Combining five cats in a new household - tips please

[FreckledLeopard]

So, my partner and I are moving in together. She has two cats, I have three cats. We're currently living at my partner's place whilst we have building work done at my house. So my cats are on "her turf" so to speak. In about a month, when the building work is done, we will all be moving back to my house.

At the moment, we have separated the cats. My three are sharing a couple of rooms (and we periodically let one or two of them into a third room for a run around). Her cats have the rest of the house.

All cats are aware that there are strange new cats on the other side of the door. None are particularly happy about it.

I have one male cat (quite alpha), one very timid, older female cat and a younger female cat who can be quite feisty. My partner has an old ish male cat (very docile) and a feisty older female cat.

Anyone with any wisdom of combining cats - should we try and introduce all cats to each other within the next month, or keep them separated until they're all back at my house (which will be their permanent home)? Is it worth them trying to establish a pecking order and boundaries between themselves now, or will these all have to be re-established when we move? We don't want to stress the cats out more than necessary.

Any advice most welcome!

i have four cats who are from different times and places and i find its probably more stress on the cats if you dont introduce them to each other the best way is open the doors and let them explore during the day so they will meet each other but have an escape route back to their room if theres hissing which with three females there probably will be, start off with say half an hour of free run then increase it by half an hour each day, have treats at hand as well so you can give treats if two of the not know each other cats are in the same place at the same time, feed them in the same room on lot of cats on one side of the room the other cats on the other side of the room so they get used to eating more or less together, and if there are any initial spats dont seperate the cats unless it looks like one of them is getting beaten up too badly as the cats will have to establish a pecking order

Thanks for the advice! That's a good idea. DD is always handy with treats, so could act as adjudicator for the short time periods.

Good point re: hissing - so far it's just the females, not the boys, who have expressed their dissatisfaction!

Makes sense - boy cats (as long as they're neutered) do tend to be a lot more stupid relaxed about life. Let them out together now. Supervise at first. Maybe invest in a feliway plugin. They'll be fine. They may not be one best buddies ever but a decent amnesty at least can be achieved. As I type this I have 11 cats in my house....

Everything needs to be gradual. So all in the same house together but can't get to eachother first, great stuff.

Then you need to introduce scent to them, before sight. Stroke one of the cats at a time with a clean fabric of any kind, take that to receiving cat, and stroke them with it. They will see it as part of your scent and accept it more readily. If you can do this and reward them at the same time, even better. Reward them with treats, or letting them up on your let lap things like that. You will need to bring the scent to your cats and your partner to hers. Do this several times a day.

After this, with the scented fabric in hand providing comforting strokes etc, you need to let them see eachother but without interaction except from you. For short periods of time, which you then increase.

Once you've done that, you can let them get near eachother, they should recognise the scent and not be immediately stunned as it should smell familiar.

Another good tip, is when you are in scenting mode, try and get them to wash themselves, which releases happy hormones, so maybe some butter on their feet to help it along. You can get a felliway which releases the same happy homones but these can take upto a month to take affect, obviously washing is much quicker.

Allowing them to interact quite so quickly may cause more stress than you need to, as it can be a shock to the system and be a bit too much to deal with.

I've had a multi cat household over the last 30 yrs, always had between 4-6 cats. My experience is as follows

• neutered male cats have tended to be the most laid back and accepting of strangers. If I was planning a mc household I would go for males every time.
• some females are equally sweet and accepting, just nice people really
• there's always been one who thinks herself a superior being to the others. She often likes people and dogs but doesn't like cats much. She will show this in various ways. I've had some that spray (like a Tom) and go to the loo on beds to indicate their unhappiness at not being an only child. Others lie in wait for the objects of their hatred and hiss and spit as they walk past. Tbh I'd rather deal with the hissing and spitting than changing the sheets every day.
• they find their own safe spaces, either alone or with others. The main disputed space is in bed with me when it tends to be whoever gets there first defends the spot. I have had cats who will bed share cuddled up, but the current bunch will only do it if occupying 4 different corners . Good luck.

Thank you so much for tips. Some of the cats have inadvertently met briefly (one escaped from its room) and there's been some hissing, but they're still segregated so far! Will try the scenting and washing! We need to get treats - hopefully some raw minced beef may help!