The 4 Step Cat Introduction Program
The time will come when we want more cats. It is inevitable. When we have fun, we want to do it again. Whether they might be a needy cat who wins our heart, a friend moving away and needing a home for their cat, or a deliberate act of willful cat enjoyment, it’s a natural progression to consider more cats.
Some single cat problems are the cat’s boredom while left alone, communication gaps that are easier with another cat acting as translator, the person craving more cat-time than is available because of the cat’s abundant sleeping periods, and the single cat’s inability to clean the back of their own neck. These are all problems that can be solved with more cats. Perhaps that is why more than half of cat owners have more than one cat.
Follow the steps for more fun… and more cats!
Step One: Choosing
Kitten Types: The Clues
Last modified on 2008-12-28 18:59:19 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
One of the advantages of adopting an adult cat is knowing what we are getting. But kittens are trickier. The common attributes of being kittens can make it difficult to tell what cat type they are.
If we are getting our cat a kitten, with the goal being a close relationship and cat companionship, the effort to match type-to-type will pay off in years of inter-cat harmony. That’s because cats make friends the same way we do; finding mutual interests and sharing a common outlook.
Alphas, Betas, and Gammas use different signals to communicate with their people. They are equally sensitive to their environment, but express that in different ways.
Gammas don’t know how to make changes to their environment. Betas will get us to make changes to their environment. Alphas go ahead and change the environment.
more animals
To make an educated guess about a given kitten’s assertiveness level requires some interaction of our own. If the shelter or home that has kittens offers the option of spending some time alone with them, take it. Bring some toys. If we slowly place the toy on the floor, what happens? (Do it slowly. Tossing it out will make almost any kitten chase it, out of sheer reflex.)
Do they take intervals to study it or immediately start batting it around? Do they watch it from a distance to see if it continues to move on its own? Cautious cats are likely to be a Beta or a Gamma. The quicker they manipulate it, the more confident they are about manipulating their environment.
A soft ring toy is helpful because it will sooner or later be grabbed in a way that makes it flip over and bop the kitten on the head. Gammas will back off. Betas will hesitate. Alphas will immediately renew the attack.
Another useful toy is any remote control device. When the kitten investigates, activate something that makes the object move or makes a noise. The quicker the kitten comes back, the more Alpha they will tend to be. The remote control makes us not a part of whatever it is, and we can see how the kitten deals with non-living objects.
Does the kitten fix its attention on single objects, or keep looking for angles everywhere? The more they look around from all angles, the more Alpha they will be. Gammas find objects in the environment and study them, and will be more sensitive to change as a result. Alphas have an abundance of the cat tendency to look for angles they can use to guess how this object will respond to their actions.
Place the kitten in an empty cardboard box, too high to scramble out of easily. Gamma kittens will simply sit there for a while. Betas will start patrolling the sides, considering their options. Alphas will try to get out of the box.
Kittens who come from a home where they were already socialized and underfoot will be more confident than kittens rescued from a storm drain, where their only contact with people might be when they are getting goo squirted in their ears and eyes. So factor in what, if any, facts we might have about their early experiences to judge their socialization.
Caution with new people is sensible; fleeing in fear is a sign this kitten needs some gentle handling so they can see how nice people can be.
So take a little time to observe, run some experiments, and ponder what types of cats we have, and what types would fit in well.
To choose the right kitten, see if we can figure out The Cat They Will Become.
Got here from a Link or Search?
There’s more to choosing a cat with The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See my CHOOSING A CAT.
Step Two: Preparing
Preparing for the New Cat
Last modified on 2011-11-28 11:54:53 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Introducing a new cat is not simple addition. It’s more like a calculus problem, with variables depending on the number of existing cats and their personalities.
It can be simple. If we have a younger, social cat with a lot of play drive, and we get a similar kitten, a few hours in the bathroom for the kitten is enough time for the established cat to be wild with curiosity and anticipation. Any misgivings about territorial concerns or favored spots will be subsumed in the play and social advantages this kind of cat appreciates.
