What a headache!!!

Busangel

Where do i start!

Well here we go, some background details.

My daughter and i have 2, 3yr old cats and they are brother and sister. We live in the country and they come in and out of the house as they please when we are in, otherwise they make themselves at home in the open shed in the straw. They are house trained and have been brought up to regard sleeping on the furniture, jumping up on the kitchen worktops and going into my study as no go areas, and we all live together in harmony.

My partner lives in town and has two "live indoors" cats that i like but their bad habbits drive me mad! They are 7yr old sisters, they sleep anywhere, jump up on everything and whilst they use their litter tray they are also known to go to the toilet anywhere they see fit. Occasionally they will go out in the garden but only if i go out with them too (they have a lack of confidence), their dislike of going outside is because they have spent most of their lives in a flat. All of these problems are the fault of his ex wife who kept them like prisoners and neglected them whilst my partner was working away from home, he's been trying to re-train them since they split.

We are planning to live together in my cottage and let his house out, so we are going to have the 4 cats together and this is where the headache starts......

What is the best way to integrate them all?

How do we teach them the same house rules as my cats?

Will their arrival make my 2 start mis-behaving around the house, is there anything i should look out for?

We thought about building a heated shed and run to house his 2 so all 4 cats can see and get used to each other behind wire without any fistycuffs taking place and also to get his cats used to being outside, do you think this idea is a bit too much of a drastic step for them?

Is the best solution to find a new home for his 2, he's gutted at this idea (i'm not happy about it myself) but he knows their behaviour is driving a wedge between us and we can't move our relationship forward because of how they behave?

If we could re-train his cats and boost their confidence i know they would enjoy living out in the country.

Thanks for any replies.

littlelab

Cats are extremely adaptable creatures, but as you know can be extremely stubborn.

Introducing a new cat or cats to an exisiting pair does have its moments, particularly as cats are extremely territorial, you are going to have some serious hissing and spitting probably for a few weeks, but things do settle down although you will find that the resident cats do sulk.

As far as training or modifying behaviour, its the same with any animal patience and perseverance, reward them when they display good behaviour, also its a case of back to basics, how did you teach your own cats? Start from scratch with the new pair as if they were kittens.
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Natalie and Co xxx

CatSlave

I moved in with my boyfriend 6 weeks ago and we both had cats. I had two 15 month old house cats (refused point blank to go any further than the front step) and he had four cats that lived outside most of the time coming in for food and cuddles and ........... one heavily pregnant female!

With the exception of the female who is now a happy Mum of five the cats have got on great together. We moved my cats in first as they were housecats and then moved his cats in one or two at a time. We have had the odd fur fight but other than that they just avoid each other until they pick up on each other scents and eventually they got on. Mine even go out now lol.

From the way this furry lot were the only advice that I would give is definately have two litter trays (even if your go outside) as its a territory thing and saves cleaning up mess from behind the telly and sofa etc. Cats that don't know each other won't share a tray for some reason.