Is Three a Crowd?

One calm Friday morning in the Spring, my wife was reading one of those little newspapers that feature just classified ads. One ad caught her eye. It was for a kitty that needed a home.

This was about three weeks after we got another companion for our first cat, to replace the one that died during our vacation. Well, not replace, exactly, but you know what I mean.

My wife could tell that our favorite shelter placed the ad. Usually that means the cat is so hard to place, they're willing to forgo the "donation" fee in order to find a home for the cat.

My wife could also tell that it was the same cat she asked about when we got our first cat about 18 months ago. But the owner of the shelter dissuaded us from adopting him saying that he was an aggressive cat.

So she cooed to me across the breakfast table, "No one wants him. We have to adopt him!"

To which I replied, "Oh yes, we must do so. Call right away!!!"

And she did call, completely failing to hear the sarcasm in my reply.

Within just 15 minutes, the arrangements were made -- when I get home from work, there would be a third cat to trip over.

The cat was in a foster home. He'd be driven first to the vet to get his claws trimmed. Usually, the shelter trims claws, but they couldn't do his because he was too aggressive. Then the cat would be dropped off here. We were told that he was neutered recently, so we must not pet him for at least one week, and we should not pick him up for two months.

"What are we getting into?" I wondered. We had such a good arrangement with our two cats. They'd each get a half of a 3oz can of Fancy Feast food with some dry food mixed in. We'd have to get yet another litter box. We'd have to go through the process of keeping the cats segregated and them slowly introducing them.

I drove home from work with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I always love meeting a cat for the first time. (I wish I could say that about people, but some how I lack that gene.) But I was concerned about the effect an aggressive cat would have on the other pets, especially the dog. Our Golden is a gentle angel who once was frightened away from a baby possum because it squeaked at him! I couldn't stand to think what damage an aggressive cat would do to the big lug. I started to regret this.

But I was met with the most amazing site when I walked in. The new cat, which was considered too aggressive to be at the shelter, and which should have been segregated, was sitting in the middle of the kitchen with the other cats milling about somewhat nonchalantly.

Is this the new, aggressive cat, I wondered, almost disappointed?

Well, we were trying to not pet him, fearing that our hands might get raked by Deadly Daggers of Death. Yet he was consistently rubbing against our legs, showing more affection than the other two cats (whom we have fed and fawned over far longer than this new one).

So, I figured that I'd just sort of bend over while the cat was rubbing against my leg, and I'd just sort of let my hand hang down loosely next to my leg, and I'd sort of let the hand get between my leg and the cat. And then it happened. I pet the little fellow. And then he wandered away.

Very Dramatic.

I picked him up the next day. Aside from being rather heavy, he posed no danger to anyone.

He did show the typical feline dislike of the dog. At first he hissed at the dog whenever he saw him, no matter how far apart they were. Then a week later he hissed whenever they were in the same room together. Then he'd hiss only if the dog directly approached within two feet. But lately, I haven't heard a hiss. And I witnessed him sniffing the dog's feet and flirting with them.

I've trimmed this cat's claws twice so far without too much trouble. He does need to be very drowsy, which means there's a narrow window of opportunity in which to do it, like from an hour after breakfast to within a few hours of supper.

He is a bit domineering. But he's really just a softee whom we have plenty of room for!

Here he is, front and center, the Leader of the Pack:

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2019-07-29 SPG Replaced link from https://www.fourpaws.org/pages/adopting_pages/introducing_cats.html to https://catsofeverywhere.com/maine-coon-kitten/introduction-to-cats-how-to-bring-home-a-new-cat-when-you-have-other-pets/