Getting a second cat

[LagoDiComo]

We would like to get a second rescue cat, we already have Bobby who seems to love other cats. He is never aggressive towards them and normally wants to run right up to them, much to the confusion of some of the neighbourhood cats who know more about being a cat. He'd like the company during the day. We'd obviously be looking for another cat who likes other cats.

We know you have to introduce a new cat very carefully and will follow all the steps but is there an actual knack to getting two cats to like each other or is it just in the luck of the draw? It would be lovely if they got on and would sleep and groom and snuggle together. I see pictures on cat forums where non related cats seem to really get on, sometimes after about a fortnight

I think it's luck of the draw, I tried to introduce a kitten with my existing two. It. Didn't end well and I ended up rehoming the kitten to my mum. She managed to introduce another cat when the kitten got older, they get on fab.

The rescue will know which cats are sociable & which aren't.

Cat international do advice sheets on stress free introduction, years ago you just plonked them in the lounge together but it was really stressful for all concerned.

It can work, but it's not always easy.

We got a new kitten last year to go with our existing cat. They are now great friends and sleep in the same bed together. However, it took a bit of work at the beginning - kept them in separate rooms as the cat wanted to attack the kitten when she first saw her.

The Cats Protection website has good advice about how to introduce a new cat. We followed what they said and it worked for us. Basically their primary sense is smell, so you put an old towel in their beds, and swap them over each morning. We were prepared for it to take 2 months, but it actually took a week and a half before our old cat accepted the kitten. We would put them together, supervised, and usually the cat would start hissing and growling at which point we would separate them, but one morning she started licking her face.