Introducing a new cats into a multicat home

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have 3 cats, 2 fixed males aged 19 (Sam & Styx) and one fixed female aged 7 (Chan). Mina, a 5-year-old unfixed female cat may be joining them because her mother in her current home is aggressive towards her. Mina doesn’t seem to instigate fights.

Sam doesn’t instigate fights. Styx, if he feels threatened, might rush the other cat without any previous hissing or growling. Chan hisses and growls a lot but doesn’t actually attack.

My apartment has 5 rooms; A kitchen, livingroom, two bedrooms and a storage/cat litter room. The males’ litters are in the storage room, Chan’s litters are in my room to reduce the possibility of them running into each other.
Any experience or advice on introducing a new cat? I’ve read some articles and watched some videos on it but I figure someone here may have additional information I haven’t stumbled upon.

Cat pics shall be provided as payment for advice.

2

I have two resident cats, and I frequently do short-term fostering for a local rescue, so I have to do this on a regular basis.

You’ve probably already read the advice I’m going to give, but start slow. Put the new cat in her own room for a while. Make sure you can keep the door closed. Your resident cats will know she’s there, and will sniff around the door and try to sneak in with you, so be careful.

Start introducing them through smell. Mina will probably already be surrounded by the resident cats’ smells, but you want to give them something that smells like her - a blanket that she’s been sleeping on, or if she’ll let you pet her already, you can rub a couple of socks over her (especially her face) and then give them to your cats to investigate. If they react well, give them treats. You can also start feeding them near the door to her room so that they associate her smell with food. Some pages would recommend feeding her near the door, too, but I find that new cats are a little too scared to eat properly anyway so it’s better to put their food in a spot that will feel safest to them.

Next step is to get them to swap rooms. This can be tricky because you don’t want them encountering each other when you do this. If you can, get the resident cats in one room and shut the door, then let Mina out to roam the house, and when she’s safely in another room, put your cats in the ones she’s been staying in and shut them in for a while. Let them do all the sniffing around they need to do.

If you can, then it’s good to let them see each other without being able to touch. I have glass doors in my apartment that they can watch each other through; other people do this with crates.

When they’re finally ready to meet, watch them very carefully and don’t leave them alone together when you’re not there to supervise. A bit of hissing and growling is normal, just separate them if it goes on too long or if any of the cats is clearly in distress. Again, reward them with treats for positive interactions.

How long all of this will take depends on the cats in question. I’ve never had to spend longer than a week at it, but I’ve heard other people say it can take months. If things seem to be going badly, you can always start over.

Oh, and get Mina spayed as soon as possible.

Now let’s see those pics :smiley:

3

Thank you for the information, here are Sam & Styx sharing a carrier case converted into a kitty capsule: Imgur: The magic of the Internet

More pics are more advice is received

I’ve petted her and let the boys smell my hands. They seemed curious. I will give her a blanket to sleep on for 1-2 days then let the others smell it.

Room swapping them won’t be a problem. Boys in storage room, Chan in my room, Mina in bathroom. From there, any one of them can be released to roam the flat.
I have a balcony with a screen door. That could enable them to see each other without touching each other. Mina might find it a little intense to go from her current basement window to a third story balcony though. The best option would be to have some kind of glassdoor/fence attached to the doorframe of Mina’s room.

I will give them treats when they’re good boys/girls.
How commonly is it that cats just will not get along, even with careful introduction?

4

Wow – I wouldn’t have expected a 19-year-old cat to get excited for hardly anything. :smiley:

5

I know take it slow is really good advice. But I have brought new cats into homes with existing cats several times in my life and have just brought the new one in, opened the carrier, and let things take their course. And there has never been a fight. Maybe I am just lucky. But sometimes I think if the people display nervousness or like something special is going on, the animals sense it. Also, I have always been dealing with all cats who have been in shelters so maybe they are just more used to changing environments. Anyhow, good luck and I hope it goes smoothly.

