I have 4 cats and want to chinchillas

Question
Hi, I have 4 cats and want 2 chinchillas. I keep my cats locked in another room all day and let them out when I get home. At night when I am about  to go to sleep I keep them locked up, across from my room. I want to put the chinchillas in my room. if I put them in the back of my room away from the door and put a towel up at my door would they be safe? Would they sense that my cats are there and get stressed out? Do you think my cats would sense them and stress them out? If I were to get 2 chinchillas would they help each other to be less stressed out? Please help me!

Answer
Cat and chinchillas can coexist peacefully in the same household under some circumstances. If you already have a cat, you must carefully consider the personality of the cat. Many people do have cats and chinchillas, but it works best with mellow cats that don't care much about the chinchilla.

If your cat is an active hunter, bringing in a chinchilla may not work out well. Even when the chinchilla is in the cage, a determined cat could terrorize a chinchilla by reaching through the cage bars or even just staring at the chinchilla. After all, chinchillas are rodents and a cat that likes to hunt is likely to consider your chinchilla fair prey.

If your cat is more laid back or mellow, or doesn't care much for hunting, then you have a lot better chance of the cat pretty much ignoring the chinchilla, and the chinchilla will likely get used to the cats presence and not be overly stressed.

That said, I recommend close supervision of cats around the cage (of any rodent) for the first while until it can be determined that the cat isn't going to go after the chinchilla. When the chinchilla has free time out of the cage, the cat should be put in another room or restrained (at least for the first while). And, even with the mellowest of cats, never leave a chinchilla out of the cage unsupervised with a cat.

Of course, if you have the space and time, you can make it work even with a hunting cat by always keeping the chinchilla and cat separated (obviously, this requires a lot more care and juggling of pets' needs).