for the safety of the kitten put the kitten in a closed room while you are out of the house….but not when you are home.
Thanks to all who gave their advice…
well are the cats both outside?
if so leve one inside a lot or it won’t adjust.
Make sure the new kitty’s had his full battery of shots, a full vet workup and blood tests for FIV/FeLV status, and been treated for fleas BEFORE you bring him into the house.
If you have a spare room in the house, put the new kitty in there with a litterbox (if it smells like the other cat so much the better), food, water, and toys. Make sure that both cats smell your hands, that way they can pick up each other’s scents. They’ll be able to smell each other under the door. Mine would touch paws under the door too.
After anywhere from 3-10 days, depending on the animals, you can let him out to see his new home. The first visits should be supervised, but usually after the first week or two things will be fine. They have to work out their own pecking order and we can’t interfere.
Good luck!
(2) Keep feeding him and spend time with him, but do NOT let him be with your other cat. Eventually, he will trust you to let him pick him up and eventually you can get him into a cat carrier and to the vets.
We just went through that exactly with an orange stray tabby. A wonderful stray cat. When we got him to the vets, he had feline AIDS and had to be put down. Boo-hoo 🙁 20% of all stray male cats we were told have AIDs due to their fighting. Try not to get too attached until you get a clean bill of health from the vets.
I have one idea for you to ameliorate this process:
Wear *oven mitts* when scooting the fluffling into the carrier!
heehee
First to get a scared cat into a carrier, make it part of his environment. For example put bedding in there and leave it open. Make him comfortable with the carrier then when he’s closed in it won’t be so scared. As for introducint a new cat, that just takes time. My vet says up to two weeks. THe best stragity is to have a nuetral room. Basically, put the new cat in a room without the other one and let it explore and generally get used to it. Then move the new cat out to another room and put the first cat into the empty room, this introduces the first cat to the new cat’s smell and eventually they can meet but domination will have to be established. If the first cat and the new cat aren’t getting along within the established time, call your vet for more options.
Good Morning Harley Vixen,
I agree with Rosie about sitting the carrier out and make it friendly to him. Put some bedding and some treats in it. He will warm up sooner or later.
She’s also right about getting the this cat and your cat together. Let them have their own space and work in baby steps. I have a male cat who is the same way. I don’t think I’d want to bring another cat in on his territory.
Best of luck!
Past experience….get the shots and FIV test first!
As far as introducing him to your other cat….try letting them look at each other thru glass first. I have been told to keep them in separate rooms for 1 week and they will get used to each other’s scent. Then you can put them together, supervised of course, and see how they get along…
Hope this helps…..
Once the older cat understands that he/she has a playmate, they should be fine!
well-put some food, catnip or a toy in the carrier and see if he goes in. You can put the carrier in the shed for a couple of days ahead of time-let him get use to it. Maybe put his bed in there???
laying on top of the bird cage like that, could be*DRIVE-THRU SNACK FUZZ*!
T
I would recommend putting the carrier in the shed and lining it for his bed. (Be sure to take the door off or block it open so he doesn’t accidentally get shut into it.) Maybe put some catnip in there also? Hopefully after a few days he will be a little more used to it. But I’ll be honest, he will probably be really frightened by traveling in it to the vet and getting examined and shots etc., no matter what you do. Just remember that a little short-term fear will lead to long-term love, care, safety, and happiness!
Yeah.. I realize that… he is going to need some feeding up before he can have shots or surgery anyway…
My cat hates being in the carrier, so I don’t expect him to love it.. I just don’t want to send him over the moon, before he really trusts us.. but for him to come into the house or anything, he needs shots and so on…. I am really more concerned with getting my cat to accept him.
Harley,
I think you are worried more than you need to be…as has been mentioned, there will be some fit throwing at first, but MOST cats learn to accept one another provided you don’t upset the balance. Let them growl at each other, hiss a bit, and throw their fits. I try to make it a practice not to pick up new kitty while old kitty is around. Sit and play with them both if they will allow it, (after the several days in seperate rooms as has been suggested) but don’t pay attention to the new kitty without paying attention to the old kitty as well.
Oh and Petey is beautiful, he looks exactly like Annie my latest rescue kitty!! 🙂
absolutely gorgeous!
Petey thinks he is the Master of Cermonies well of course he is he is wearing his tuxedo isn’t he!
I love his little off center spot on his chin. It looks like he’s smirking.
Two birds? *Three* birds, I say–because he looks like a little owl! Oh, he’s adorable! Love him always!
awwwww he looks like a fuzz ball haha he does he is cute!!!
When you look like this, you know you rule!
*Lion King Fuzz*
Petey is the king! I love that “spray” of whiskers!
I thought I saw a puddy-tat!!!
Petey looks very charming on his (birdcage?) perch, and will, doubtless grow up to be an elegant Tuxedo cat. Animals can usually work out dominance issues among themselves, but good luck with that aspect of Petey’s arrival.
Fuzzball! Go get ’em, Pete…but don’t swallow the birds or chinchilla!!