6

I’ve only had it happen once, and it was the foster cat that reacted badly - she just didn’t like having my resident cats around her. I assumed she was just the sort of cat that doesn’t get along with other cats, they do exist, but I’ve since heard that she was adopted into a multi-cat household and is getting on fine there. So who knows. Cats are weird :smiley: It can happen, certainly, but I think it’s the exception to the rule.

More pics please!

7

I have a Thundershirt. Would the incoming cat be the most appropriate cat to put it on?

With the caveat that this will be affected by the specific cats, approximately how many days should the new cat be kept separate from the others with the only contact being smell? How many days should they be able to see but not touch each other?

Imgur

Imgur

8

I cannot imagine putting a thundershirt on a cat. I also cannot imagine keeping cats separate when they can smell and see one another. Every cat I have ever had would fight the thundershirt and would sit by the door where the other cat was and cry. In my opinion I think you are overthinking this whole thing. However, apparently I am in the minority. Anyhow the new cat is beautiful.

9

I haven’t had the opportunity to take a picture of the new cat. Which cat are you talking about so I can pass on the compliment?

This is Chan (the resident female cat) catching up on the news after her morning breakfast: Imgur: The magic of the Internet

10

I was referring to the black and white one in your last post.

11

He does look…majestic? supremely comfortable? in that picture.

12

That’s been my experience as well. I think one trick we did use was to rub vanilla on the necks of all the cats so they all smelled the same. Other than that we just watch the old cats check out the new cats and say, “Cut that out!” when appropriate.

13

He looks serious. And comfortable.

Seriously comfortable, in a way that only a cat can pull off, because comfort is serious business for a cat.

(Or, spelled more correctly, cumfert iz srs bzns for the kitteh.)

14

Yes, look into “baby safety gates”. Those work well, and are easy enough for you to get through when needed. Most are adjustable for width. Look for mesh ones; the ones with bars are often wide enough for cats to squeeze between the bars.

Should be able to get one new for $30 - $60 bucks. But don’t. Look at CraigsList or local email lists or even Goodwill and pick up a used one for much less than that – maybe even free.

You can also add a sheet of glass or Plexiglas at first, to have a more solid separator. They’ll still be able to smell & reach around the edges of that.

Also, most of these are only about 3 feet tall – an energetic cat will be able to jump over the top if it really wants to. Putting 2 of them above each other makes that harder to do.

15

Gosh, they’re not nearly that expensive. Due to my dad’s only recently late bunny we still have three of them, and paid $10-12 for each of them at Walmart and Target. The wood ones with mesh work just as well as the more expensive metal/plastic ones, for both bunnies and cats.

16

Here is the new kitty: Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Encouraging signs with the boys. Sam got too friendly with her and she swapped him a few times while hissing and growling so he’s afraid of her a little. Styx seems curious.

The problem may be with Chan. Chan uses growling and hissing as a way of saying: “Stay away from me” even though she has no intention of initiating any fight. Mina seems to understand that to mean: “I’m about to attack you”. Since she expects to get attacked by Chan, she wants to preemptively attack. That could be bad news, especially since a fight between Chan and Mina could make Sam and Styx join in in a frenzy. Suggestions?

17

There was a big fight. Chan probably growled at Mina to tell her to keep her distances but that made Mina go berserk. She cut me pretty well in a few places and could have badly injured Chan. I’m not sure if the arrangement can be salvaged and if so, how to go about it. She’s a lovely cat otherwise.

18

Were you trying to break it up? Sometimes that makes it worse and they would just have postured awhile and not hurt one another. Hard to tell as I wasn’t there but it is possible.

19

They weren’t just posturing, Mina was attacking Chan.

20

Feliway perhaps? Would Mina and/or Chan wear a thunder shirt? I’ve heard good things about them for cats, but my cat who needs it would never let me actually put it on her.

Other than that, I would take a step backwards in the introduction process and keep Mina and Chan apart. Begin again, with a slower progression. You should realize that they may fight a few times to sort out the hierarchy, but hopefully you can reduce that by increasing the time between each get acquainted step.

I would also talk to your vet and see if he or she would recommend anything else to make this period go more smoothly.