Louie and I have been spoiled: our first integrations were successful.

There hasn't been any fighting. Our first four are friendly and want to
meet the newcomer. No one has even said a cussword. But Sabrina is
terrified! I think we've gotten ourselves and agoraphobic cat!

We've left the door open, but she will not leave the computer room. It
seems like she thinks she is limited to this one room alone, and she
must defend it. Maybe that's not so out there; she was first in a
nursing home and a patient's limited space; Richard restricted her to
certain parts of the house, then confined her in a hot apartment
building without much in the way of food or water.

She's not so wild that she won't accept attention. With the door closed,
she's quite open with us. But let it open and she acts like a feral
who'd been on the streets a while, mistrustful, posturing. I don't think
she wants to fight the others. She could have; her personality isn't
aggressive.

I so want this to go right. I can say that when she does growl and hiss,
there's fewer of them, and they're quieter, and less of the angry-cat
wail that sometimes accompanies such monologues. I hope to God this is a
good sign, that I'm just being impatient. I don't want Sabrina to have
any more trauma than she's had in the last year or so. We love her;
she's a good girl, and she needs to know she's in a home where she'll be
appreciated, where there's stability.

Has anyone out there had to take a long time to get a cat acclimated and
integrated? And am I just a victim of bad mama guilt, and impatient?
We've never had to deal with something like this. Tips, ego-stroking
words--help!!

Blessed be,
Baha