If we have more than one cat, they will naturally have a more varied spectrum of possible reactions. It will differ whether we get a kitten or a cat, a lot depends on the new cat’s personality, and we must make sure everyone involved is spayed, neutered, or too young to have hormones yet.
If hormones might be a problem, as in the case of a stray or a kitten in adolescence, we need to be extra careful about tripping the existing cats’ instinct to defend their territory from breeding rivals. We should have the new cat spayed or neutered first, and let them have their own space to recover, before we add the extra stress of establishing themselves in their new home.
First impressions are going to carry a lot of weight in the future.
If the new cat imprints themselves as any kind of threat, this will be their reputation. It’s much harder to change a cat’s mind than it is to allow them an open attitude in the first place.
The more cats we have, and the older the new cat is, the more time will be required for the introduction period. If we don’t have adequate room to set aside to make introductions happen smoothly, this can affect our choice of new cat, and whether we can accommodate another one at all.
Sometimes circumstances don’t let us make preparations. But if at all possible, we should set up a separate room with a litter box, food and water, and what the cat needs to sleep and play before we bring home the new cat. We can’t tell how long the cat might need a space of their own, so it’s best to plan for the worst.
This new space is part of the introduction process before the new cat even gets in there.
Don’t let them in during the preparations, and don’t let them in after.
Let the space become a focus of curiosity from the beginning.
Then adding something new to the room will not upset the cats’ view of how their home is set up. It’s already mysterious. Now, anything might happen. When something does, they will not be so surprised.
When the new cat is about to arrive, get the cats closed off in a separate part of the house so that we can smuggle the new cat into their room without them seeing the process. We want to give the impression that the new cat just appeared there.
It was magic! Now what do we do?
Maintain the polite fiction that this new cat materialized in the room. Now we all have a shared problem.
We will all work towards a shared solution.
Got here from a Link or Search?
There’s more to The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See my LATEST CAT ADVICE.
Step Three: Processing
Processing the New Cat
Last modified on 2011-11-28 11:55:03 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
The number one way otherwise intelligent, sensible people mess up cat introductions is trying to rush the process.
There is no rushing the process.
Engrave it on the door, blizzard the kitchen with notes, or tattoo it on the hand that is reaching for the doorknob of the mysterious room. We are ready for the new cat. We picked out the new cat. We can’t wait to play with them and discover all the facets of their personality. But we are not the issue here.
There’s others whose world is being rocked far more greatly than ours is, and if we don’t want them to return the favor, we will give them all the time they need. The new cat is dealing with enough just by arriving. Play with them in their room to get to know them while keeping their new input to a minimum.
If we push the established cats into an opinion, they will err on the side of caution and decide this was a tremendously bad idea. They can’t help it. They are cats. They are always going to go with “the devil they know.”
The key to happy introductions is to let curiosity trump all other emotions.
Realizing the mysterious room has created another cat will start a storm of thoughts in the established cat’s heads, and, being cats, their first impulse will be to regard this development as a negative one. They will need time to sort through all their reactions, come to conclusions, and see what happens next.
What should happen next is: Nothing.
Life goes on. We go in and out of the mysterious room. The new cat’s scent is on our hands and clothes, and we allow them to smell it, but only if they want to. The food still shows up and the playtimes continue. Any dreadful expectations the cats might have will fade as the cats conclude that, at least as of now, nothing has really changed. Their fears will quiet with nothing to feed them, and curiosity will start to dominate their thinking.
Once they exhibit interest in the door without displays of fear or irritation, this is the point where we allow a cat to declare, “I’m going in.”
We don’t even have to figure out which cat will first venture in. If we have more than one established cat, the cats will allow the bravest, that is, the least frightened, to be the cat who keeps asking to come in.
We should choose a time when the house is quiet, New Cat is fed and played with, and things are generally as calm as possible. This time, when we go in, a cat will come in with us. It’s important to see how New Cat reacts to this invasion of their territory. If New Cat is young or eager for social interaction, New Cat won’t care. They will immediately start making overtures to Brave Cat. How Brave Cat responds is up to them.
