Bit of background- my mother works with the mentally retarded (Yay, Mom!). Her clients are basically high-funtioning people (well, all but one of them, which I’ll get to in a minute).
Anyhoo, a man in the apartment complex where her clients live had a cat, got a dog, and decided he didn’t want the cat anymore. So, he gave the kitty to a little girl who just happened to be walking by (his idea of finding a new home for the cat was to yell “Hey, you want a cat” at random passers-by"). Well, needless to say, the girl’s parents would not allow her to keep the cat and she gave it back. So, the man threw the cat out and refused to feed it. Meanwhile, his son, who is too young to grock that the cat is no longer a member of the household, keeps insisting that it’s his kitty.
Mom was feeding the cat, but the amount of food she was giving him was not enough to keep him from near-starvation. Also, he seemed very skittish and afraid of people. One day last week, Mom gave him seconds. He ate, and seemed grateful. With a full tummy, he became very friendly and affectionate. One of her clients, I’ll call her Meg, decided she wanted the cat.
Now Meg is not exactly high-functioning. On top of being retarded, she is also mentally ill (schizophrenic, I think). She isn’t clean about herself or her apartment. Her idea of takinga bath is to sit in the tub for fifteen seconds and swipe at her skin with a wet washcloth. Mom had her doubts about letting her have the cat, but after she talked to her boss, she decided to let Meg take the cat in, on the condition that if she didn’t take proper care of it (feed it, keep the catbox clean), Mom would take the cat away from her. She figured that if she saw immediate consequences for her actions (or failure thereof), it might help her learn some responsibility. Meg had the cat four days. Apparently the catbox was overflowing with cat shit, and there was litter strewn all over the floor that Meg hadn’t bothered to vacum up.
So, Mom brought Thunder home on Teusday… Much growling and hissing on the parts of Conan the Wonderkitty and Schrodinger the InvisiCat, although Schrodinger seemed to be warming up to him. Yesterday, Mom dropped Conan and Schrodinger off at the vet to be declawed (I’m opposed to the idea, but the furniture was getting shredded. Also, the vet doesn’t lop the toes off at the knuckle, she only takes that portion of the toes that the claw sheath grows out of- they should still have pretty good paw dexterity.) We’re picking them up tomorrow, and at the same time,we’re taking Thunder in for an exam, distemper shots, worming, etc.
I’m a bit worried. I wonder how long it will take for Cpnan and Schrodinger to accept their new roomie. Mom is thinking of keeping Thunder confined until we get him neutered and declawed, so everyone will be on equal footing (pawing?) while the three of them, um, sort out the feline heirarchy.
Anybody have any suggestions on how to introduce the cats (not that they haven’'t met, but…) and get them all to play nice together with minimal violence? All the advice I’ve read on the subject seems pretty unworkable (Keep the new cat confined in one room, with a see-through barrier of some sort, this in a two-bedroom apartment- basically this approach would require a spare room that the new guy could be kept in and we ain’t got one).