Keeping everyone happy?

rosiemac

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Hi Kerry


I known the basics of introducing another cat into the household but wondered if there was anything else i need to do?

I have two girls Rosie aged 5 and Sophie aged 3, and in two weeks i'll be bringing home 10 week old Jack


Rosie was just under two when i brought 10 week old Sophie home, and i made the mistake of showing her Sophie which made Rosie hiss and growl at both of us. The only way i can describe it is that she hated me for bringing Sophie into our home and she spent a lot of her time in the spare room


I made sure i went up to her every hour just to sit with her and talk to her telling her that i loved her etc...

2 weeks later after watching Sophie from a distance the two of them finally bonded after i found Sophie had curled up next to Rosie with Rosie grooming her


The only problem was that Rosie had still changed with me because she went from being a loving lap cat to one who kept her distance with me as if she was letting me know that i'd hurt her feelings?. It took a full year to get her back to the way she was, and thankfully i have my loving girl back. So, i'm scared incase i lose my loving girl again when i bring Jack home, plus Sophies also a love bug and i don't want to upset her either
so any advice would be greatly appreciated


Thanks
 

catpsych

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Hi Rosiemac,
The most important aspect of introducing cats and helping them to become friends is scent mingling. Scent mingling is the process of mingling all of the cat's smells all together. Cat's recognize each other by scent, not by sight like how us humans do, so a cat that smells unfamiliar will not be recognized as part of the colony. So, when you bring Jack home you will want to keep him out of sight for a week or so. Once Jack is home you'll want to take a dirty piece of clothing from your dirty laundry basket and playfully rub down your two resident kitties Rosie and Sophie with this dirty piece of laundry, make sure to rub expecially good around their face (they have scent glands there), then take the piece of laundry to Jack and playfully rub him down with the same piece....then take it back to your girls and playfully rub them down. You'll want to go through this scent mingling process about twice a day, you can also do this by incorparating grooming brushes and cat beds. The grooming you will just continue to groom each of the kitties, but do not remove the fur that accumulates in the brush, this will help to deposit each others scent on each of the other kitties within the house. And you can also swap out the cat beds each day, Jack's bed will go to the girls and the girl's bed will be placed in with Jack.....also do this once a day. If you do not have cat beds, you can use towels that the kitties take naps on through out the day. And Feliway is also a great product that will help reduce anxiety and stress during this time of change for the kitties. The total introduction process for introducing kitties varies, but on average, it should take anywhere from 4 weeks to 5 months to comfortably introduce them. I wish you the best of luck and congrats on getting a new kitty!



Originally Posted by Rosiemac

Hi Kerry


I known the basics of introducing another cat into the household but wondered if there was anything else i need to do?

I have two girls Rosie aged 5 and Sophie aged 3, and in two weeks i'll be bringing home 10 week old Jack


Rosie was just under two when i brought 10 week old Sophie home, and i made the mistake of showing her Sophie which made Rosie hiss and growl at both of us. The only way i can describe it is that she hated me for bringing Sophie into our home and she spent a lot of her time in the spare room


I made sure i went up to her every hour just to sit with her and talk to her telling her that i loved her etc...

2 weeks later after watching Sophie from a distance the two of them finally bonded after i found Sophie had curled up next to Rosie with Rosie grooming her


The only problem was that Rosie had still changed with me because she went from being a loving lap cat to one who kept her distance with me as if she was letting me know that i'd hurt her feelings?. It took a full year to get her back to the way she was, and thankfully i have my loving girl back. So, i'm scared incase i lose my loving girl again when i bring Jack home, plus Sophies also a love bug and i don't want to upset her either
so any advice would be greatly appreciated


Thanks
 
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rosiemac

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Brilliant, thank you Kerry
I've made a note of everything and i've got 2 dog beds as the girls sleep together, so i'll give the other bed to jack.

I've just bought a grooming mit so i'll make sure i do that as well
 

gingersmom

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I agree 100% with the scent-mingling, and I think that is THE reason that I was able to get Penny introduced to Ferris and Ginger and have all three playing together in as little as two weeks.

I started with the blanket exchange, moving rapidly (take more time than I did, I had special circumstances) to the use of vanilla extract (I love making kitties smell like cookies!
) Then, once Penny was out of lockup, I would go in rounds petting each of them, over and over and over again to create the new and special "house scent," by comingling their smells upon each of them.

I do NOT recommend that people rush through it the way I did, but DO follow the tips of our esteemed cat experts here and slow down the introduction process to give your kits the easiest time of learning to live with one another.


Welcome, Kerry.
I look forward to reading your advice and tips!
 
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