Introductions
Okay before I start talking about Sammy's introduction into Cleo's empire, let me just make the disclaimer that I am by no means an animal behavioral expert and I've never done this before. This is just a look into my own experience. If you have helpful suggestions for others trying to integrate new cats into their household, please feel free to share (preferably in a respectful and non-condescending tone ;)
When we started thinking about adding another cat to our household, I did some reading on how to best introduce him/her to Cleo and the house in general.
Here are the two sites I think I referenced most (although I must have read through at least a dozen):
http://www.meowfoundation.com/resources/new-cat/#cat-and-cats
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/introducing_new_cat.html
The consensus of most of the articles I read was that it's best to move through the process slowly, and follow these basic steps:
1. Safe Room
We set up Sammy's base camp/safe room in the mamad. He had his litter box, food, water, crate and miscellaneous toys. He also has a dented Audi car hood that Tair is supposedly going to fix but it makes for a good hiding place.
What the articles don't tell you is how hard it his to have two very needy cats on either side of a heavy metal door. Tair and I spent a lot of time separately with each cat, switching back and forth throughout the day so that nobody got lonely. If you live by yourself however, this might require a lot of back and forth between rooms.
2. Meal Time
3. Swapping scents
I swapped blankets but I don't think anybody noticed. Cleo didn't bother with Sammy's blanket and her favorite spot to lay is in front of the sink on the floor so I wasn't too keen on sticking Sammy's blanket there. I tried sitting it on a chair she likes to lay on sometimes and I don't know whether she avoided it or not.
Another site suggested rubbing a sock on each cats face (I guess that's where the feel-good pheromones are) and then swapping them. I tried this also, I sat the sock right next to Cleo's food as she ate and she didn't seem to notice. There was a little hesitation when I put a treat directly on the sock but in the end she ate it and walked away without incident.
4. Trading Places
This is finally when Cleo seemed to notice that something was off. Tair took Sammy into the bedroom to explore while I let Cleo roam around the mamad. I strategically placed treats around the room so that she got something pleasant out of the experience.
She was very tense during the whole experience, hissing at me once when I tossed a treat to her and it accidentally bounced off her side.
She sniffed everything very slowly and methodically, spending about 10 minutes just sniffing his litter box. We repeated this exercise a few times.
We also closed the door while Cleo was napping in the bedroom to let Sammy roam the apartment, allowing him to leave his scent on other things outside of his room. Each time afterward, Cleo came out, sniffed the things he touched and then went on with her day.
5. Saying Hello
About a week had passed by the time we got to this step. Some people recommend to take a full week even before swapping but since Cleo wasn't showing any reaction to most of the previous steps, we continued moving forward.
I don't know if Cleo is a little slow on the uptake or just didn't consider smells to be a threat but she was very calm throughout most of the process so far. Once while trying to leave Sammy's room, he escaped and they had a minor stare down before we scooped him up and put him back in his camp. Cleo didn't show any hostility, just looked confused and walked away once we shut Sammy's door.
Seeing the lack of reaction there, we decided to wedge Sammy's door open a crack so that they could see each other. Now things started to heat up a little. During meal time I sat with them and any time Cleo started to seem annoyed I told her to eat her food and she did. However, as soon as the food was finished Sammy started meowing and trying to nose through the crack, Cleo wasn't having this. She started growling, hissed and threw herself against the door. I shut it.
Later I tried cracking it again this time putting treats for Cleo near the crack in the door to try to associate good things with seeing Sammy. She snached the treat with her paw and started her growling again.
A few times during this process, Sammy escaped into the hallway and Cleo ran away to observe him from some little hiding place. I had read somewhere that sometimes older cats were afraid of kittens because they think that the mama cat might be near by. Observing her reaction to him and thinking this may be the case I decided to change tactics.
Instead of leaving the door cracked, I took Sammy out for a minute or two at a time, holding him in my lap and sweet talking to Cleo so she could walk up and see him if she wanted. The first few times we did this she'd walk up curiously and then hiss. I said a firm 'no' and then put him away. Once I got a nasty claw to my knee for being a dirty-no-good-rotten-kitten-bringing-traitor but within a few days, the hissing happened less and less until she would walk up, bump Sammy's nose and then walk away.
6. Play Time
Here's where we find ourselves today.
Once the meetings started going well, we started letting them play together little by little. The first few times I followed them around with a blanket just in case I needed to throw it on them to break up a fight but fortunately I never needed to resort to that. Now we let them loose as long as we're in the apartment.
Cleo and Sammy seem to like playing together most of the time. Sometimes she get's a little rough and he meows at her or he pounces on her tail and she hisses at him but if we separate them they meow at each other through the door until we open it so I'm taking it as a good sign.
We're still not ready to let them play together without us there (or even overnight), but they're just getting to the point where they're comfortable laying down in the same room without running after each other so hopefully within a week or two they'll be okay alone.
When we started thinking about adding another cat to our household, I did some reading on how to best introduce him/her to Cleo and the house in general.
