Hey there people.
Today we can do the quest to answer all the supermarket
questions.
Stand by.
First things first.
Catify ze world!
I get asked the same questions usually at the supermarket.
So today we're going to knock out the first one.
Jackson, I'm trying to introduce one cat to another,
and it ain't going well.
Today we're talking about introductions.
Now let's get down to the brass tacks.
How do we introduce cat to cat?
The first thing that folks do wrong, is they go well,
I'm just going to bring my cat into a room with this new cat
and let them work it out.
How many times have I heard, let them work it out?
And how many times do they not work it out?
What you want to do is introduce these guys by scent first
and then work in sight.
It's all about cat mojo folks.
It's about territorial ownership.
And if your cat, who has owned this territory for x amount
of time, suddenly doesn't, we're getting them off
on the wrong foot, because you're putting it squarely
in the land of threat.
This cat is threatening your cat's sanctified space.
The way that I introduce cat to cat is I use a door.
I want to make sure that on one side of the door,
it's usually a good base camp.
Base camp is a room that's almost
like territorial training wheels.
Right?
Well, first I'm going to give you this room.
So you get to know what the territory smells like.
And then we'll graduate you out of here.
And I want you to make sure that you're
practicing site swapping.
So what you want to do, for instance,
is you've got the cat that's out in the rest of the house.
Well, it's time to switch.
Put this one in the bathroom.
Bring the other one out.
Take the one from the bathroom into the other room.
Now this whole thing will take 3 and 1/2 minutes,
but I do want to make sure that at any given time
the new cat or the resident cat has a place to call their own.
Both a little bit away and base camp.
The seat of the territory, and the whole rest
of the territory.
On the other side of that door, you
have your resident cat, who has, for the most part,
free run of the house.
And you're going to introduce them at meal times.
One on one side of the door, one on the other.
If you are feeding meals, you're gold, man.
Because your cat's hungry, they're
going to want to eat at that door.
they're motivated to eat at that door.
And so they're going to overcome the misgiving
they might have with that other cat.
So that's really, really crucial that you
keep feeding meals and not free feeding.
Give them about three feet on either side of that door.
Three feet from bowl to door.
Another three feet from bowl to door.
Six feet total.
That way we're pretty much respecting
the concept of personal space, and a little bit of privacy.
And what are we doing?
We're setting up the concept of positive association.
Right?
So that when these cats smell food, they smell one another.
Now here's what I want from you.
When the two cats are eating on either side of the door,
I want to see nothing.
No hissing.
No growling.
No shenanigans under the door.
No nothing.
OK.
Well if that's not happening, then bring the bowls
apart a little bit more.
So what we're doing now, as we've done in the past,
is setting a challenge line.
Saying you know, where is it, Mr.
Cat that you find enough confidence
that you can walk up to that bowl, smell the other cat,
but smell your food, eat it and walk away.
Wherever that is, that's where we put a piece of tape
on the ground on either side of that door.
Boom.
We got challenge lines on either side,
and that first couple of nights, walk up to the bowl,
eat, walk away, and onward.
Obviously, the next thing you're going to do
is you're going to start moving those bowls closer and closer
together.
We do this slowly.
Remember, a cat needs to have it proven
to them that's this other being is not a threat to them.
And the only way we can do that is having the same result
over and over and over again.
Every time a bowl goes down, I get my jackpot food.
I get no threat to the environment, whatsoever.
I walk away.
You know, it's all good.
Another part of this homework is graduate
from a closed door to the gate.
With the gate, you drape a towel over the gate itself.
So now you've got a little bit of visual space at the bottom.
So now these guys can be eating their dinner
at their respective challenge lines,
looking under there going, wait a second, that's
a [NOM NOM NOM] that's another [NOM NOM NOM].
It's like, I really want to pay attention to that thing,
but it's really small, visually.
And this is really good food.
Now the next step is an exercise that I call, Eat, Play, Love.
And the idea was you take two cats that stand one another,
you put them in the same room, but completely supervised.
And the idea is you want to give them experience with toys.
What are their favorite toys?
How do you keep them interacting with you,
and not paying any attention to the other cat in the room?
Through play, then through feeding a meal,
then through just loving on them.
I just want them to ignore one another.
That's the object of the game.
If it lasts for 15 seconds before one cat's like,
huh, hey what the?
Who's that?
And then, all of a sudden, game on.
Well that's fine.
That was 15 seconds.
Always end exercises on a high note
to the best of your ability, because we
don't want negative associations to take root.
Every time these guys get in a room together,
I want good things to happen.
They want good things to happen.
And if they do continue to happen,
we will get to that point where we'll be able to open the door
and let them at each other.
Everything that I just told you about introducing cat to cat
works just as well when your cats have had a fight,
and you're trying to get them back together again.
So your homework for introducing cat to cat, number 1,
start feeding meals only.
No free feeding.
Second, meal time goes on opposite sides
of a closed door.
Every time you get positive results,
stay with it for a few days, folks.
Don't rush it.
It's on cat time, not human time.
Then we get to the point where we're right at the door.
A couple things you can do, back it up again.
And now you can use the baby gate type of deal.
Right?
You put the baby gate down, put a blanket on top.
Slowly raising the curtain on the proceedings,
and also bringing them together.
Again, repeating the same technique you used before.
The other part of your homework is Eat, Play, Love.
Concept here is expanding out that meal time ritual.
Make sure you're site swapping.
Very, very important.
I don't want anyone to get sort of static
in one location in the house.
I want it to be a mix of locations
so that nobody can settle into sort of false ownership.
And that's it.
Finally guys.
I'm telling you this from the bottom of my heart.
I think cats should be living groups.
I think that you should have more than one cat in your life,
for sure.
But you've got to introduce them on their terms.
All right folks, I'm going to get going.
Now I have answered the supermarket question
of the day.
More to come, believe me.
In the meantime, you can ask your supermarket question.
You do not have to wait until I'm holding a bag a celery
online at the Whole Foods.
No.
What you can do is # TeamCatMojo, right here,
you see that.
And send it off on Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook.
And I will see those questions and if I
get asked them enough times, I will, for sure
answer those questions.
All right folks, until next time, all light,
all love, all mojo to ya.
[KISSES] Love to you, and your multiple cats.