A.The Integration Plan A. Integration when there are no other pets in the home.

1. Introduce your pet to your home one room at a time and always be present each time a new room is being entered and examined.
2. Try to be certain there is at least one “hidey hole” in every room as well as one high safe spot for your cat should they become frightened.
3. Speak softly to your cat as he/she slowly examines the new space, some owners go so far as to turn the ringer of the telephone off during explorations to avoid startling the animal with a loud, unaccustomed noise. They will already be on “high alert” and any sudden, unexpected loud noise can make them fearful of the room for a very long time to come!
4. Don’t rush this process. Give your new pet several days to examine, become comfortable in and learn to trust each room. This will make a much more confidant Siamese in the end!
   
   Some cats gain their confidence more quickly than others. Each is an individual. Don’t try to rush or push them past their level of comfort. Allow them to explore at their own pace. Some Siamese will immediately want access to every room in your home, this is usually the exception but it does happen. In this case you may want to allow them access to several rooms in one day.

B. Integration when there are other pets present in the home. Integrating cats with cats (only). Once the new pet has been medically cleared you may begin to slowly introduce them to the other members of your home. Do not immediately release your new pet from their isolation room! This room is going to serve as their “safe place” for a while yet.

Days 1-2- After the vet visit, take several old hand towels or washcloths, one for each cat in the family. Rub the cloth gently over each animal making sure to allow them to rub the sides of their faces and foreheads on the cloth (these are two places where each cat has personal scent glands located on the face). Give the new cat access to the cloths rubbed on your present pets and vice versa. Do not force the fabric on any of the animals and do not try to rub it into their noses or face. Just hold the cloth up and offer it for their inspection. If they show no interestsimply leave the cloth nearby, but away from both food and litter box aras . Do the same for your other pets.

Days 3-4 Remove the towel from under the door; its purpose has been served. Allow the cats to sniff one another through the doors crack. If it appears that either side is attempting to bite paws shoved under the crack, replace the towel for two days and give the animals a better chance to accustom themselves to the scents on the towels. Repeat the rubbing process daily so the scent remains strong.

1. If any of the animals become highly agitated over the “smell” of the other, it is advisable to begin placing one or two drops of vanilla extract (preferably the type without alcohol in it) between the shoulder blades and above the base of the tail of each animal. The theory is that if they all smell alike, integration will go more smoothly. The sense of smell in some cats is more highly developed than others and these are the cats that have trouble welcoming a “new family member” who smells “different” to them.
2. During this time it is advisable to make your cats believe that wonderful things happen, but only when the ‘new’ cat is nearby! Withhold their favorite treats and toys (the feather on a wire toy works well underneath door jambs) and only allow them to have these treats and toys if they are outside the door to the isolation room and behaving (no spitting, hissing, growling or trying to bite the paws of the other cat!) Offer treats in this spot only, engage all the animals using the feather on a wire, allow both sides to “catch” the prey, and then give them a food reward. Do not play with this toy or offer this specific treat unless all cats are together and behaving.

Days 5-7 As long as there have been no serious sounding attempts to do harm from under the door, it is time to attempt a very short, swap! This is normally easiest if you have someone to help. First you must “round up” your other pets into one room and close the door. Next you go into the isolation room and “remove” the new addition. Take him/her downstairs to another room your other cats enjoy spending lots of time in (do not just let them loose with the entire house to explore, this huge space will intimidate them. Your partner may take the other cats one at a time to avoid “escapes” into the isolation room until they are all in there and sniffing every inch of the room, tasting the other cats food and most likely using their litter box.

1. Once your new cat has explored the first new room, check his comfort level. If he is showing curiosity about other rooms, by all means, let him/her explore to their hearts content. Do not stop them from eating the food left by your other cats or from inspecting or using their litter box if it is accessible. This exercise should not be allowed to continue for more than 45 minutes the first time. Subsequent exercises may go up to an hour and a half. Remember your other cats will be enclosed in a fairly small space and will NOT likely be happy about that once they run out of things to smell!

Day 8  It is now time to attempt a face-t -face meeting between two of the animals. This requires strict supervision on your part and having a squirt gun filled and ready is not a terrible idea in case of trouble. Choose the least aggressive of your pets. The meeting should take place in the new cat's room, a smaller space is more easily controllable as well as providing the new kid with home field advantage. Some body posturing, hissing and spitting is to be expected (but isn’t always the case). This is not cause for worry or fear.                               You must remain calm as the cats will feel your tension and respond accordingly. If you are fearful they will be twice as fearful. Allow them to ignore or inspect one another at their own pace. Monitor the situation by closely watching the position of their ears when they get close to one another as well as the twitch of their tail. Ears flat back against the side of the head is usually a sign of big trouble to come, but do not react unless one or the other acts out physically what they feel emotionally. Give them a chance to change their minds before you act. Talking softly and calmly and calling them by name is helpful. If you note that the tip of their tails are twitching very erratically and quickly, be warned, trouble may be brewing.                                                              Should a real cat fight break out (actual lunging, scratching, etc) use your water pistol to get their attention by squirting them. Before they realize what you’ve done, scoop one cat up and open the door to allow the other an escape route.

1. If there is no fighting, you are in the home stretch! There may always be wariness, occasional hissing or spitting between cats, as there is between human siblings. It usually ends harmlessly with some chasing or wrestling behaviors.
2. If you are integrating into a multi-cat household you must repeat the above step allowing one cat per day to “meet and greet” the new cat, always in his safe room.
3. Once all of the animals have had a face to face, you may attempt allowing the new pet access to all or part of the house by leaving open their door. Even if they immediately assimilate into your home group, always leave their room set up just the way they found it for at least one week. This gives them a place to retreat if the house and its noises and occupants become overwhelming to them at first.
4. Do not be surprised if there is much more hissing and spitting behavior when the newcat invades the old cats turf! This is to be expected; however it is not to be tolerated! Gently reprimand the animal vocally, warning them that if the behavior does not cease you will squirt them. If it does not cease, make good on your promise to squirt!
5. One of the best keys to successful integration is consistency. You must squirt, give a time out (or otherwise discipline without physical contact!) the offending animal each and every time they show a negative behavior. If you are not consistent with your corrections the animals will become confused and will not understand what it is you expect of them. Should the behavior escalate into full-fledged fighting, separate the animals as quickly and safely as you can and place each animal into “their “ room for a time out lasting 15 minutes, NO LONGER! You may choose your bedroom for the other cat as long as it has a door that closes.
6. Bring both animals back out into the group environment at the same time. If there are more than 3 incidences of seriously aggressive behavior in one day, it is time to take a few steps back and re-introduce the animals to one another starting from day 7 and slowly working forward again. If this approach does not work, you may need to move on to more intense integrations techniques. Remember that SRM volunteers are always willing to offer suggestions to assist you in your integration. We’ve all been through the process and have helped many adopters through it as well. If you need to move into the intense phase, please email us and we will be happy to send you the next steps in integration! Hopefully this won’t be necessary, but if it is, know that we are here for you and your cats!
7. Integration information for multi-species homes is also available upon request. E-mail adoptions@siameserescuemetro.org , include the number of animals in your home and their species for specific information! Our goal is to make the transitions as seamlessly as possible for both your current pets and your newest family member, so please take advantage of our many combined years of experience!