Petey…so cute and fuzzy! with that captivating face, of course Petey is The Boss of Everything … DUH!
*VENI VIDI VICI FUZZ!*
*Marty Feldman Fuzz*
hee-hee…I can see it in the eyes, but just barely…you are tooooo funny…Rosie!
I had 2 cats about 3 years ago I think he is nice!
You are sooooooooo cute !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is he protecting the bird or is he thinking “dinner!” What a look on that cat’s face! If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one is!
petey is cute wit is little eyes
Cute kitten love your little one !! we rescued our cat from the desert we named her Desiere (desi) she the Queen of our house and of course spoiled by her mom and dad she rules to house and us
*King of the Cage FUZZ*
Love that wide eyed stare.
What a handsome little man! Petey is just adorable. Give him lots of snuggles and kisses.
I am king! King of everyone in this house!
King Petey, he’s cute, but oh my! God bless you, Petey and all your other animal friends. 🙂
Acreage of whiskerage! Petey, you cannot feast on your family; it simply isn’t done!
‘MOVE ALONG, NOTHING TO SEE HERE’ FUZZ
My basket of kittys are all sneezing really bad but they are warm wonder what could be causing this?
Hat everyone! To be truth, Harley, my household has the same difficulty–we have a “porch panther’! I wnat him to live in a forever, loving home, but there doesn’t seem to be room in any of the animal shelters, in th vincinity of where I live. Plus–Halloween is approaching quickly and I fear our all-black kitty may get “snatched”!!
Anout Petey–he could pass for my best-friend’s Tux, Socks younger brother!!
Don’t touch the Birds “I say” Don’t touch the Birds!
–and of COURSE he WAS the boss! What a darling!
The difference between cats and dogs is that when you feed and care for a dog, it thinks…”Wow, you must be God.” When you feed and care for a cat, it thinks, “Wow, I must be God.”
(read that somewhere a long time ago)
AAW!!! Petey is a doll…Luv ’em to death. We have a kitten that looks alot like him, he has that little bit of black on his chin too, we call him Mr. Goatee.:-)
Petey is adorable! He looks so sweet!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is so cute
Whaat a cuuutie!!!!
PETEY IS A CUTIE. I LOVE TUXEDO CATS
Just beautiful. Looks exactly like my Muffy when she was a baby – http://www.dailykitten.com/archives/372-Miffy-Muffy.html
What big eyes you have! Handsome one! Hope all adjust well, it’ll just take time.
What a sweet and adorable kitty Petey is…I miss having my own kitty. One day I will have another.
Thanks for all the advice….. I appreciate it. The plan now is to move the kitten into the garage..(So the raccoons, skunks and other critters won’t get his food at night) Then we are going to wait a week or so and put up some flyers.. if we don’t get a response, we’ll proceed with shots and integrating him into the household. We were able to get some Advantage on him last night, so that should take care of the flea problem…
Cheers, All!
My vet recommends that male cats not be fixed until they are at least 8 months old or it could cause kidney problems later in life.
This baby is fun and ornery looking to happen you can see it in his eyes! Enjoy! He is adorable! Deb in Ne. 9/28/06 .
love the cattitude Petey! what a handsome cat. i love his fluffy fur and beautiful markings. his face is so sweet “)
All of the wonderful kitties that are posted are surley loved by there family’s.
Question? does anyone know of someone who can build a cart for a kittie that has been paralized in the hind quarters. Former owner was going to let him die so I brought him to take care of him……..
Ah:) so fluffy
H Vixen, a little more advice for you if you want it –
You may already know this, but _location_ is extremely important to cats. So when introducing the new guy, don’t put him in your old cat’s favorite room, wherever the place where he goes to relax the most, etc. is.
My oldest cat spends a great deal of time sleeping on my pillow and my bed is her place. The other cat doesn’t even get up on there, he sleeps on the couch. When I’ve introduced new cats, I’ve kept them isolated in the bathroom at first, not in the bedroom where her “place” is. The new cat will also want to have a safe place he can claim, so when he’s stressed by the inevitable hissy fits and conflict, he can go back there and get away from it all.
Another thing is, I have a friend who recently introduced a male kitten into his household. He already had a 2 or 3-year old male (a Bengal!), and things didn’t go so smoothly. Even after a month, the older cat was alternately attacking the kitten and sulking off in a corner. My friend used a plug-in pheremone diffuser and he said it worked like an overnight miracle. I believe it was called Feliway. The cats are both totally relaxed now, they are happy and get along fine.
Over many years with cats, I’ve experienced that they usually can learn to get along. But even my completely passive, absurdly relaxed, floppy and lazy neutered male went into hysterics the other night when an un-neutered male wandered on the property. So that’s another factor to keep in mind. Neutering the new guy sooner rather than later might be key.
Awwww…… Wat a cute kitty!!!!
petey is so adorable u just feel like snatchin him out of the pic and cuddling him!!
Yeah, sometimes it just doesn’t work. I had to get rid of my original cat to keep the kittens. She never got over the hissy fits, the breaking things, and the peeing in random places. *sigh* I wonder how my old kitty is doing now or even where she is.