The Way of Cats

Some cats love fellow cat companionship. Some are indifferent to having other cats around. A few did not get the benefit of being exposed to or interacting with other cats, and must remain Only Cats, while some simply Don’t Get It. Like some people, they lack the social skills to understand other cats.

Puffy is the nerd in the gym. He annoys other cats, just by being there.

Most of it is his engagement style. He will sometimes clean the top of Mr. Bond’s head for him, and Mr. Bond returns the favor (top of the head being a tricky area where help is needed) and when there’s a crisis they will confer, but there isn’t any cat buddying going on.

Puffy doesn’t particularly care for mutual play, or wrestling, or sharing his windowsill. He finds cat relationships tend to ask too much of him, and he just wants to be left alone.

Puffy’s timid demeanor means other cats will see if he can be bullied away from his food dish or off the bed, and he always can be. So we have to stick up for him in such situations. It isn’t that cats are being mean to do this. Cats always want to know boundaries, and when they discover Puffy has none, they accommodate him.

As a kitten, RJ got hissed at by Puffy once a day, and did not bother him the rest of the time. Now that RJ is older, he is often content to sit near Puffy and observe him. RJ and Mr. Bond, being Beta types, are content to let Puffy do his Puffy things. When we had an Alpha kitten, it was a different story. They are highly assertive and love to manipulate objects. This “I’m going to build a super collider in the basement as soon as I get the parts” kind of cat would find Puffy an irresistible object to manipulate. And would.

So if you have a cat who:

• loves keeping the furniture, the routines, and the food always the same
• is very geographically oriented, caring more about the placement of objects than the different kinds of objects
• spends a lot of time hanging out observing, and very little in moving or manipulating objects
• has more caution than curiosity in their makeup, and doesn’t rush over to investigate the new

you probably have a Gamma cat. They are wonderful, easy keeping, affectionate cats, but they are the ones who find a new addition to be extremely stressful. When I had many cats, it was actually easier to accommodate the Gammas among them, because the Alphas and Betas had other Alphas and Betas to hang with, and the Gammas were left alone, the way they like it.

With fewer cats, each cat’s persona has increased impact. So adding a second cat to your Gamma is the trickiest and toughest cat introduction of them all.

An established Gamma will react best to another adult, opposite sex, Gamma. When getting the second Gamma, it is most important to set up a separate room for them, and let them explore it at their own pace. Too much too soon will overwhelm these gentle personalities, and they will react by withdrawal.

Let the situation simmer for a while, like a fine stew, and let the new Gamma out supervised for a while. Soon the new Gamma’s routine will mesh with the old, probably without touching, but in harmony.

Gamma cats like Puffy, unlike the other types, really don’t care if they have cat companions. But with proper care, they will share with like minded others. More than any other type, it’s essential that the others are truly like minded.

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There’s more about multiple cats in The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See more posts on the MULTIPLE CAT ADVANTAGE.