Another cat adopter here

[kickassangel]

Mainly just need to tell someone cos I'm excited.

In August we took on a friend's cat because her youngest child was severely allergic. Then, yesterday, someone at work said that they had picked up a stray, but already have 4 cats so wanted someone else to take it.

We'd been thinking about getting a younger cat for company for the one we have. dh wasn't sure, but now I have her sitting in a big cat home type thing in my laundry room.

SO - questions

Tomorrow I take her to the vet. dd knows that any sign of illness & the cat is gone. As she was a stray, I'm not committing until happy that she's OK.

Anyway - which injections does she NEED? ie, I've never given a cat a leukemia shot before, but is it necessary?

Best way to introduce her to our existing cat (an older male)? He's not looking impressed right now. I will not be letting her out until the vet has checked her over, in case of communicating any illness. The existing cat has been hissing at her then walking off.

[MyLittleFluffball]

Hello!

I didn't want your post to go unanswered. How did the vet appointment go?

I can't answer all your questions but in terms of the injections, I would give her any injections against things like leukaemia, Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), etc. Especially if you have another cat, you would absolutely kick yourself to refuse the vaccination now, then be told in a few years that your cat has one of these diseases and perhaps has passed it on to the other cat. Which has happened to people I know and then involves unavoidable suffering for the animal - or a lot of management of the animal to try to prevent them from making other cats ill, or having the face the question of whether or not to put them down now that they have Feline AIDS, etc.

I hope your efforts to introduce your new cat to the older male go well. These things can go badly, I suppose making sure the older male still gets lots of attention may help a bit?

[jaffababy]

Hi there. here is useful info on introducing the new cat. It's all about scent! Hope it goes really well.

[kickassangel]

ok - cat was tested for fiv, leukaemia etc, and got the all clear. HE (not she, as I was told) has mites so we're treating that. Obviously thin, but otherwise pretty healthy.

He was smelling & very gassy, but that is improving - think we may well get a stool sample done anyway, just to be sure.

Currently keeping the cats separate in case of any illness, and be very thorough about hand washing etc. Luckily, we're able to have them in totally separate parts of the house, and both have plenty of space, litter tray etc.

The new cat has been neutered & is very friendly, tame etc. dh not keen as he's kind of quirky looking (the cat, not dh), but dd is totally in love, so we have a hard decision to make this weekend.

Thanks for link, jaffa, I've never had to introduce a new cat so need some advice. the new cat is happy to befriend anyone/thing, but existing cat is not so cheerful about this!

[kickassangel]

Right, had fecal test done and all clear. Now Dh is worried that it could have rabies and infect us all.

Any advice? Googling about it is what started this. The cat has a couple of scratches but the vet didn't seem worried

[peggotty]

Hello. Are you in the uk or abroad? As far as I know, there is no rabies in the uk.

[kickassangel]

Sorry - US, so it is relevant.

[peggotty]

Ah I see. I don't know anything about rabies tbh. Is there a high risk in the US?

It does sound a bit like your dh just isn't keen and is looking for reasons not to take to the cat. What is plan b for the cat if you end up not keeping him?

[kickassangel]

dh isn't that keen, but I promised him I'd let him have more attention from existing cat (who loves me the most ) if we can keep new cat.

new cat appears to only have the mites problem, everything else tests clear.

rabies - in theory - if new cat was scratched by or ate a rabid critter, then he would have it. If he then bites one of us, we would have it. If we missed the early signs - there is NO cure.

I know loads of people here who've taken in stray cats, so surely it must be v low risk. vets haven't stated as a risk (they've seen the scratches & know he was a stray). They just say to get the rabies shot & don't appear concerned.

Shouldn't have let dh google it after a pint of beer.