If things go well, let them go well. If things don’t go well, open the door to let Brave Cat out. They will want to go. If we think it’s a possibility that New Cat will want Brave Cat to leave and Brave Cat won’t want to go, stand by with a spray bottle to help persuade Brave Cat it’s time to leave the room.
We can let the two cats interact until tensions start to rise, then we let the cats part. No matter how well things are going, we must call an end and let each cat back into their own space for overnight or when we are not there to supervise. We should not leave them alone together at this early stage, because our presence soothes both cats and lets them feel nothing too bad is going to happen.
So it goes. If Brave Cat emerges from the mysterious room intact, this will reassure any other cats. Each time cats interact and nothing bad happens, everyone feels better. Soon, New Cat is, at least, no longer new. The mysterious door is opened more and more, and finally left open so New Cat can, if needed, retreat to their territory.
Even if we feel are taking two steps forward and then one step back, that is progress. It will eventually get us to where we want to be; a home with one more cat, and no added problems.
Got here from a Link or Search?
There’s more to The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See my LATEST CAT ADVICE.
Step Four: Policing
Policing a New Cat Situation
Last modified on 2011-11-28 11:53:32 GMT. 2 comments. Top.
It’s true that the cats will have their own ideas of how interesting or obnoxious the newcomer might be. But this does not mean we cannot shape or, if necessary, enforce, proper guidelines for behavior, just as we always have done.
Many times we are advised to “let the cats work it out.” Be assured that they will; water settles at its own level, and differing personalities will settle on some kind of equilibrium. What should give us pause is the near certainty that it will not settle in a way that will please us.
If left unchecked, aggressive personalities will act out, retiring personalities will hide under the bed, and even emotionally steady cats will start behaving badly because of the stress. This isn’t what we want, so we must step in and encourage fair play and respect.
Remember, the cats are taking their cues from us.
Left alone, they will follow their own inclinations. We have stepped in before, to let them know we don’t want them climbing the blinds or sneaking into the refrigerator. We have always made our preferences known. This is no exception.
Make the new cat part of fun times, like treat distribution or play sessions. If all the new cat does is hang back, that’s fine! They aren’t interfering with anything. If the new cat wants to join in, that’s fine! They can play and get treats too, there’s plenty for everyone.
As with any thinking being, cats want to know what to think about this new thing. If we are happy instead of apprehensive, fair instead of preferential, willing to moderate interaction instead of abandoning the cats to this major upset in their world, they will be soothed by our attitude.
We are the Boss of Cat Town. With privilege comes responsibility. We want every cat to be happy in our home, in their own way. Cats who are fearful should be reassured. Cats who are friendly should be praised and fussed over. Cats who are aggressive should be reminded that this is not the way we roll in Cat Town.
We should not rush the end of introductions any more than we should rush the beginning. It can take time for cats to accept this new planet in the orbits, especially since the new cat is also making their way in their new home. Behaviors change.
If we are there to supervise, behaviors will change in the right direction.
Got here from a Link or Search?
There’s more to The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See my LATEST CAT ADVICE.
after 3 days of going in and out of monkey’s room ,the girls still werent too interested… then Monkey escaped and there was no putting him back,,,,, oh the yowling …so for your book you might want to talk about plan B…..
and i would love to know more about being the boss of cat town,,, i hope thats a whole chapter
Well, whether Monkey is his name or his nickname, I suppose escape was inevitable.
There will be more Bossing to come!
I have an only cat that I adopted 2 yrs ago when she was 11 months old. I would like to get another one,but live in apartment that is very open so there is no place for separation. The litter box is in the bathroom. Is there anyway I could bring in another? Thank you
Hi Shirley,
I’ve sent you an email describing a way you can add a cat, and look for a blog post on this subject soon.
Hello!
This post helped me a ton. I live in an apartment with my recently-adopted kitten (5 months old). After realizing he literally sat at the door waiting for me to come home, and after buying him a million toys, I figured he needed a buddy. I very recently adopted another kitten (3 months old), and she is currently in my bedroom seperated from my first cat, with food, water, a litter box, scratching post and toys. I cracked the door a bit so they could get a bit of a look at each other, but without being able to touch too much. My first cat hissed and swatted at the new cat while the new cat just kind of hung out and tried to play. I’m sure my first cat is feeling territorial because he is generally always with me (and I’ve stayed in the bedroom with the new cat so she feels comfortable). When I’m in the bedroom, the first cat is upset and crying. When I’m not, the new cat is not only upset and crying but tearing at the carpet.
