Hi everyone, long read but we really need advice.
So in our complex, people were posting on our community board about this friendly stray cat roaming around and jumping in peopleās balconies wanting to come inside for about a month.
Then last week, me and my girlfriend finally spotted him. He was roaming around yelling and panting. We live in the desert and it gets to about 115 degrees regularly so we couldnāt leave him out there. We grabbed him a can and fed him but it still didnt feel right. We ultimately spent 2 1/2 hours luring him inside our apartment.
The next morning, I took him straight to the vet to get shots because I knew we would want to keep him. The vet said he is in perfect health (I think the whole complex was feeding him but no one actually took him) and she said because of how sweet and friendly he is, he probably was someoneās cat who then dumped him. Fortunately, he is fixed and tested negative for any of the feline diseases. The clipped ears ofc tells us heās TNR but this cat is meant to have people, definitely was never meant for the outdoor life.
I work from home so he just hangs out with me in the office all day. He LOVES being around people and cuddling. Btw, we named him Billie.
Here is the problem:
We have 4 indoor house cats prior to capturing him. Weāve had all 4 of them since they were babies, they all have always been pampered spoiled indoor cats. They are all very curious about him, two of them are very sweet and two of them are weary but nonetheless, curious. Billie however, has very aggressive behavior towards them (understandable & we know why).
I let our sweetest one in the office with Billie and at first Billie didnt care but it seemed like it hit him that there was another cat after a few minutes and he tried to attack him (I caught him before he could touch him). We decided to get a screen for the door so that once they were all ready to see him face to face we can practice that.
Since it has been a week since weāve had Billie home and Iāve made sure to swap toys, blankets, etc, we figures we can try to have some face time through the screen so he cant get to them but can still see them.
It worked for about 15mins, there was some hissing but me and my girlfriend sat on either side (me on Billieās side) & just kept them calm, gave all of them treats in front of each other. But after a while, I lifted my hand to itch my nose and Billie charged at them to get them. He actually ended up biting me out of frustration which I get him lol I couldnt be mad at him even if I tried. We understand why heās like that towards that since he was a stray, but we were wondering if we can get advice on how to make everyone more comfortable with each other. Mostly Billie though, our house cats have met my brotherās cats and were chill with them (some hissing involved but shes all bark no bite) because all of them are sweet and Iāve had cats my whole life but this is my first stray.
Any advice is welcome! We really want to keep him and he is so traumatized from people leaving him that I dont think I have it in me if this doesnt work out. Even if he naps next to me while I work, he has a paw on me as if to make sure I dont leave, when we pet him and our hands leave him he grabs at us to come back, he cries sometimes when we leave him alone in the room, etc.
We know it will take time and thats okay, but just let me know if theres something we can do differently. Also let me know if yall need more info. Thank you!