Introducing 3 cats at once

[beccamperr]

i currently live in a 3 bedroom apartment with 1 roommate ive lived with for years and a new roommate coming in august. i have a cat, (1.5 yo spayed female) who has lived here for 8 months now. a close friend of mine is finishing socializing three 10~ week old kittens and has homes for all but the female. she has had offers but doesn't trust the potential adopters and asked me specifically if i would take her. i love the kitten and am definitely interested and was 100% on board with the idea of taking her until a couple of days ago.

our new roommate dumped on us last minute that she has a 7(?) month old cat, also a spayed female. while this isn't a big deal because it wouldn't have been a deal breaker, i'm worried about 3 cats meeting each other at the same time. i would be taking the kitten around when the new roommate's cat comes. the new roommate will only be here august through december.

my resident cat has 0 issues with other cats. kinda got stuck living with 4 strange cats for 2 months at my vet tech school and she never once showed any aggression towards them. she just did her thing! my concern is i know nothing about this new cat (all i got was "she's nice!") and i also am worried about the kitten. i would definitely keep the kitten in my bathroom for a few days to let my cat meet her through the door before letting them interact. but how would this work with the roommates cat?

i really love the kitten and don't think anyone else who has offered to take her could give her a better life than i could (she would be very spoiled!) but i also don't want to put her in a stressful situation. i don't want to overwhelm my resi cat even though she's very calm and doesn't even get stressed in new environments. would it be best to turn the kitten down because of the roommates cat coming at the same time? is there a way introducing these three cats could go well and safely? any advice would be great.

 

[Caspers Human]

How many cats are there? Three? None of them know each other, yet. Right? You have three bedrooms that can be closed off. Yes?

If that's the case, it doesn't sound too difficult. Maybe a little complicated but not problematic.

Designate a bedroom as "base camp" for each cat. Alternate cats in and out of their safe rooms like you would normally do except, with three cats, you have to rotate cats in and out of their rooms in turns.

The OG cat has run of the house while cat's #2 and #3 are in their rooms.
Then, OG goes in her room while cat #2 comes out.
Once cat #2 has had her turn, cat #3 comes out while OG and #2 go in.

Just keep going around in turns until all cats have had their turns. When you think it's time start gradual introductions, taking turns as before, one at a time until all cats have had their turns.

 

[Kris107]

It's a good idea to go slow. It's a lot of changes for everyone. The kitten should adjust easiest but since it will be really small - you may want to be more watchful. If the kitten gets scared, it could get into a small space. The older cats might have a harder time. Making tusre they have their own spaces for a bit is good, but of course swapping, using gates, etc is advised.