Adoption Of A New Cat - Worried About Current Cats

Hello! I am new here but I have been a cat mom for about 4 year now! Just a little background on my current cat situation:

Currently I have two cats. One cat is a male tabby (Meeko) and my second cat is a female grey tuxedo cat (Nausicaa). I had Meeko since he was about 5 weeks old (he is 4 now), found him abandoned. He is a very affectionate boy, and loves cuddling and getting pets. Nausicaa came into our lives about 2 years ago, my parents had a stray cat give birth to kittens in their yard, so I adopted Nausicaa from them and had her vetted. She is very sweet, a bit more of a hunter than Meeko (she loves to hid behind the couch and sneak attack! Not in a harmful way). Neither cats show aggression and they do love to play with each other. I did bring Nausicaa in as a kitten, and Meeko did not like her at first but it seemed like within a week they became friends and cuddled slept together. We have a pretty good harmonious household. I recently gave some donations to a pet rescue that helps out cats and dogs that are in local shelters, to get them vetted and make people aware they are available for adoption. I donated towards a cat named Raven and ever since I keep thinking about her and want to to adopt her. The volunteer told me that they are getting over capacity at the shelter and soon may have to euthanize cats. This has my heart aching and I want to give Raven a comfortable home. I spoke to the shelter about her yesterday, they said she is very friendly and sweet and they let her out and about in the office from time to time. I asked if they knew if she was ok with other cats, but they said due guidelines at the shelter they don't intermingle the animals just in case of disease, which this makes sense. My hesitation on adopting Raven is that I don't know how my cats will react... I know cats are territorial.

Has anyone had much experience in introducing a new adult cat with two other cats? I don't want my resident cats to experience too much stress and cause them to act out. Am I crazy to even consider adopting this new cat? I just am so conflicted! Any advice is greatly appreciated!

The fact that your four-year old did well two years ago with a kitten is unfortunately not that relevant. Naussica being two is helpful -- young cats tend to do better -- but four is old enough that you never know.

So you could well have a difficulty introduction. Or not. It is hard to predict! You should read the guide below and be mentally prepared for some inter-cat stress despite conducting a full introduction process described in the guide. Sometimes the stress lasts a while, months even. Usually things are manageable and the cats move towards at least toleration, sometimes friendship, but it is not always easy.

How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide

One issue is that its very nice to have a safety net when adopting in this kind of situation, the ability to return the cat if things go horribly. I mean, thats super rare, but safety nets are great, right? And it sounds like you may not have that safety net if you would be worried about euthanasia. Lack of a safety net doesn't need to stop you -- severe problems are rare -- but it is something to think about.

hiya_unicorns : Hello and welcome to TCS.

As A ArtNJ posted, it is hard to predict how resident cats will respond to a new cat in the household.

Very rarely cats take to each other immediately. Most often they do not. So it is best to prepare for a slow introduction, meaning the new cat is set up in a space (preferably a separate room) apart from your other cats. Then eventually you put your resident cats in a room, and let the new cat out to "scent mark", meaning rub up against things leaving his scent so that your resident cats can get used to the new cat smell. Then put the new cat back in his room, and let the others out. You want the resident cats to be able to go about their routines as normally as possible.

Your cats will likely be aware of his presence as soon as you bring him in, and will maybe sniff around the door to his room, and maybe even play "toe-sies" under the door. There may also be hissing, growling, etc. The main thing is that you want to ensure none of the cats become stressed, and that they eat, drink, sleep, use the litter box normally.

Eventually you'll let them see each other, and watch how it goes.

The article link A ArtNJ explains the process, and includes pics of how to block off a door so that the cats can see each other.

Let us know if you decide to adopt the 3rd cat.

As everyone has said, there are no guarantees how cats will get along. We have a large cat family (7) and speaking from my experience only, we have never had a "bad" issue with them. We have introduced adult to adult as well as adult to kitten. We always do slow introductions. We have never had a cat fight, though we have had some annoyed hissing and swatting by older cats as they teach the young ones manners.
The longest holdout by far has been Sunshine. At 7 years, she was highly irritated by kittens in the household. For the first 6 months she hissed when she saw them and did her best to avoid them. Then she moved to her indifferent phase where she just ignored them. Then she surprised me about a month ago. She started snuggling and grooming Sam. They sleep together all the time now. It took her almost three years to get to that point!

The only advice I can offer is take it slow, give lots of love to everyone, and try not to stress too much. Cats will pick up on your stress and it can just snowball! I really think having a positive attitude helps. I've always believed that it will work out, and it always has. (Even though it took Sunshine a rediculously long time). Good luck!

Thanks to everyone for the kind advice! My boyfriend and I plan to visit the shelter early next week to visit with Raven (potential new family member!) I’m quiet excited but nervous! I’ll keep you all posted and progress of introductions!

So, I haven't got a new cat yet... I am just so very on the fence... It's giving me a lot of anxiety and I knowing that lives are at stake I feel so selfish. Here are my main concerns.

1. She hasn't been tested for FeLV or FIV, knowing what I know now I don't want to risk exposure to my cats I currently have.
2. I know once I get the cat I can take her to the vet to get tested but I don't have a good space to keep her isolated in our loft style apartment (I thought bathroom but we don't have an AC vent in their and gets so hot and I live in the South). Potential adoption cat (Raven) also has an issue with her eye that needs follow up care, which I am ok with but just another thing I am unsure about, the shelter told me they were giving her drops but I would need to take for follow up, but didn't really know what was wrong.
3. Due to our loft style apartment, it seems like it could be difficult to keep the cats separate until proper vetting/introductions. It's a large space in a historic building with tons of windows for cat perching but just not a lot of walls/doors.
4. I don't want to risk my cats getting sick. Last time I got a new cat Meeko got so sick he had to be put on a pet IV and stay at the hospital (Nausa had a stomach parasite that she shared with Meeko, Meeko stopped eating/drinking and got close to kidney failure) , plus RINGWORM (which was weeks of application of medicines orally and topically for both cats). He did recover, but the stress on him, me and my wallet were great. I am afraid this could happen again in some sense and with 3 cats, a great cost/stress.
5. I go home and my cats love me and are happy now (2 years later). I just don't want to disrupt their world. Also Nausa gets anxious and pukes when it rains or storms(we did go through a tornado together, so I think she remembers this), I keep thinking what will she do if a new cat comes in.

I feel like a jerk, but I also want to do what is best for my cats first too. If i had a larger house, maybe it would be easier since I could have a dedicated room to the new kitty to get vetted and use to the place, but as it is now it could be pretty difficult. I don't want any cats to die at the shelter, I thought about maybe making a donation to put towards adoption fees if others want to adopt a cat. I just keep thinking though, maybe I should just stop worrying and get her and maybe it will all work out. But I just don't know... The shelter people are very helpful and nice, and I do feel a bit of guilt for asking so much about this cat and not getting her. Being an adult and overthinking.

You know, maybe all your decisiveness means adopting her isn't the right thing for you and your cats. Sometimes we have to go with our "gut feeling".

Don't feel bad about asking the shelter people all the questions, as I would hope they want what's best for their cats and don't want failed adoptions where the cat ends up being returned.

I do like your idea of making a donation towards an adoption fee. Your donation might make it possible for the purr-fect purr-son to adopt their fur-baby.

I'm an over-thinker too, btw, so I understand all about overthinking.

Well I got some amazing news today! Raven got adopted!! Since I was so on the fence we were waiting to see if anyone had any interest and she found her furever home! I am so happy for her and her new family!

That's great. I'm glad she got her happy ending.