Can I introduce a new cat to two existing ones? Cat lovers please!

[yolofish]

Feline advice required advice please!

We have 2 cats, brothers, aged 9. DM, aged 88, is currently in hospital (again) and unlikely to live independently at home again. She has a rescue cat aged about 7, also male, but neutered at 6ish when picked up by the RSPCA and then he came to DM about a year ago.

For the last 3 months I have looked after cat in her house am and pm, but he is obviously lonely and I am wondering about bringing him to live here with us now that the situation with DM has moved on a bit - up until fairly recently, her returning home was a very possible option.

Any advice, apart from Feliway, segregation, careful introductions etc etc? The other option is to rehome him via RSPCA but I am really reluctant to do that as he is such a lovely cat and has had a hard time (lived on the streets etc).

I'd be careful doing that. Rescue cats have their own problems which means they're quite anxious as it is- another cat may just stress him out. And in all honesty cats are solitary animals. Even if they're able to live with other cats, they're only tolerating them. Personally I wouldn't do it as it's very likely to stress both animals. x

BTW, I'm sorry that your mother isn't very well . I understand that the situation is a difficult one, but re-homing him may well be the best option.

Sorry to hear about your DM.

It's pot luck as to whether your two will accept a third cat, and I can only suggest you try.

We've always had between 2 and 6 cats, with lots of comings and goings and for the last 3 years we've also fostered, so have had up to 13 cats/kittens in the house at the same time. Most have got on fine or at least tolerated each other and found their own space but there has been the odd one or two who we've had to rehome because they upset the feline household too much.

One was a pschyo girl cat who just hissed and screamed at our cats, so we gave her to a willing friend, who still has her, 12 years later.

We also took on a relative's cat when their housing situation meant that he couldn't keep him, but it came clear that this particular cat was happier by himself rather than living in our feline palace of chaos, so when the opportunity arose we gave him back to his original owner, where he is much happier as sole feline overlord of his domain.

You say the cat seems lonely, but it is likely that it's your DM he misses, he may settle well into your house, he may not.

If you take him on and find it doesn't work (give it at least a few weeks unless things are really awful) look for a small local rescue that puts cats in foster homes rather than a shelter. He will then live as part of the family until he finds a permanent home. This is a good time of year for this, as between about April and August we are over run with kittens, but that's calming down now, so you've a good chance of finding a rescue with a fosterer with space for him to live with them for as long as it takes to find a permanent home.

Good luck.

Sorry I think it will be tricky. I have a friend who adopted a 4th cat. It caused no end of issues with fighting and then various original cats disappearing from home for weeks on end.

You can introduce their scent to each other now and see how they react. Wipe the cats with cloth, then swipe the door frames at cat nose height, and leave the cloths around where they eat and sleep. You can also swap their toys over (not treasured ones).

We have done & would do again.

Oh that's hard. Sorry to hear about your mum. Hope you're doing ok.

We introduced 2 to our 2 under similar circumstances. (No rescue centre had space so no option really.)

Separate food areas, litter tray etc etc.

1 ran off after 3 months, but had been super stressed at ours despite all we did. (Regularly pooing in the living room etc.)

The other one reached a toleration with the other 2 which after 2 years became slightly more friendly. They were territorial over my DH more than anything actually so he'd have to have one either side to stroke and the other behind him on the settee. Lol.

It did work, so not impossible.

Oh and the litter tray group may be more helpful too.

You won't know until you try. Give them a few weeks and see if they settle.

I have a rescue cat to who I introduced two new cats last year.
I just gave him lots of extra attention and made sure he had somewhere to go to get away from the new arrivals that they couldn’t follow(a bed in upstairs bedroom that I didn’t allow the new cats in). I also made sure I didn’t use his bowls for the new comers and put his food down first.
Mainly my old cat ignored the new arrivals, gave them the odd clout to show he was in charge but that was it.
As time went on they settled into a pecking order and now one year on I have to fight the three of them for bed space as they curl up on mass and take over.

You don't have to rehome him. It's worth looking up Jackson Galaxy - a cat behaviourist - on youtube and a few episodes of his show: My cat from hell. He's done a few eps on introducing cats especially those who are 'hellish'

Just a quick update. Moved DM's cat to our house last night, he is currently in solitary in the playroom. Lots of paws coming under the door etc and our 2 very interested. Plugged in the Feliway at about 7pm, and have just spent an hour with all 3 in the same room, pretty mellow all round - almost a full packet of dreamies may have helped! So planning to continue this level of meeting for the next few days...

Hoya that sounds like a really positive start, we introduced two cats to two older cats but they weren't as old as yours

We did mostly the same as what you did and it worked well after time. I also used google a lot and most animal websites (rspca, cats protection etc ) had really helpful articles x

Sounds good so far! We introduced a kitten to our two adult cats at Christmas last year. Biggie, our male, was initially a little jealous and Jayda, our female, was initially a little nervous. Eventually they sorted it out and they do okay. Gatsby likes to chase Jayda at times but otherwise they get along. (We were more concerned about Jayda than Biggie. Biggie gets along with every pet he has ever met. He tried to make friends with a dog once.) Jayda actually mothered Gatsby a bit at times.

I don't have a pic of all three but these are of Gatsby with Biggie (Biggie is orange, Gatsby is grey) and Gatsby with Jayda in the background. Gatsby was enjoying attention off Daddy in this one.