So of course, you want more cats! But what's the best way to introduce a new cat to your home?
Bringing a new cat or kitten into your home and allowing them to meet your resident cat can be quite a nerve-racking experience. It always helps to be well prepared and you’ll want to give the introduction process quite a lot of thought beforehand to ensure that it goes as smoothly as possible. Introducing too quickly with little preparation will often lead to cats feeling threatened and scared, which increases the chance of aggressive behaviour being shown. Once cats feel this way about each other, it can be extremely difficult to change their minds.
A slow and careful introduction will hopefully lead to the best results and allow your cats to coexist in peace.
Here are some tips and tricks to help you introduce a new cat to your home:
Designate One Room for your New Cat: Your new cat will benefit from its own space to settle in and decompress. Set up an area for your new cat or kitten away from your existing pet – a spare room is ideal for this. Everything your new cat needs should be placed in here such as food, water, bed, scratching post and a litter tray. When we bought our latest rescue cat home, we kept her in the spare bedroom with the door closed so she could settle in to her new surroundings. My wife and I would keep going in to give her the cuddles she wanted.
Offer Hiding Spaces: Cats will sometimes hide to get away from unpleasant or uncomfortable situations. They'll need a place to retreat if they feel scared. Every time we opened the door to go in and check on her, she would run and hide behind the ironing board, or behind the chest of drawers. Once she knew it was us, she came back out as she knew she was safe.
Cat-Proof your home: Make sure your home is safe by removing potential hazards such as poisonous plants or exposed electrical cords.
Introduce Your Cat to the Household: When you first bring the new cat home, put the resident cat in a separate room to give the newcomer time to check out the house without interference. You should keep the cats in different rooms for a few days so they can get used to the sounds and smells of each other before meeting face to face. Our cats sniffed each other through the door. When separated they could also smell each other around the house which gave them chance to get used to it.
Supervise: When you finally introduce your cats face to face, supervise their interactions so you can intervene if necessary. All of our cats have been easy to introduce. Our boy cat did used to run away from our rescue kitten at first. We think he was upset that he was no longer the baby! But within a few days they were and still are the best of friends!
In conclusion, introducing a new cat to your home requires patience, preparation, and careful planning. By following these tips and tricks, you can help ensure that the introduction process goes as smoothly as possible and that your cats can coexist peacefully.
I hope this information helps you successfully introduce a new cat to your home!