It is time. Cally has been held up in Aime's room for 3 months for so and aside from us needing to swallow the pill that this will be the hardest part, Aime's room seriously needed some fresh air! Cally has also grown ridiculously fat and it's time for her to get outside time. I just want there to be peace in the house before I open any windows... sigh.
We have been slowly bringing Cally downstairs, the 1st time, just as she was, and as the older girls: Lexi and Squeek, came in, we locked all the windows and doors and let them "get used to each other."
This was a horrible idea. Cally is a full-on street fighter. Jeesh. I mean I cant blame her, but even at her size, she kicked both older cats buts as she launched completely unprovoked attacks on them.
I suspect this comes from her time on the street when she was small and vulnerable and literally had to fight for her life. We have to find a way to make her feel safe and that Lexi and Squeek are not going to hurt her, nor are they going to steal her food.
Poor Matthew has been a total hero, pulling apart fighting cats and getting completely gouged and bitten in the process. Poor boy. His heart is so connected with all of our cats. He's so good with them, but he definitely bore the brunt of the attacks.
Then we decided that we would try to introduce them "Hannibal Lector" style, with Cally in the cat carrier. This allowed the larger cats to inspect her and prevented Cally from being able to hurt them.
This worked for a while and @zakludick even went round the house with Cally in the carrier to spend time with the reluctant older girls who sought refuge in the boy's room.
Last night, which was a week or two after that, we decided it is now time to suck it up and integrate the cats properly. Once again, we closed all the windows and doors and released Cally into the house and waited for the older girls to arrive for dinner time. We then let them in, careful not to let Cally get out, and they actually did ok for a few hours. They did have one or two tiffs, but that was it.
As the evening progressed though, Cally became very aggressive and went for Lexi like crazy. Once again, with Matthew playing referee as it looked like she was going to tear Lexi to shreds. Now Lexi might be older, but she's a small cat. She's 5 years old but her size still makes her look like a teenage kitten or katten.
I honestly thought the integration would be much easier, introducing girls to a new girl cat, but shew! Cally does not waste time in jumping into survival mode, I guess.
Cally has spent a lot of time alone downstairs while the other girls were out, like during the day, so it's not like she doesn't know the house now. Here she is, getting lots of love from Aime while we were waiting for cookies to bake, and then later on stealing my chair at the diner table. Lol. I mean, she's a lovely and a affectionate cat, when she's on her own.
Now, the morning after Cally is downstairs having surprisingly spent the night in the same room as Lexi, but this morning Both older girls had zooted into my room. Squeek had been there since last night. So I asked Matthew to bring up food and a litter box as I knew they hadn't eaten properly last night.
Now I have Lexi meowing frantically at the door as she's being a snob about using the litter box, but Squeek has accepted that this is how the day will roll. Oh wow. Right now, Lexi finally gave in and is busy doing her business in the litter box after about an hour of howling at the door and even jumping for the doorknob to get out.
Oh my gosh. Soooooo much drama. We shall have to wait for @zakludick to come home before we try operation integration again. Cally needs a damn muzzle though. Jeesh.
I know eventually, they'll find peace. We just have to keep trying, and the older girls will have to whack her back like they did with the boy-cats. For some reason, they're pulling their punches.
Lexi has now had a good munch, finally accepting her fate that she just needs to chill and she's eaten, used the litterbox, and accepted the princess throne I built for her. Both girls are resting now.
This too shall pass.... maybe like a kidney stone, but it shall pass.
Although I know it's not a fun situation for the family, I laughed knowing the adventures of your kittens. I hope Cally soon realises that she has arrived at a place where she does not need to defend herself because she receives love. But on the other hand, you have to understand those who until now reigned in their territory, hehe. Courage and patience.
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Lots of drama!
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Wow, what an adventure you've been through with Operation Integration.
Fingers crossed for the next round of integration.
You've got this.
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Cally sounds like she's a right handful !
Have you tried setting it up so they all get to meet up after they've eaten and are all full up and relaxed ? That way, they're not competing for food.
If that works, you could move on to setting up mealtime so Cally eats at the same time and in the same room as the others, but on the opposite side of the room. We've had that work in the past with some of ours; if they associate seeing the others as meaning they'll get fed, it creates a positive association (but risks fat cats !) Food security is a huge motivator for cats !
But big props to Aime and Matthew, they're heroes for the efforts they're putting in to make it work ๐