I am hoping they will slowly get used to each other… Can you offer me any helpful hints on what I can do for now? I want both of my cats to feel comfortable, and generally the idea is for them to get along.
At the ages of 3 and 5 months, the introduction stage can proceed more swiftly than with adult cats. If first cat tears at the carpet when you appear, he is expressing frustration. Trying bringing out a toy with the new cat’s smell all over it and see what he does. In this way he can get used to her, without her actually being there.
Here’s my posts on cat introductions.
I have two middle aged cats ages 4 (female) and 3 (male). The female is typically more dominant and so we thought we would focus on introducing our new cat to the male first, however we are having issues with the male and the introduction of a new female cat that is about 1.5 years old. She was a previously homeless little thing and is sweet as can be… as long as there are no other cats around. We have been slowly introducing them for 3 months. Treats on either side of a door, introductions through a screen– we tried the mystery thing for about a month until that ended with an explosion of aggression when one found the other. Every time we put them together, there is a spat fight that ends with me wrapping the new female in a towel and removing her gently. Any tips to reduce aggression? We have tried Feliway, treats, wet food, etc. and are at our wits’ end!
Any stray is a special challenge; sounds like her previous encounters with other cats were bad ones, and now she has a chip on her shoulder. Can you give her “time outs” in a separate room before things escalate. If she has a place to decompress, she is more likely to explore new relationships.
I mean literally as soon as she sees the other cat, she goes nuts and attacks them. There is no time between realizing she is in the same room as a cat and going for it. As soon as I remove her from the situation, she is calm and purring. Any tips on decreasing the stress of that initial sighting?
Household as follows:
Male cat, then age 10+, female cat, then age 8+ lived in the house for several years by themselves. They slept in the “back of the house” because Male was a talker, and drove us nuts. Then, about three years ago, two more cats (my son’s, who was transferred to Hawaii), moved in. Male, age 4+, female, age 1+. Our way (ignorance is NOT bliss here) of merging the households failed miserably, resulting in dividing the house into East and West Berlin. “Old” cats then confined 24/7 to the east side, “new” cats to the west. No one was ignored as the east side is where the office is, and we spend about twelve hours a day there. Then, unfortunately, talking old male, now fifteen, died of a tumor, leaving quiet female to fend for herself.
This is not working. She cries much of the time, unless I’m right here beside her.
Eventually, I opened the door between the two sides of the house, and she began to re-explore her former environment. In order to make this work, I put an extra litterbox in the far west room, so the “front” cats would have access, even if she cut off their access to the usual box.
So far, the best we’ve done is six feet between them, nervous looking. Everyone seems to always looking over his/her shoulder.
The other night I accidently shut the door with “old” cat on the west side. WWIII erupted about 2am. Not sure anyone has really recovered from that.
I am planning to get a young cat for the house that I hope will be able to go back and forth, but am in need of some advice on how to manage this.
The goal, of course, is that young cat will be a scented emissary between the two ends of the house.
By the way, I don’t give them treats, and don’t “play” with them very much, so the treats might work, but the “playing” will be pretty foreign to them. They do have toys hanging around various places, but that’s about it.
Hope you can help.
Pat
Hi! I’m curious to know what a person should do if they introduced their cats to each other in the wrong way.
I’m a new cat owner. I have a DSH female(7 months old). I quickly realized that she would need a playmate while we were away at wrok, so we made arrangement to adopt a female tabby from Petco. We went forth with our plans thinking two females would get along. Well, needless to say, we were wrong. Big time. Though the cats are both females and around the same age, they don’t seem to get along with each other. Kate, the established cat, dislikes Sugah, the new cat, to the extreme (hissing, howling, swats). I absolutely don’t know what to do.
