How would I introduce to adult cats into the home with my cat?

[Hayley S]

My Aunt is moving and needs someone to have her cats, I already have 1 cat who we took on from a neighbour. How would I go about introducing the cats to her would she run off/get jealous or fight with them? Also how long would I have to keep her cats in before they can go outside?

 

[asdf1234]

if you have a cage you should put your aunts cat in it. eventually your cat will get more and more used to it. after about a week you could let it out. also don't put your cats outside, they will kill all the wildlife and your cats may got hit by a car or get hurt by other animals

 

[Brian J]

I agree with everything Bob N said.

One note of caution - as you have one cat and you are introducing two to it, pay special attention to your cat. You don't want to create a situation where it is the two new cats against your one cat (someone on here earlier today thought their cat needed a friend - so they went out and got two new friends - and they beat up on the original cat).

 

[Bob N]

Cats need to be properly introduced to the new home, the new humans, and the existing cats if they are to get along well and not have problems.

Here's how we introduce new comers to our gang:

Cats need to be introduced very slowly.

First of all, we do not allow a new cat to have any contact with our other cats until a vet has given the new cat a clean bill of health. This includes tests for such things as FIP and Feline Leukemia.

Cats can be successfully introduced to each other regardless of their ages or sexes.

We have successfully added adult cats to our family containing both young and old cats as well as introducing very young kittens to the other cats.

It has to be done slowly. If you simply put them together, you will fail the vast majority of the time.

The new cat has to be given time to get used to you and the new environment.

The existing cat has to get used to the smell of the new cat.

We introduce cats by keeping the new cat in the back room for up to a month. My office is there as is my wife's sewing table. There is a sofa and bookshelves.

We spend a lot of time with the new cat to get them used to us, the new environment and the new smells.

After they accept us with no problems, we put a screen door on the back room door frame and let everyone see each other for a week or so.

It may take a lot less time than a month to get to this point but we just take it slow and easy.

Once we judge it safe to do so, we let the new cats out into the house and chaperon the first encounters.

We've only ever had one problem introducing cats like this and that problem was resolved in a couple of weeks.

We've had 26 cats over the past 22 years and many of them were adults - 12 and older - when they joined our family.

We've also introduced several kittens, ranging from ages of 7 weeks to 4 or 5 months, to the rest of the crew with no problems.

You have to take it slow.

If you can't put up a screen door, perhaps two baby gates, stacked one on top of the other, will close off the door but still allow the cats to see each other.

If you can't use a screen door or baby gates, try letting the existing cat into the room with the new cat for a few minutes while you chaperon.

If things get bad, take the cat out of the room.

You just have to introduce cats slowly

There are cats who could be thrown together and become pals but they are few and far between.

As far letting them go outside, why would you want to? Cats are safer inside and have just as happy a life inside as they might outside.

Look through the questions here and you will see a lot questions about lost outdoor cats and injured or dead outdoor cats.