I've been working in animal welfare for almost 30 years so all I've been telling folks that entire
time is cats like to be with other cats you got to get more cats adopt more you know you only
have one cat in your life what are you nuts get more cats cats cats cats cats cats but that said
sometimes people think you could just take a few cats throw them in a room and it's gonna be great
that's not the way it works so that's why I'm here to show you the way it works let's give mojo five
hey everybody Jackson galaxy your cat daddy today on cat mojo we're gonna talk about the best way
to get your cats together so that you can have a nice big happy cat family now I've talked about
introductions plenty before and you can check out this video right about here for the basics on cat
to cat introduction today I want to dive a little bit deeper I want to talk about a concept called
the challenge line the challenge line is a concept that once we start getting into it it'll work for
introducing a new cat to a new territory and it'll work for both cats when it comes to introducing
a resident to a new cat challenge line works for humans and cats dogs and crocodiles and hedgehogs
and every other species on the planet the idea is the same when we're faced with something that is
uber challenging often we will shrink back but if we sort of dip our toes into the challenge then
we're more likely to approach it a little bit by a little bit so the challenge line very simply is on
one side is comfort on the other side is challenge over here I am just gonna do whatever it takes I
will you know dance around I will eat I will do whatever I'll play but right here that's where
things get a little dicey and I just don't think I can hang over here we're just gonna move that line
in such a way that your cats not even gonna know what's happening and by the end of it they'll be
ready to tap experiences ready to not tackle a new cat it's the quickest easiest way that I know to
get two cats together so the first challenge line if you're a new cat coming into a new territory
it's the whole territory you don't have your smell in it you haven't patrolled it before you don't
know what the ins and outs and what the dangers are it's all challenge and no comfort and that's
why one of the mistakes that folks make is that they bring a cat into a home they put them in a
room and all of a sudden the cats under the bed for a week you haven't seen your new adoptee for
a week so that's why we create a base camp for all of our new arrivals because we're giving them the
ability to mark certain areas to perch in a window to start owning things by putting their scent all
over it you haven't watched this video here on Basecamp it's a great place to start it's an
incredible way to just embed confidence and get that challenge line away from them at least for
the beginning but the challenge line then becomes when are you going to let them out into the rest
of the house they will let you know see that's the thing about challenge lines you will know when a
cat is up against it because they're just going to go from a confident posture chest up ears neutral
tail up in the air like this and suddenly they're tucking their tail their ears are back their eyes
are huge they're looking for trouble in all the wrong places that's what an unconfident posture
looks like and that's when you know you might have done it a little too fast so back it up again keep
them in Basecamp until they're coming to that door and they're like what is on the other side of that
door right now I want to know I want to get there that's when you know that their challenge line has
been moved and they're ready to move on now you could be very lucky and you get a new cat who
comes into the home and they are within an hour they're like hey what's on the other side of that
door wonderful you've got a really confident cat who is very adaptable to new environments
and they're ready to go but you got to be able to know when that moment is if they're still creeping
around the room if they're low down to the ground if they go to the door and then they back up these
are all signs that that your guy is just not ready to go yet and that's okay the more they explore
the room the more you help them explore the room the more you play with them in that room and give
them scent soakers etc once they own the Basecamp they're ready to move on but you just got to know
what that looks like as you're learning your new arrival cat you're gonna know where those
challenge lines are is it just at the corner of the bed is it the door of the closet which I'm
hoping once they get past those spaces you block them off you let them know that was a challenge
it's no longer a challenge but once that cat can move around that room they can go to the window
and say this is the neighborhood I understand it the windows have been open for a while you have
screens in the window but they can smell the whole neighborhood and they go okay this is all fine
they're moving around base camp with the utmost confidence now we have a new challenge line and
that challenge line is the door now in the other videos that I've made and in books and in TV shows
and wherever you've always seen me do this one way and that is cats meet cats from opposite sides of
a door and that way they're meeting each other through scent we can control the experience we
can control how positive it is without them ever laying eyes on each other because really in my
experience anyway if two cats are sitting there they've never met before and they lock eyes man
the lockdown leads to a throwdown it happens constantly this way we control every element
of it and we do it by expanding their challenge line getting them confident on the other side of
the door until they're here and then by the time we open up the door no surprises and how as we
get them into the rest of the house you open up that whole house to them and I don't even care
if you're living in 800 square feet or 8,000 square feet sometimes it's just too much for a
cat that needs to feel ownership in order to move forward confidently that's where the idea of site
swapping really comes in handy in this way you are literally swapping sites your resident cat
needs to know what it smells like to be in the base camp and the new arrival needs to know what
the rest of the house looks like but you can do it in a controlled way for a certain amount of time
every day you bring your resident into the base camp you take your newer and you bring them to
other spots in the house not the whole house just other spots and what do you do once you
get there you'll let them explore and also play with them while they're doing it give them treats
while they're doing it so that they associate all of these new spaces with good things room
to room until the entire house is familiar its associated with positive experiences and you're
good to go just remember a couple of things do it in a controlled way as soon as your cat starts to
experience a little bit of fear or your resident cat a little bit of aggression which with the
way they're smelling things call it a day if it's ten minutes if it's ten seconds it doesn't matter
you always want to try to end things on a high note so we talked about the challenge line as it
applies to base camp and site swapping now we're going to talk about how we are going to finally
introduce cat to cat and how that applies to the challenge line food motivation in my experience is
