I adopted a 14 year old cat from my sister’s neighbor, sight unseen. The neighbor was 93 years old and was being put into assisted living. Her family planned on taking Trixie (the cat) to the shelter, not caring if she found a home or was euthanized. My sister called me and I, obviously, said that I would take her. At the time, I had six other cats ranging from six yrs to 14 yrs so I brought her home and placed her into a room by herself with a screen door instead of a room door so they could see and smell each other, but not get to each other.
For a while, things were a little strange. Trixie didn’t know where she was, who we were, or who these other cats were. But within a few months, the screen door was open during the day and then closed at night—so we could monitor what was going on. But we didn’t really have to worry. Even our big oaf of a cat, Brenin, who was 18 lbs to her 5.5 lbs was put in his place when she hissed and swatted at him.
And pretty soon, although she preferred to sleep in her room where her bedding and food/water was, she had free run of the house—screen door open. And none of the cats caused her any trouble. Even one of my cats—an 11-year-old ex-feral named Cooper—took to her and they started eating side-by-side from her bowl. And the hissing and swatting stopped completely between everyone except when she would occasionally lift a paw as if to say “Don’t make me smack you” and that was good enough.
Unfortunately, at age 16, she passed away. But we gave her a,. hopefully, happy home with other cats (who she had never even seen before) and lots of love rather than having to spend her remaining years in a metal cage surrounded by stressed out barking dogs, not knowing where she was. She was a sweet, wonderful old girl and we truly miss her. (Trixie pic below)
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