Three's a crowd? Need help!

[bookwormish]

Hoping there are some multi-cat people here that can help??

I posted a few weeks ago about taking in our ex-neighbours cat, that was abandoned after they moved away. He didnt settle where they moved so wanted to take him to a shelter!!! We refused to let that happen and took him in as a trial, to see if he would settle with our two cats. While he seems very happy here, our other cats are not at all, particularly our girl. She is either growling and swearing at him, or hiding upstairs. She's also taking to staying away from the house a lot.

I think the main issue is they were all previously territorial in the neighbourhood & we've now let the 'enemy' cat in. DH thinks the new cat might be better off with the shelter, but I think it needs more time. I'm at a loss though as I think we've done absolutely everything to help (slow introductions, feliway, safe places, more food bowls etc), and a month down the line things aren't any better.

You could put them all on zylkene, it's great at calming cats down & non prescription.

A few weeks is 5 minutes to a cat in terms of adapting.

A month is no time at all. You need to give it three months at least before making a decision.

Thank you both, I thought this might be a slow process.
Probably doesn't help he is an entire male, but we can't neuter him right now as it will probably make the settling difficult.

Where can I get zylkene? Am sure we had similar for one who used to get anxious, but it was from the vets.

Neutering would prob help him be so less territorial and more likely to accept being put down a peg or two by your cats.

I think de trouble nutting would help a lot. They don't really notice it & they calm right down a couple of weeks later. Dh didn't want ours done but he was a feisty bugger and needed to have it done.

Zylkene is readily available over the net.

I agree he needs doing but just in a dilemma about picking our moment! Will have a chat with the vet and get him done. He's not aggressive in the house but he does chase -little sod- and definitely needs to be put in his place a little. Will track down Zylkene, especially for our girl! She's always had a bit of a scatty personality but she seems quite nervous which isn't nice to see. Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it.

Get him done straight away. It won't stop him settling in - it will help him. He won't hold it against you.

Hiya! I also made a post about my neighbours cat, but I have the opposite problem and he's loved himself in with us and our neighbours wanting him to!
Our cats all slowly got used to him coming in the garden and eventually stopped chasing him out, so it is just something that takes time. We have 5 food bowls in total (for 3 cats +1 neighbours cats) and 3 water bowls all separately in our living room and conservatory (all at least 1metre away from each other) that way they can all eat and drink without being on top of each other.
Getting him neutered will help your other cats feel more comfortable around him and they'll pick up less "dominant" pheromones from him, get him done ASAP :)
You could also try feliway friends shop around for it online as it's expensive in high street pet stores!