king when it comes to getting a cat to want to do something they might not want to meal feeding is
key because by the time you introduce these cats they will associate the other cat with the smell
of food I only smell food when I smell this other cat so cat can't be a bad thing altogether the
most important thing that we can do once we've got cats on a meal feeding program now we know they're
expecting meals we're gonna put these meals on either side of a closed door and that's the way
we're gonna slowly make so that there is positive association with every step along the way and you
notice that I'm doing this that's the challenge line we need to find that place that line where
your new arrival is comfortable eating on one side and not so much on the other side of that
line if you've got your resident cat eating on the other side of the door and your newcomer over here
there's going to be a moment where your newcomer will eat no problem clean myself walk away if they
walk up to that bowl and they are even remotely trepidatious if they're not sure if they can make
it and ultimately they don't really eat the whole meal you know you've crossed their challenge line
so back it up I don't care if you wind up seven feet from the door as that cat will eat and
walk away you know that they're in a comfortable place your resident should be an equal distance
away from the other side of the door so let's put it this way if we found the challenge line
at about five feet away from the door for your newcomer that means that your resident should
be five feet away from the door on the other side ten feet total and then with every meal we just
keep moving it forward every time we're gauging how much challenge how much comfort again as long
as they're willing to just eat and walk away no fear no shrinking away and on the other side no
charging the door no under the door no shenanigans of any kind eat and walk away we know that we've
hit the challenge line but we haven't just jumped over it to the point where bad things will happen
and like I said with every meal we go closer and closer every time I smell the other cat I smell
my food good things are happening let's move on until we've gotten to the place where let's say
there's a foot or so between door cat door cat and now we're ready to back it up again and introduce
visuals the best way that I know to do things is either through a screen door which I know
is a little bit much for people but it really isn't that big a deal you can take a door off
and put a screen door on to a door and it really is a whole lot easier than you think I did it and
if I can do it anybody can do it moving on if you can't do a screen door a gate that is high enough
so that cats won't jump over it that's just fine as well the technique that I use when introducing
challenge line with visuals is what I call raising the curtain I will drape a blanket over that gate
we don't have a full visual first it's all sent but with every meal we just raise that blanket
just a little bit I can sort of see you but now you know I still want to eat and everything's
cool I can sort of see it more everything's cool I'm still eating once we've established that we
can get them close without seeing each other we can back it up and they can see each other now
and they'll eat that eating is a sign that the challenge line has been crossed successfully so
whether it's you moving closer whether it's you raising the curtain every time you do a little
bit and they still eat you know you're doing fine so our final challenge line here is we've got them
to eat on opposite sides of a closed door we've got them to eat on opposite sides of a door where
they have visual access but now we're going to allow them to have physical access to each
other that's the final challenge line here to be able to do that in a way where fight or flight
doesn't kick in and they go at each other the way to do that is a technique called eat play
love the idea is whatever the big value things are for these cats because individually it could
be food it could be a toy or it could be just you showing them love and petting and asking them to
follow you individual cats individual eat play or love all we're doing now is during that mealtime
we are going to open the gate we're going to do that with confidence because we have confidence
now of what's going to happen and whether it's leading a cat into the room with a toy whether
it's having your new cat having a toy or food or whatever it is as long as they're not focusing
on each other but we're leaving them into the room confidently that's it the rest of this
is is cake really but as long as we keep doing in incremental ways and like I said one of the
most important things always end things on a high note when we're getting it to the point where we
have removed the physical barrier we are getting them crossing their challenge lines getting into a
new room for another room meeting another cat but doing it confidently as soon as you see a lack of
confidence as soon as you see that challenge line approaching so that so whether it's a scared cat
and they start to shrink back whether it's a cat who's getting a little aggressive that's it call
it a day and it's cool and every day we knock down a few more minutes we knock down to a point where
suddenly we've gone from 5 minutes to 15 minutes to a half hour we're done we have whether it's
inch by inch day by day room by room moment by moment we are knocking down challenge lines in
a methodical way so that there's never a leap that a cat has to take whether it's fear or aggression
or over ownership of territory they never cross that challenge line in a way that we have plunged
them into the unknown because I can tell you one thing with cats you plunge them into the unknown
they're either going to fight or they're going to flee and neither one of them is a good thing when
they're meeting a new cat so to sum everything up here and I really want to make sure that you
guys understand this I am NOT giving you the the step by step to introduce cats we do that in other
videos and in books and TV shows this is about the concept of the challenge line and how overall
approaching challenge lines in a controlled and constructive way will get that meeting process
done in the least amount of time with the least amount of damage and ultimately with the most
amount of mojo and as far as I'm concerned as long as a new arrival has mojo and your resident cat
has mojo everything will be great like I've been saying throughout this video I've got plenty of
other resources for you to learn the ins and outs of cat ownership of mojo and of meeting cat to cat
whether it's the other videos that I've referenced or my books total cat mojo that's a great place to
start and the more you learn about your cat family you can bring them to challenge lines throughout
their life and as they move past them they become even bigger greater versions of themselves and
whether they're human children or animal children as parents that's all we want for them right we
want them to be able to walk through life with a measure of greatness and all of the tools that I'm
giving you to go through challenge lines that's how you get to greatness that's it for this time
you guys show your cats love show love somewhere in the world today because man that's all that
counts these days until the next time I see you all light and all love and all mojo to you [Music]
yeah [Music]