Getting a single cat used to living in a multi cat household

[payaza2000]

I am aware of the articles on this site, regarding cat introductions. I am asking how would you get a single cat or kitten to get accustomed or acclimated to live in a multi cat household?

I have a three year old cat that my brother in Washington DC has graciously been taking care of me while i work on getting professional experience & a CPA in Boise Idaho. I don't anticipate being here longer than a year, but I really miss having a cat. So I have been considering adopting a kitten, so the question is how do I prepare that kitten & my current cat to the fact that they will eventually live in a multi cat household without actually having them live in a multi cat household or having them go outside where they will be exposed to diseases, etc ? Exposing them to scent of many cats? Other cat furs? Any ideas? Lol

On a side note since I do work a lot I was considering getting a pair of kittens but I'm not sure that I could deal with the introductions for three cats eventually down the road unless my brother adopts my cat, and I don't know many apartments that accept more than two pets!

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I'm not sure that you need to do anything special beyond the standard introductions.  (Maybe with a little more patience; depending on your cats personalities.)  Cats know each other by scent; so you could try some long distance scent swapping by mailing small blankets or wash cloths they've slept on/been rubbed down with by mail.  You likely already bring home some other cat scents just by going about your day.

When I was in my early teens my mother remarried and our 2 cats joined with my Step-dad's cat.  The introductions were basically done the same as introducing one cat to another single cat.  Step-dad's cat had lived with others before and was a very social cat; so she had no issues once they were fully integrated into one household.  It did take a little time and they were never snuggle buddies; but they played some and lived peacefully together for the rest of their lives.

We also went from a single cat to a multi cat household before my mother remarried.  Our older cat didn't need anything special to accept the kitten in the house.  Just the standard introductions.  The older cat was 7 when we adopted the kitten and 10 when my step-dad's cat joined our household.  

 

[Anne]

I tend to agree. I don't think there's much you can or should do so far in advance. Once the time comes, you'll have to do the introductions. By the way, if I read your post correctly, it may just be the new cat and your cat in DC, right? So a total of two cats unless you adopt two kittens? 

 

[payaza2000]

Well I've been reassigned to Boise Idaho, so I didn't bring my cat for what I thought was going to be something temporary. But I'll have to stay here another year.