Introducing a new cat to an older cat can cause all sorts of problems in the household animal kingdom! The situation is stressful for everyone involved, but it is especially stressful for an adult cat. This means that you will have to plan ahead for the upcoming introduction to make sure that everyone feels comfortable. You don’t want your current kitty to feel threatened or scared when the new kitty joins the home. Here are 5 tips for successfully introducing your adult cat to a new cat.
Tips for Introducing an Adult Cat to a New Cat
1. Take it slow! Introducing your cat to a new cat shouldn’t happen in an hour. Cats can easily become scared which causes them to become aggressive. Slow introduction works best. Start off with short periods of interaction. Putting your cats into the same room without your supervisor can be problematic.
2. Pick the right cat for your cat. Even though the new cat is your cat, your existing cat matters. To an adult cat, a kitten is much less threatening. But, an adult cat may see a kitten as being too energetic and too playful. Consider your cat’s attitude and socialization level before getting a new cat.
3. Prep your home for two cats. This ties in with proper introduction of your cat to the new cat. Set up an area in your home where the new cat can be separated. A spare room or closed off space is best. Pick an area that is not a place where your current cat spends a lot of time. Keeping the new cat in a crate is a good way to separate the two.
4. Don’t forget about your current cat. New cats, especially kittens, are cute. You want to give them a lot of love and attention! While there is nothing wrong with this, it’s important to continue to entertain and give attention to your adult cat. Otherwise, your cat will become jealous of the new one. A jealous cat is not one you want to deal with!
5. Expect the worst but hope for the best. Sometimes cats just don’t get along. You cannot force your current cat to magically accept a new cat. Be patient but be realistic. If your cat hates other cats, it may not be best to get another cat. If your cat is older or a loner, bringing a new pet into the home may cause problems.
Wow, I could not help but not those beautiful eyes on the cat in the first picture! what a cutie
We’ve had this problem. We noticed our older cat seemed a bit lonely, so we got a kitten. It proved to be not easy going. We let them sniff each other through doors for a week and exchanged their scents on blankets so they could smell each other out first. Then we let our older cat around the new cat while it was caged after a week of separation. The result was lots of growling and hissing. But after a little bit of time they were playing together. While they still play occasionally they do have territorial issues and there’s an alpha male issue too…but for the most part they are co-existing with us without too much issue.
We have one cat and one dog. They get along fine together, but I don’t think either would welcome another cat or dog to our house. I think there would be big issues.
Great tips! We recently went through this experience with introducing a kitten to our 5 year old. Took things slow and now they are best friends! Hope this is a similar situation for most people!
Do multiple cats share the same litter box or do they need their own spot? Most we’ve had is one cat in the house at a time and then my kids developed allergies to it so now we have none.
I have a friend who just love cats. I think she would love to read about this blog.
I’ve been thinking about these tips in terms of how to introduce a dog to a kitten. I’m more afraid that my dog with eat the kitten.
I have always wanted to get another cat but have been afraid of how my current cat would act… These are some great tips, I just may be getting another sooner rater than later.
Introducing animals to other animals is always a tricky proposition. Hopefully you have two animals that can learn to get along with each other. I have only ever had one cat at a time. I have had multiple dogs but it didn’t always turn out well.
We don’t have any pets but my husband wants to get a cat. These are great tips to keepin mind for the future.
Great tips for introducing people to cats. I have a dog and I think these would be great for her too.
Great information! We have two dogs but got them at different times, so we had to get our older one comfortable with the younger. I know a few people that have one cat and are wanting to get a new kitten, this will be helpful to them!
I don’t know anything about cats but this was a super interesting read. I can see that they are picky little creatures and that bringing a new friend into the home could be a bit conflictual 😉
It is so important to set up the right situation when you are adding a new pet to the family. It is hard on those that are already there for sure.
I have done this before and saw the best cat fight ever!!!! But they got along like pals after a while 🙂
Great read and I agree with everything. I don’t have a pet right now but these tips are good to keep in mind for the future.
These are great tips! I used to have a couple of cats, but they were littermates, so it was easy. Sometimes, I miss having cats.
When getting any new pet your existing pets are actually the ones to say if they stay or not in my opinion. The introduction is the key to success I believe. Thanks for sharing the information.