moving in

Question
I am moving in with my boyfriend and he has a 6 yr old female very aggressive only child cat. i have a 2 yr old male who is declawed and very passive and is easily scarred. and i have a sweet troublesome 7 mo. old female kitten. we are worried that all of there personalitys will clash and his female will end up hurting my male. we don't want to get rid of any of them but we will if we have to. Do you think it will have to come to that or is there any advice you can give to make this any easier?

Answer
Samantha,

This does present a complicated scenario.  What I will do is give you a protocol we suggest when a new cat is about to join a household with existing pets. This seems to work for the most part with the caveat that cats, like people, may or may not get along.  Until you try it you will not know.  Also, please do not overlay human motives and emotions on cats as cats do not think like we do and things that are actually very innocent may appear to us humans as mayhem!!!!!


So here is the protocol:

Start out your new cat and kitten in one room with a litter pan and water dish.  Ideally, the one room should be a bedroom with yourself or another human resident. This accomplishes a couple of things. Your new cat and kitten will not be overwhelmed by the new surroundings and get "lost", and, thusly, will have no problem finding the litter pan.  You will feed the new cat and kitten in this room and keep the established cat out. It allows the new cat or kitten to build up some self assurance in their new surroundings since they will not have to compete for food or attention right away. Finally, it allows the new cat and kitten and the established cat to sniff each other under the door and get familiar with each others' scents.

After 5-7 days of being in their one room, it is time to let them meet each other. Be prepared for some posturing, some spitting and hissing, and the like. IGNORE IT! After a while, they should begin chasing each other about and still have the occasional hiss or spit as they get accustomed to each other. Cats tend to make a whole lot of noise and even loosen up some fur. Rarely will two cats hurt each other.

Once they are introduced, there are a couple of things you must remember. Do not separate them again, they should get along, eventually! Do not interfere in their "discussions" as they need to sort it out amongst themselves!

It does not hurt to give the established cat treats and extra attention after the new cat and kitten are introduced (yes, cats do get jealous!).

A couple of things you may have to do are to feed them on separate dishes. Provide more than one litter pan in different areas of the household (as cats can be very territorial about litter pans).

All, in all, this method seems to have had great success in the past and makes for a fairly smooth introduction. Please remember that they may make up immediately, or it may take a few weeks or even months.

Please let me know how it goes.

Best regards... Norm.