Adopting a second cat-or-Tobermory, meet Vladimir

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I’m an unabashed cat lover. My first cat, Baby, lived to be almost thirteen. I got him as a nine week old youngster.

My second cat is Tobermory. He was, the vet estimates, between 2-1/2 and 3 years old when I took him in, in 1999. I named him for the cat in the classic short story by H.H. Munro(Saki), and I just love him to pieces.

For a while I had the Road Warrior, adopted as a kitten into my home when I already had had Tobermory for about a year. Sadly, at the age of 4-1/2, Roadie became ill and I had him put down.

I hadn’t planned on ever having a second cat, while Toby lived. But due to extraordinary circumstances I have taken in another cat, an elderly 15 year old pet named Vladimir.

He was installed yesterday afternoon in my bathroom, with food, water, and litterbox, and I spent most of the evening being cuddly to Tobermory. A couple of times I let Toby view Vlad through the door, when I opened it a crack. He gave those low “kitty growls”, but otherwise was not too upset.

This morning I opened the door all the way and let Vladimir come out. Tobermory hissed a few times, and growled. Vlad would back away, anddid not seem disposed to be confrontational, and I think he’s willing to cede alpha cat status to Tobermory. He is a loving animal that likes being petted too. I bought him a brush as he’s a long-hair that’s shedding his gray fur like crazy just now.

There have been not fights, but Tobermory will still growl if Vladimir passes near him. Just now Toby is on his favorite perch, the top of the big box my computer monitor came in. Vlad passed by and Toby, although seemingly relaxed, gave a little hiss. Vlad didn’t answer back, and kept on his way.

I don’t think they’re gonna hurt each other, but I hope they eventually grow to be friends. Last night I also gave Tobermory a can of soft food, a special treat, to show him I still love him.

Any Dopers have stories of taking in adult cats, epspecially older ones, that they will share? Or have advice to give?

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Sounds like things are going very well - a little growling and hissing is to be expected. I would keep two litterboxes, at least for the time being, and probably wouldn’t leave them alone together until you’re sure they won’t fight.

Thanks for taking in a homeless cat.

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Thanks for the advice. I already had two litterboxes for the one cat, a relic of the time before when I had two. I just went and bought fresh litter for both,(I use the clumping kind). Vladimir has used the one I put in the bathroom with him, so he must be feeling “at home”. I had worried that if he got too upset about his move, he’d lose his box training, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Tonight when I go to bed I think I will still put Vladimir in the bathroom, but sometime tomorrow I will let them out together while I am gone. It has to happen eventually, and I’m just glad to have a long holiday weekend to work this out.

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I’ve always lived in the midst of cross-species and cross-aged pet melting pots of one variety or another. Successfully mingling adults is largely up to the individual personalities involved, but in my experience it has always worked out and usually takes a few weeks for things to calm down.

Tobermory just has to figure out that he isn’t going to be ambushed or kicked out, he’ll still get love, and that his food bowl will continue to have food in it.

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Even young kittens can resent perceived intrusions on their territory. I’d only had Tanuki for a week when Hypatia was brought into the home. Tanuki immeditately flung on his jealousy pants and declared war. He’s a good-natured fellow, though, and they mostly get along.

When I’ve brought two adult cats together, I just made sure they each had a litter box and stood ready to break-up any fight that looked (not sounded!) as if it were becoming serious. Carnivores play hard; expect 'em to fight!

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Now, come on Baker, you can’t expect to start a thread like this without pics, can you?

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I wish I could oblige you, but I don’t have a scanner. :frowning:

Tobermory is a large cat, 15.75 pounds(7.14 kilos) He is on a reducing diet though. Toby’s hair is short, and he is solid black, except for a few single white hairs scattered about, and a tiny white spot on his chest. Beautiful yellow eyes.

Vladimir weighs a little less than Tobermory, I’d guess, but he seems to bulk as large, as he is a smoky gray all over long-hair. He also has beautiful yellow eyes. I bought a brush and have already got enough hair to make another cat, and Vlad doesn’t seem diminished. I also bought him Science Diet Senior Hairball Control food, and he seems to like it. Vlad is drinking more water than Toby does.

My Tobermory is ignoring him for now. Vlad seems to be a lap kitty, as Tobermory is, so when Vlad has sat on my lap, I make it a point to go over and pet Tobermory too. And soon I’m going to give him some more “treat-treat”, or canned catfood. Your prove your love for a cat by feeding it it’s favorite food, I think.

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My husband tries to bribe the cats to love him more by giving them tuna. He’s a bad man.

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Your cats are getting along fine. We had a whole string of cats growing up. First up was Elmo, a tuxedo cat. Later, as Elmo was getting older, we got George. They hissed and fought for a while, but eventually George emerged as the alpha male and they got along fine after that. In the winter, you’d even see them curled up together, and we’d joke that our cats were gay. Later still, we rescued a cat that we named Petunia. She got along fine with Elmo (who was quite old by now), but she and George never did get along very well. They would growl and hiss whenever they came close. Soon after we got Petunia, we had to have Elmo put down, because he’d contracted a disease which threatened the other cats. Years later, Petunia was diagnosed with cancer, and my parents put her down. George was old by now, so my parents decided to get another cat. We got Lady, a not-quite-fully-grown kitten who was just the cutest thing you ever saw.

At first, George didn’t want to have anything to do with Lady, and he’d swat at Lady whenever she tried to get close to him. Then one day, I was watching television with George sleeping on my lap. Lady saw us, and she climbed up on my lap, curled up next to George, and fell asleep. I was curious to see what would happen when George woke up, but I was somewhat concerned that a battle royale would erupt directly over the Diceman family jewels. After a while, my curiosity got the better of me, and I poked George to wake him up.

George was stunned. The look on his face was precious; kind of a combination of :eek: and :confused:. After that, however, he began to accept her. There was a bit more growling, but now they’re good friends. Recently, my parents took in another cat when a family friend had to get rid of her cat. The cat is famale, and my parents call her Sissy. I don’t live there anymore, but when I’m over there, it seems like Lady doesn’t like Sissy, and harrasses her frequently. I figure that Lady is looking to make sure that she’s alpha female. George just seems to ignore Sissy.