I’ve had Monty now for 2.5 weeks and he’s finally starting to really settle in. It wasn’t a completely smooth process but it’s gone really well for the most part. About 10 days into the process, Monty suddenly went from running around more than 1/2 the house to hiding under the bed and being reluctant to come out.

Instead of pushing him when he was hiding, I reduced his space by putting up the baby gates to build his confidence in his room again. It was only a day or two of being back in my room before he was dashing out at every opportunity. Since then he’s starting to become increasingly brave. He’s still not overly comfortable with the dogs and he’d MUCH prefer a series of catwalks to get from room to room (but that isn’t happening) but he’s getting more confident walking around on the ground since he’s learned that there is ALWAYS some tall place to jump up on.

The cats are… well, they are cats. They are independent creatures who don’t really want to share their space. Panther just hisses at Monty when he gets too close but they have interacted without issue for the most part. Jefferson … well, he’s a rough n’ tumble boy. The boys have played with a kitty toy together and the each will playfully swat at each other (soft paws and not hard) but if the other reciprocates with play, the instigator gets scared. Jefferson will chase (not intensely or aggressively) Monty if he runs quickly from somewhere.

Although the cats don’t yet love each other, I absolutely consider it a success. The fact that we introduced another cat, and another male cat more specifically, without any serious issue is a good thing. Cats are certainly not dogs and it definitely took patience but the results have been great. Monty will come out into our main room every day with us, he climbs all over the wall shelves/perches and is up and down the cat tower playing with toys.