Lili's fate is sealed... :-)

**Alekto** · 30th July 2013, 08:08 AM

Originally Posted by jckkerrison

Oh boy I can see some fun happening here,Neevie sounds as if she could nearly be a one person cat & sometimes they do hit it off better with the opposite sex but to give yourself a fighting chance make sure you send a well scented Neevie blanket out to France a couple of days before Lili heads this way so Neevie's smell will be on Lili when she arrives,she won't appear so alien.....xxx

thank you! yes, I'll do that - Neevie has taken to sleeping in her carrier, and there is a blankie in there, so I'll take that to bring Lili home. Another spot she likes is a pile of table cloth I washed, ironed and folded and left in the office in true Alekto-fashion - result they are now all hairy and ready to wash again - they'll go to France before I leave with instructions to wrap Lili in them whenever possible... not sure if Mother-Dear will bother with "that nonesense" but I'll try... ;-)

Originally Posted by Dot Gordon

Oh she looks adorable.....must say though Alekto John did mention he was looking after Neevie at home, and that after a few days she was fine even going to him when her name was called......do you thing Neevie just puts on a show??

Dot is is more than possible, I do sense a bit of diva'ness in her - she is (now) being such a sweetie when it is just her and her Humanz! I think she can get used to Lili just as well. She was extremely crabby with John yesterday, when he came for a visit, but as soon as he sat down she was calm...er - for some reason, it's people walking - or their feet? - that seem to spook her. So I don't know what that's about, but I'm hoping Lili from the top of her 3-cherries-height will not spook her that much...

I saw on youtube a few videos explaining how best to introduce cats - some are rather complex and lengthy process - some just dump them in the same room, which I am not sure if that's what I'll do.
In any case, I am thinking to harness Neevie while Lili the Puss explores? What do you think?
Any other tips welcome!!

I am strangely calm about it, mind you. If it doesn't work out, I'll go to the vet's and ask him to help me rehome Lili. I am giving it an 80% chance of success, 19% chance of mild failure, 1% chance of catastrophic failure (that's when Neevie gets confused and decides Lili is a new "crabby toy" and spanks her senseless when our back is turned)

**AFK_Matrix** · 30th July 2013, 12:40 PM

I am not an expert in introducing cats so take my advice or not lol. I would setup a room for lili with everything she needs and let her settle in for say 3-4 days. Then when she is happy in the room, you do supervised visits with Neevie. Say 30 mins the first time and getting longer as the days go buy. Then if they seem happy with each other you can leave them to it.

**Alekto** · 30th July 2013, 02:42 PM

thanks AFK that sounds like good advise yes - and all this time probably keep her in Neevie's blankets and may be give Neevie some of hers.... ?

**AFK_Matrix** · 30th July 2013, 03:10 PM

Yeah something that smells of Lili for Neevie would be a good idea. Also they will be able to smell each other under the door anyway so they will both know they are there.

**jckkerrison** · 30th July 2013, 03:17 PM

We only once tried to keep them separated for a while & that was when we had the two babes together but they wanted to get out of their room & the other cats all sat outside the door wanting to know who was in there & were getting more uptight by the minute so went back to our usual approach & just let them get on with it,although we were nearby if things went badly wrong we also just carried on as normal,I think very often the troubles start when the "old hands" pick up on parents getting uptight. Night time was when we did sleep them separate to allow all their own space for a few nights but with Ruby put up a pen in the cats bedroom with tray & food in & popped her in there for a while but that was only because with so many big cats I was a bit worried that they might get rough with her,it wasn't long before she was given her own feeding station with the rest. I can't say we have had it all plain sailing especially as the numbers increased but have had nothing to make us think it wouldn't work & would never not had any of them & I think if they were asked they would say they are a happy bunch with their furry mates......
There is an adaptor you can plug in called feliway which gives off pheromones that imitate mums & some people have succcess with it but the one time I tried it as daughter was returning home with her two cats one of ours went hyper & bit me,pulled the plug opened everywhere up to disperse it & all went back to being calm so doesn't always work the way it is meant too....!!!!! x

