So if you're thinking about getting another cat, we really need to think about what
the current resident cat really would think about that. Many people fall
into the trap of thinking that their cat might need a friend – particularly if
a feline companion has recently passed away.
Certainly as people, that's how we might feel and we need to be careful not to
transfer these feelings onto animals. It's easy to think that if you just put cats
together they will just figure it out for themselves. The unfortunate reality
is that many cats that are returned to Cats Protection are due to poor integration
with the existing resident cat. The process to introduce cats to other cats
takes many stages and so what we really need to do is set these cats
up for success. A change of environment can be really overwhelming
for a new cat. This is why we would recommend setting up a sanctuary
room – so this can be a spare bedroom, which is ideal – and particularly
something that's not the resident cat's favourite room.
You need to put in all the cat's resources that they need, so a food bowl,
water bowl, litter tray, all spaced out within that bedroom. Every cat's going to
be different, but as a very rough guide the new cat should be in the sanctuary room
away from the resident cat for at least a week. This will allow the new cat time
to gradually adapt to their new surroundings before meeting the resident cat. So the
most important stage in introducing cats to other cats is scent swapping. It's
really important that this stage isn't rushed at all. It's quite common for
people to either rush through it or actually skip it altogether.
And this is where you collect scent from one cat – so on the cheeks and on the
forehead – with a clean cloth and then you swap it and give it to the other cat,
ideally in the middle of the floor, so the cat has the choice to either approach
it or avoid it. This is really important as cats, that
are so governed by scent, can really start getting very gradually used to the scent
of another cat. The scents will need to be topped up ideally at least once a day
because the scents will disappear over time. Many people struggle to know
when to move on to the next stage and the important thing to think about is
that it's when both cats are ready and this is when both cats are not reacting
to the scent of the other cat and have not reacted for a few days. Some people
may be tempted to go straight to a face-to-face but I would avoid that
because the more steps people put in, the more likely it is the cats will get on. So
in this respect, we would want to put in a glass barrier – so whether
somebody's got patio doors or French glass doors within the house – and then
the cats can see each other through the glass, but because it's a solid barrier they
can't get to one another. The other thing to consider is that we always need to give
the cats choice, so I wouldn't put one cat right next to the glass, what I want to
do is open the door the other side of the room and allow the cat to come in and
choose whether to approach that glass barrier or not. When the
introductions have finished, just gently usher the new cat back to their
sanctuary room. So after the glass barrier, if we can break it down into further
steps: brilliant. What we can do would be to introduce a mesh barrier. Some
people, if they rabbits for example, can use a run lid and put that through
the door frames temporarily. Equally what people can do is go to a DIY store
and buy some mesh that they could temporarily tack to a door frame or it
could even be a baby gate. This will allow the cats to not only each other, but
also start to smell each other too, while still having a bit of a barrier so
they can't get to another, and this would be certainly advisable before a
face-to-face introduction. After multiple sessions of seeing each other
through the mesh barrier, we're finally going to get to the face-to-face. This
should be quite far down through the process. When we do this, again, we
don't want to put one cat in front of the other cat, we want to give both cats
the choice by opening the door and allowing them to choose about
whether to come through or not. Again, both cats need to be aware of where the exit
points are and where they can get up high and keeping these introductions short
and sweet and making sure we're forming positive associations with each other by
using treats or interactive play. Hopefully the cats won't show any signs
of conflict, but we need to have a plan of what to do if that happens. So
owners need to think about carefully monitoring the cats' behaviours and if it
is becoming a bit tense, we really need to block off the eye contact between the
two cats if they are starting to stare at each other. You can do this with
something quite solid like a blanket or a thick pillow; anything
that, like I said, blocks two cats that might be staring at each other off.
By making sure that cats can break this eye contact, it allows them to retreat from one
another and then we need to very carefully encourage the resident cat
away from the new cat and the new cat back to the sanctuary room. Introductions
should be really quite short, so up to five minutes at a time. How frequent they are
really much depends on your two cats and how it's going. Owners, during this process,
need to very carefully observe their cats to see whether there's any signs of
possible conflict. Again, it's going to be quite subtle – ears moving around to the sides,
pupils becoming large or dilated, quite a tense body posture – they might go into a
crouched position and they may well avoid eye contact with the other cat.
However by taking these steps we can dramatically improve the quality of life
of both of the cats and improve their chances of cohabiting together
successfully. If owners have any particular problems when introducing
their cats, it's better to seek help sooner rather than later. At Cats
Protection we would recommend that owners first of all seek the help of their vet to
rule out any medical problems and then get a referral to a qualified behaviourist such
as a member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors.