People who don’t do gradual introductions, can you advise?

[caefe]

Growing up if we got a new cat we just threw them into the mix. Cats worked it all out and nothing went wrong. They did have the run of the house though which is something I can’t do just now due to 5 month old kitten being an absolute riot. He has free run during the day and at night sleeps in a spare room.

Im considering getting him a cat, but i cant work out what we could do at night as obviously they would need to be well settled together before leaving them in spare room together for any amount of time? Or do people who don’t do gradual just leave them to crack on of all is ok during the day?

Obviously the answer is not to get my cat a cat, but I think he would love a pet

I had two successful quick introductions. And two unsuccessful. With hindsight, I think the successful ones were soley due the the exceptionally placid and laid back personality’s of the cat involved. The unsuccessful ones were because the resident cat was very highly strung and nervous. And the new cat, though gentle was a bit of a bull in a china shop. He had to be rehomed as resident cat was absolutely petrified of his attempts to befriend her.

My kitten stayed in a large dog crate at night. The others still had the run of the house and they could sniff each other but not fight. Sounds like that would work for you.

I had thought about a crate but Dkitten is huge now - I guess that means I would need another kitten to go in a crate, just smaller and younger. Sounds perfect haha!

He isn’t at all nervous so I’m not worried about him but it may not work out depending on how any potential new cat is.

Such a difficult decision and I should have just got 2 in the first place!

I foster cats and sometimes my resident cat manages to barge in within days so no gradual introductions.The ones I have currently are so cat friendly they love other cats (not people 😅) I will leave them alone but never at night or whilst I’m out. Maybe different because they are temporary but I wouldn’t leave them overnight as he gets sick of them after a bit. I would try to separate if you can but you can probably only tell how to manage it once you get one. Some fosters my cat is completely cool with like these but others they would rip each others fur out

I tried slow introductions both times i got new cats both times I failed.

The first time resident cat was curious so followed me and sat in the hallway watching. I have a picture of them both sat on my lap after about 3 days. The new cat used to yell and scratch the door at 3am so I ended up giving in for everyones sake. They were fine. He still yells at me at 3am so nothing has changed. Resident cat tolerated him until she died, he went into mourning and hid under my bed for 3 weeks barely coming out (I almost called the vet I was getting that worried) so I got him a friend.

Second time, resident cat (the old new cat) got the hump because his room was out of bounds and barged in on day 2. They are fine, they play with each other, sleep curled up next to each other.

I've had my sister's cat to stay and they also get on with it. They just carry on as normal.

The fact all of them are quite similar personalities helps.

Don’t Know if it’s the same but ours are kittens. I had ours from two months, just last months had to take in a family members kitten of the same age. They fought a lot, it was mainly mine showing her ground she wouldn’t leave the other alone but they got on with it after two days they became friends and cuddle together

I don’t do gradual introductions but I do split them
up if we’re going out for the first month or so (mainly to give the older cats some peace and quiet).

The kittens tend to go in one smaller room with everything they need and then the adults get run of the house with their usual access to outdoors.