**Puzzles** · 30th July 2013, 07:13 PM

Lili's soo sweet!! Totally agree with everybody re having one of Neevie's blankets (or even a nice clean & ironed tablecloth smelling of her!) ready for Lili to travel back on

We've never separated our new babes from the older cats - when Archie & Lily came to join our furry family in January we put their carrier in the hallway (our house is fairly open plan), opened the door and let them explore. Once they had come out of the carrier (within seconds literally!) I picked them up and showed them their litter tray, food and water and left them to make their own way back to us. All four of the 'big cats' were around and fascinated! We also never left them unsupervised & just carried on as normal. They slept with us at night as opposed to with the others. Within a very short time they were all used to each other, if a little wary. It wasn't long (probably about a month to 6 weeks) before they both decided that they were Big Cats now thank you Mum and wanted to sleep with their Aunt and Uncles ... There have been a couple of spats - some hissing and grumpy behaviour, but never anything nasty.
If Neevie's curious & Lili's shut away, perhaps Neevie'd be even more upset thinking that you're keeping something from her ... a difficult situation but try not to let Neevie know that you're apprehensive - the calmer you are the calmer Neevie & Lili will be I would think ... Bonne chance!

**Alekto** · 31st July 2013, 07:15 AM

Originally Posted by Puzzles

If Neevie's curious & Lili's shut away, perhaps Neevie'd be even more upset thinking that you're keeping something from her ... a difficult situation but try not to let Neevie know that you're apprehensive - the calmer you are the calmer Neevie & Lili will be I would think ... Bonne chance!

thanks for all this, Puzzles! I am trying to be very calm about it indeed, and asking HO to be too. I know they'll get used to each other given time, or rather Neevie will get used to Lili because I've seen Lili with company she doesn't need any time to get used to anyone... the only hurdle will be to make sure Neevie doesn't hurt Lili. I think Lili is about the size of Neevie's head... OK might be exagerating just a little but really not much.

OK you're right, no shutting Lili away.

**Alekto** · 31st July 2013, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by jckkerrison

We only once tried to keep them separated for a while & that was when we had the two babes together but they wanted to get out of their room & the other cats all sat outside the door wanting to know who was in there & were getting more uptight by the minute so went back to our usual approach & just let them get on with it,although we were nearby if things went badly wrong we also just carried on as normal,I think very often the troubles start when the "old hands" pick up on parents getting uptight. Night time was when we did sleep them separate to allow all their own space for a few nights but with Ruby put up a pen in the cats bedroom with tray & food in & popped her in there for a while but that was only because with so many big cats I was a bit worried that they might get rough with her,it wasn't long before she was given her own feeding station with the rest. I can't say we have had it all plain sailing especially as the numbers increased but have had nothing to make us think it wouldn't work & would never not had any of them & I think if they were asked they would say they are a happy bunch with their furry mates......
There is an adaptor you can plug in called feliway which gives off pheromones that imitate mums & some people have succcess with it but the one time I tried it as daughter was returning home with her two cats one of ours went hyper & bit me,pulled the plug opened everywhere up to disperse it & all went back to being calm so doesn't always work the way it is meant too....!!!!! x

thanks for this (again) Jackie!
I have Feliway constantly plugged in since Neevie had her 3 week long hissy fit last Christmas. I tried switching it off about a month ago, and about a week after I did, she started biting our legs again, so ... put it back...

I have made up my mind to take things as they come - if Neevie gets a bit hissy that's ok she'll get used to it. If she gets violent we'll separate them each at one end of the house for the first night. If she is really too violent and doesn't get used to Lili we'll take Lili to the closest vet and get help to rehome her. I'd be really disappointed but it's good to know my choices.

Also today I had another one of my scares: called Newcastle Airport to see if there is anything I should do that I didn't already do - guess what - Newcastle isn't an approved airport, so can't get Pets immigration! I went "gulp"....
BUT I found out Edinburgh is, though, and so I'll change my ticket tomorrow ... and HO offered to come and get us at the Edinburgh airport that night, at 9:30PM! Isn't he a sweetheart? that's about 2 hours one way! Crisis averted and I have to say I'm well chuffed with my choice of husband.