When Can New Tripawd Cats Mix with Other Family Felines?

If you have multiple cats in the home, you might wonder when to mix new Tripawd cats with their siblings. Don’t worry, the Tripawds community has your back! In our How to Help Your Three Legged Cat be Healthy and Happy handbook, three-legged cat parents who also faced this situation share their best tips that include the following suggestions:

How to Help New Tripawd Cats Mix with Other Family Felines

Animals can smell things that we don’t, and cats are masters at picking up on scents only found at the vet clinic. From bandages to surgical drugs, cats can tell when one of their housemates has been handled by a veterinarian, and they don’t like it one bit.

When your new three-legged cat comes home from surgery, the scent they carry may be overwhelming to other household cats. That’s why it’s important to know how to help new Tripawd cats mix with other family felines.

A slow, careful introduction with other household cats is essential for new amputee cats. When you combine a Tripawd cat with siblings, your job is to:

Members Share How to Introduce New Three-Legged Cats to Siblings

In the Tripawds Discussion Forum topic “How Did You Prepare Your Other Cats for the New tri-kitty?” members shared the following recovery experiences.

How did feline siblings react to your new tri-kitty?

mommatux said: “Initially Dazzle was very happy to see Tuxedo. He loved on him and helped groom him. Once the hard plastic cone of shame went on though, things changed. Dazzle would hiss & whack Tuxedo on the head (cone) whenever he got near. Though they were the bop and run type of thing. Dazzle never hung around him for long while the cone was in place. But he was continually watching and every time Tuxedo moved or made any sound he would come in for another try. I really think he was trying to help Tuxedo get the cone off on his own way, because as soon as Tuxedo got out of the cone for good, it was instant peace.

Did you modify your home? Create separate areas for the cats?

kazann said: “I put Mona in my office where there is no bed to crawl under. I allowed Eli in the room when he wanted in. He does not like to be excluded and is very curious.” If you separated the quadpawds, how long did that last?

Purrkins said: “They were separated by the door until Purrkins was clear 14 days but allowed supervised visits whenever Saxton asked by pawing at he door. We still had a few issues after Purrkins was free it took a good month before things were back to normal for us. We continued the multi cat diffuser and are still using it!!”

What other methods did you try to help all cats adjust?

Jet said: “I separated their food bowl locations (Jerry’s on the kitchen table, his on the floor), put litterboxes in multiple locations (now they are both in bathtub in guest bathroom), tried to treat them the same, gave them catnip in same area at same time to hopefully get them comfortable with each other.”

Paws120 said: After surgery, Huckleberry earned his own bedroom. He remained crated until after staples were removed, but i let the others visit him after the first several days. After staple removal, i slowly let him have freedom in the closed off room and they played footsies under the door. I re- introduced them one at a time for the first time without him crated and they have done well. Huckleberry is still in his own room and does not have free run of the house yet.

See all tips to help new Tripawd cats mix with siblings, and share your own today!