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firecatWe have a new kitty! His name is Angus, he's a Tuxedo Cat, 4 years old,
and he is a bruiser at 18 pounds. We adopted him from the Peninsula
Humane Society. He seems quite confident and affectionate. We've let him
sniff noses through the door with our resident cat, Biscuit, but we're
keeping them separated for the next few days.
Before we adopted him, I snapped a photo of him in his digs at the
humane society:
Despite my having a lot of experience with cats, this is the first time I've tried introducing two unrelated cats. There's a fair amount of contradictory advice on the web. Any advice (to-dos and to-don'ts) from folks who've been there?
and he is a bruiser at 18 pounds. We adopted him from the Peninsula
Humane Society. He seems quite confident and affectionate. We've let him
sniff noses through the door with our resident cat, Biscuit, but we're
keeping them separated for the next few days.
Before we adopted him, I snapped a photo of him in his digs at the
humane society:
Despite my having a lot of experience with cats, this is the first time I've tried introducing two unrelated cats. There's a fair amount of contradictory advice on the web. Any advice (to-dos and to-don'ts) from folks who've been there?
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no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 08:28 pm (UTC)All of our experiences seem to start with us having great intentions, separate bowls, separate litterboxes, separate them for a few days at least, possibly a week or two, let them smell each other's scents but not confront each other right away. This usually ends within 16 hours, because one of the cats escapes and encounters the other cat IMMEDIATELY and they go through whatever degree of hostility they're going to right off the bat, and continue to attempt escape at every opportunity.
After a while they adjust on their own.
no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 08:33 pm (UTC)If there's much growling or hissing when they first see each other through the open door, I also add a baby gate phase where they can see, hear, and smell each other but can't effectively fight. (This phase is deeply annoying for the human as I need four baby gates to seal off a doorway and it's hard for ME to get through!) I've freecycled a lot of baby gates. :-)
no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 08:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 09:14 pm (UTC)We always start out with good intentions
Date: 12 May 2005 08:38 pm (UTC)They do agree that the 12 y/o female tux is the omega animal.
no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 08:40 pm (UTC)All my attempts at introducing cats to each other have been dismal, long-term failures, so I won't offer advice on that count. But congratulations!
Congrats
Date: 12 May 2005 08:42 pm (UTC)Re: Congrats
Date: 12 May 2005 08:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 08:45 pm (UTC)Congratulations! He's a very handsome fellow, & looks very much like our dear departed Clyde kitty.
As to introduction, my experience pretty much aligns with
That said, I have actually decided that I won't introduce unrelated cats again if they are over 8 y/o, because it was hard .
no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 08:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 09:28 pm (UTC)Your post, along with the post of another friend who knits cat beds for her local shelter, inspired me to call the Peninsula HS to see if they needed cat beds knitted. Answer: they're more worried than the other shelter is about the loops in knitting getting caught in cats' claws (but they're fine with fleece, which I find odd); however, they're open to several other types of donations that we can help them out with. So they'll be getting some old towels and rugs shortly.
no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 13 May 2005 06:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 09:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 09:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 10:14 pm (UTC)Best of luck to all of you.
no subject
Date: 12 May 2005 10:54 pm (UTC)Very gradual introduction is the best way to go, as everybody has said. A lot of cats will, once introduced, establish territories on their own. They may divide up people between them, or divide spaces, or both. Or they may be permanently bristly. A separate food and water bowl for each plus extra, if you can manage this, will help reduce tension; the same with litter boxes.
P.
Re: Announcement: New addition to our household
Date: 12 May 2005 11:09 pm (UTC)as to introductions, unless quarantine is advised because of health issues, i always try to first wing it, because if they don't like each other, it gets really cumbersome, and i am lazy and forever hopeful that they'll just get along. so, i will bring the new cat in, leave the carrier sitting in a clear area for a while, and let them each smell the newness. then i'll open the carrier and see what happens. i will talk with both if it seems useful; basically making soothing noises. i'm prepared for this to take a long time (hours), and i do not do anything upsetting in the meantime (no vacuuming, or other scary stuff). and i watch them like a hawk. if there seems to be outright hostility, i'll immediately grab the newbie and take zir to a separate room so they don't actually get to fight. i will have a harness on the new cat so i can do this very fast, and preferably without my own blood flowing. i'll also have the separate room ready, and at first the door stays closed so they can only sniff each other underneath the door. these days i don't have much space, and if i had to take in another cat i'd be caging zir if needed.
i've done this a lot, and for the most part cats have worked it out themselves without me having to get involved at all. bacchus and calliope have had the worst long-term enmity -- late neutering leaves toms with lots of surplus testosterone, i guess, and the habits of years of being top cat, but usually this hasn't taken anywhere as long as with those two. here's hoping you won't have to go to leashing and/or caging either; it's really rare in my experience. they are now doing reasonably fine together, and in another month i think i can get stop the nightly caging as well. and hey, leash training, and being used to carriers and cages is useful in any case.
no subject
Date: 13 May 2005 12:15 am (UTC)Introducing cats
Date: 13 May 2005 12:41 am (UTC)Steve was a lot more skittish, but we make sure there was no opportunity for contention with 5 litter boxes, 2 food bowls and more than 2 waterbowls available at all times.
It only took a couple of days before they settled right in to the new situation.
Black and white cats
Date: 13 May 2005 12:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 13 May 2005 01:21 am (UTC)I second what everyone else has said about taking it slowly, keeping them separated initially and slowly introducing them (over a period of days/weeks) with supervision. Also, don't expect 'em to be buddies immediately. I've introduced lots of cats to my household this way over the years, and I've found that generally it takes weeks to a couple of months for the cats to really start getting comfy with each other, by and large. If more than a few months have gone by and they're still fighting aggressively (other than the random thumps and hisses that are part of regular cat dominance negotiations or grumpiness) then you may have a compatibility problem; but I wouldn't worry too much until then. Good luck!
hrm...
Date: 13 May 2005 04:26 am (UTC)what the hell are you doing with a clone of *my* cat?!
n.
Re: hrm...
Date: 13 May 2005 05:24 am (UTC)Re: hrm...
Date: 13 May 2005 12:13 pm (UTC)your new guy is gorgeous :)
n.
Re: hrm...
Date: 13 May 2005 05:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 13 May 2005 06:36 am (UTC)Hiii new kitty!
no subject
Date: 13 May 2005 12:57 pm (UTC)meow
Date: 13 May 2005 10:09 pm (UTC)Googling for cats, crossbreeding or hybrids, I saw this peculiar picture of a domestic tomcat attempting to mount a bobcat! I wonder if they succeeded in producing kittens.
Re: meow
Date: 13 May 2005 10:37 pm (UTC)But I suppose we wouldn't have domestic pets if folks hadn't done it, and I like them...
Re: meow
Date: 15 May 2005 06:39 am (UTC)Messybeast (http://www.messybeast.com/hybrids.htm) goes into a fair amount of detail on wild/domestic cat hybrids and the genetic, physiological, and behavioral barriers to their creation.
And while you're there, you'll also want to check out the page on Tuxedo and Magpie Cats (http://www.messybeast.com/bicolours.htm) ;)
Glad to hear that
Chairman KagaAngus and Biscuit seem to be getting along.Re: meow
Date: 15 May 2005 08:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 14 May 2005 09:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 15 May 2005 10:24 am (UTC)