Introducing new cats

[NewbeeMummy]

Hi all,

I'm about to take on caring for my sisters 2 cats (about 18 months old) while she goes traveling for 6 months.

I already have 2 cats, a 7yo and a 3 yo, they don't particularly see eye to eye, but rub on well enough.

I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on how best to introduce these 2 new cats so as not to stress them or my existing 2 too much.

I'll be getting some of those hormone plug in do-dahs, and my sister will be staying for the first week, but any other thoughts/tricks that may help?

Thanks

watching with interest as we recently got a new kitten to keep resident tom company after his brother was run over in the spring.

it's not going well

@bamboo - we got our second cat for exactly the same reason, unfortunately what we did not take into account with him was he was a proper wild kitten and had no human contact until he was picked up and put in the cat carrier to be taken home.

I love him to bits, but he has a real evil streak and still will randomly launch himself at anyone (or the other cat) for not reason what so ever.

our tom just seems really stressed out by the new kitten, hissing, lashing out and yowling as soon as he comes in the house.

its only been 5 weeks but i imagine it will take quite some time for him to accept her.

watching to see what cat experts recommend!

We too introduced two kittens to our existing cat as we thought she might be lonely after losing her companion (we thought if there were two she would be less hassled). She hated them, would stalk out of the room humming if they so much as put a whisker in to it, and pointedly ignored them at all times.

Maybe make sure they eat and sleep separately (and have enough litter trays), but let them socialise during the day.

Thanks Frosty - that's not a bad idea

@ Bamboo - not much help but our current 2 took 3 months before they would even be in the same room

this pretty much sums up what we've been doing, with great success so far :)

I got a second cat over a year and a half ago to keep my older cat company. I had read that doing this was actually quite a bad idea since older cats can become stressed out by a young cats intrusions. I also knew my cat had to be "top cat" though so knew a younger cat was the only way to go. I had been told by the breeder when I got my eldest (who was then 6) that she could not be housed with other cats as she didn't get along with them.

Our original plan was to put the new cat in the spare bedroom where my OH had his office and gradually introduce smells of the other cat to each of them until they got used to each other. After a while we would introduce them in a controlled environment in short bursts to allow them to become familiar with each other. This is generally what is considered best practise for introducing new cats.

Unfortunately for me it didn't quite go to plan since upon arriving home with our new cat we put her in the spare room and shut the door (or so we thought), went downstairs to get some food and water for her and within minutes heard a massive cat fight upstairs. Our eldest had smelt her from our bedroom and hunted her out. When we got upstairs our terrified newbie was cornered and looking petrified and our eldest was looking rather proud at defending her territory. I think she was shocked when she realized we were in on this invasion plan. I removed our eldest and my OH rescued the younger one. They knew about each other and from then on the eldest became my guardian, the newbie might have invaded the territory but I was still hers. It took about 1 month before they stopped fighting and hissing constantly but my eldest still had freedom the other didn't. She was allowed in the garden as where the other was kept in. This gave her space that was "her" territory and also a break from the other.

Remember though, like people cats have personalities and some cats will just never see eye to eye. Others will learn to tolerate each other since they are forced to live together and some might even surprise you and become good friends, I like to tell myself that my girls are now like sisters, just sisters that bicker and tell tales on one another :)