Max and Dré were slowly “boiled” into accepting Kirby as part of their household!
Ever hear of the “boiling a frog” theory? The theory is that if a frog is suddenly thrown into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is initially put in lukewarm water and the temperature is gradually increased to a boil, the frog will be unaware of the danger and will be cooked to death. We’re not sure how true that is (we never tried boiling a live frog), but that’s the method we used to integrate Kirby into Dré and Max’s world.
Initially Kirby appeared in our yard, then moved in to his very own “safe room.” Next he graduated to supervised play sessions with Dré and Max separated by a door. Slowly (very slowly) we cracked open the door… Kirby made steady inroads into the general feline population, with some protests (hissing from Dré, loud meowing and actual attacks by Max), until eventually they were all in the same room at the same time without incident.
We can now leave all three of them alone in the house for one to two hours at a time. Dré and Kirby get along pretty well, they often play together with only occasional hissing from Dré. Max tolerates Kirby, though he does slap him when he thinks he deserves it. Most of the time Kirby gives Max a wide berth… but he does like to follow Max outdoors like a little kid brother. By this time next year, they all should be great friends (we’re hoping!).