We brought Sugah home and let her roam the house. When Kate got a whiff of her (they actually sniffed each others’ face) Kate freaked. Sugah now retreats under our couch, doesn’t eat or drink, unless she’s certain Kate isn’t around, and doesn’t use her litter box (poo’d in the middle of the living room floor).
I adore these cats already. I need to know what I can do to help them better coexist.
You can try what I call Territory Therapy.
Thank you so much for the Territory Therapy redirect. I read it and have a better sense of what I need to do.
I’ll be stopping by more often.
2 years ago we found 3 male brothers from one litter age about 4 weeks in our roof abandoned in terrible winter weather and adopted them. Now they are 2 years old and we again found a kitten sick and abandoned in the street and took it in 2 months ago at age about 4 weeks old. 5 weeks it was totally put in a separate room as it was being treated and only when totally healthy and inocculated we started the slow process of introduction seriously.
now since 2 weeks the kitten is freely roaming around with the others when we are at home. But it still is not always easy.
We started with one male at the time and then slowly put the kitten in a cage in the center of the lounge for a while and gave treats in front of the cage to all. Then we could see who was the most aggressive adult cat so we knew with whom to start first. At last when totally free roaming around we start to see a strange phenomenon. The alpha adult male is still at times very aggressive to the kitten, mostly when the kitten is close to me or with me. On the floor the situation is better.He is very jealous and demands my total devotion only to him. What happens is that one of the other adult cats starts to protect the kitten against the agressions from the alpha male!! every time the alpha begins and wants to bite, the recuer comes and bites his brother and then goes after the kitten and litterally checks on him if he is ok !
The alpha starts to back down to the recuer cat !
My question is, will this result in rivalry between the 3 siblings or will it sort it out by itself? The two adult cats in question are still very affectionately sleeping together, the protection notwithstanding ! I am almost never interfering , only if I could be scratched in between, then I push the alpha away or the kitten. the other 3rd adult cat does not care less about what happens as long as the kitten does not bother him.
the kitten will be castrated in January so hope that he will calm down then a bit.will the alpha adult male sens that too?
We have a 4-year old cat who I’m not exactly sure how to type base on your descriptions. She likes to be near people, always hangs out in the same room we are in or one room over, but is not a lap cat at all and hates being held. She likes to curl up next to us and be petted for short intervals. She does not hide when new people come in and is very curious – watches, smells shoes left by the door and feet, but usually does not allow herself to be touched. She likes to lie in bed with us in the mornings, but either at our feet or at arm’s length, so we can just barely reach her to pet her head. She is very vocal about what she wants. Lots of demanding meowing in the morning for us to get up when she’s lonely/bored (her bowl is full), to be let out into the yard and back in, or for attention in general. She is moderately playful, but well behaved and doesn’t get into crazy places. When she goes outside, she stays in the back yard or in the front driveway and doesn’t explore any further than that (we live in a very quiet area with very little traffic)
In the past she has reacted calmly to other cats and dogs at vet offices and outside, but when a neighbor’s cat came inside, she hissed at it and ran into the next room to watch it from the doorway. Now she gets upset when that cat comes into our back yard (she was fine with it before it came inside). The reaction is the same – hissing at the glass door, getting anxious/upset, not letting us come near her, and running away to another room or out to the front yard.
We want to get a kitten. What type of personality should we look for and do you have any additional tips on how to introduce them?
I should add that the neighbor cat that upsets her so much was very calm, super friendly to the humans (purring, rubbing against legs and hands), didn’t make any movements toward our cat, but did try to get into her food (we intervened)
From your description, she definitely “enforces her boundaries.” Interaction with other beings is fine… at the proper distance. Some cats find closeness to be too much ambiguity about intent; such as when the cat who was outside came inside. It wasn’t anything the neighbor cat did; it was their existing at all in “her” space.
Under the circumstances, I’d think two kittens, frankly. Kitten because they are the least likely to trip such a cat’s territory alarms, and two because she sounds like a cat who would find the constant invitation to play outright harassment. Being able to watch two goofballs wrestle with each other could be enough distance to reassure her about their intent.
Test for compatibility with the smell test.