Introducing 4 Cats

Question
Hi Norm
Just thought I'd let you know how it all went.

We followed your advice and it's all gone amazingly well.  Our 4 cats are now getting along fine though we do have the occasional (as my kids call it) hiss chase!

I have to say - they don't love each other but I have seen the occasional playing, nose touching and bum sniffing!

I have a new problem now though.  We have one of those cat flaps that locks and gets unlocked when one of our cats with an electronic key thing approaches it.  Three of the cats are fine with this but one of them won't use it.  Instead, she goes out now and then when one of us opens the door and then jumps up and hangs on the door whilst looking through the window to be let in!  I think it's cute but my partner gets annoyed as she might damage the door.

Do you have any suggestions for me to encourage her to use the cat flap?  Our old cat flap wasn't lockable and she was fine with that but there are a few cats around here that I don't really want to come in to our house.

Thanks again.  Your advice on settling them in was great.

Sarah
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Hi
My partner and I are buying a house together and he has two spayed queens - about 2 years old.  I have two spayed queens just over a year old.

My partner and his cats are likely to move into our new house first and we should be moving in about a month later.  Can you tell me what is likely to happen with the four cats and how we should best handle it?
-----Answer-----
Sarah,

Oh boy, this can get most interesting.  I will tell you how we go about introducing a new cat into a home with established pets:  

Start out your new cats 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 cats will not be overwhelmed by theur new surroundings and get "lost", and thusly will have no problem finding the litter pan (often kittens or rescue cats have been confined and are somewhat daunted by wide open spaces!). You will feed the new cats in this room and keep the established cats out. It allows the new cats to maintain their relationship with or bond with another human being and also 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 cats and the established cats to sniff each other under the door and get familiar with each others' scents.

After 5-7days 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 acustomed 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 will get along! 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 cats 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.

Since they are respectively 2 years and 1 year of age, they should do O.K.

Please let me know how it goes.

Best regards... Norm.  

Answer
Sarah,

I am glad things are going so well with the 4 cats!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, the trick to getting cats to do anything is seeing if you can get them to think it is their idea.

My guess is that the first time your one cat came to get back into the house, the sound of the flap unlocking probably frightened her.  Like people, different things frighten different cats.  Also, remember cats have much more acute hearing then people.  So, if the cat who won't use it was frightened once, it is probably leery about trying it again.  BTW, the sound going out is probably very different to their ears than any sound coming in.

You can try trying to entice the cat with some fabulous food morsels (human tuna does well as does those meat baby food sausages or anything this cat really craves).

Another option might be to try behavior modification using "clicker" training, a fairly proven technique.  You can check out Karen Pryor's web site at

  http://www.clickertraining.com

Once she has gone through a couple of times with enticements, she may decide to do it on her own.

Good luck & best regards... Norm.