Here are the two sites I think I referenced most (although I must have read through at least a dozen):
http://www.meowfoundation.com/resources/new-cat/#cat-and-cats
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/introducing_new_cat.html
The consensus of most of the articles I read was that it's best to move through the process slowly, and follow these basic steps:
- Set up a room for the new cat where s/he can get comfortable and feel safe.
- Start by feeding cats on either side of the door so they can get used to each other's scents while doing something positive
- Exchange scents by swapping things from the rooms
- Exchange scents by exchanging cats
- Open a crack in the door so they can see each other
- Limited supervised playtime
- Once you're super duper positive that your cats won't destroy each other, they can be left out unsupervised
1. Safe Room
We set up Sammy's base camp/safe room in the mamad. He had his litter box, food, water, crate and miscellaneous toys. He also has a dented Audi car hood that Tair is supposedly going to fix but it makes for a good hiding place.
What the articles don't tell you is how hard it his to have two very needy cats on either side of a heavy metal door. Tair and I spent a lot of time separately with each cat, switching back and forth throughout the day so that nobody got lonely. If you live by yourself however, this might require a lot of back and forth between rooms.
2. Meal Time
To be honest, I'm not sure that either cat actually understood that there was another cat on the other side of the door. I think this is mainly because Sammy's 'safe room' is an actual safe room, built with thick concrete walls and a heavy reinforced metal door. When the door is shut there isn't much air movement between the room and the hallway so I think the scents stayed relatively contained. I tried minimally cracking the door during meal times but it also didn't seem to make much difference. Unless Cleo could actually see Sammy (and she did, several times before she was supposed to), she didn't seem to notice or care that he was there.
3. Swapping scents
I swapped blankets but I don't think anybody noticed. Cleo didn't bother with Sammy's blanket and her favorite spot to lay is in front of the sink on the floor so I wasn't too keen on sticking Sammy's blanket there. I tried sitting it on a chair she likes to lay on sometimes and I don't know whether she avoided it or not.
Another site suggested rubbing a sock on each cats face (I guess that's where the feel-good pheromones are) and then swapping them. I tried this also, I sat the sock right next to Cleo's food as she ate and she didn't seem to notice. There was a little hesitation when I put a treat directly on the sock but in the end she ate it and walked away without incident.
4. Trading Places
This is finally when Cleo seemed to notice that something was off. Tair took Sammy into the bedroom to explore while I let Cleo roam around the mamad. I strategically placed treats around the room so that she got something pleasant out of the experience.
She was very tense during the whole experience, hissing at me once when I tossed a treat to her and it accidentally bounced off her side.
We also closed the door while Cleo was napping in the bedroom to let Sammy roam the apartment, allowing him to leave his scent on other things outside of his room. Each time afterward, Cleo came out, sniffed the things he touched and then went on with her day.
5. Saying Hello
About a week had passed by the time we got to this step. Some people recommend to take a full week even before swapping but since Cleo wasn't showing any reaction to most of the previous steps, we continued moving forward.
I don't know if Cleo is a little slow on the uptake or just didn't consider smells to be a threat but she was very calm throughout most of the process so far. Once while trying to leave Sammy's room, he escaped and they had a minor stare down before we scooped him up and put him back in his camp. Cleo didn't show any hostility, just looked confused and walked away once we shut Sammy's door.
Seeing the lack of reaction there, we decided to wedge Sammy's door open a crack so that they could see each other. Now things started to heat up a little. During meal time I sat with them and any time Cleo started to seem annoyed I told her to eat her food and she did. However, as soon as the food was finished Sammy started meowing and trying to nose through the crack, Cleo wasn't having this. She started growling, hissed and threw herself against the door. I shut it.
Later I tried cracking it again this time putting treats for Cleo near the crack in the door to try to associate good things with seeing Sammy. She snached the treat with her paw and started her growling again.
Instead of leaving the door cracked, I took Sammy out for a minute or two at a time, holding him in my lap and sweet talking to Cleo so she could walk up and see him if she wanted. The first few times we did this she'd walk up curiously and then hiss. I said a firm 'no' and then put him away. Once I got a nasty claw to my knee for being a dirty-no-good-rotten-kitten-bringing-traitor but within a few days, the hissing happened less and less until she would walk up, bump Sammy's nose and then walk away.
6. Play Time
Here's where we find ourselves today.
Cleo and Sammy seem to like playing together most of the time. Sometimes she get's a little rough and he meows at her or he pounces on her tail and she hisses at him but if we separate them they meow at each other through the door until we open it so I'm taking it as a good sign.
We're still not ready to let them play together without us there (or even overnight), but they're just getting to the point where they're comfortable laying down in the same room without running after each other so hopefully within a week or two they'll be okay alone.
3 month update:
These two cuties are the best of friends. There are still times when the hiss and growl at each other, usually when Sammy is jumping on Cleo's tail or trying to steal her treat, however most of the day it's all play time, mutual grooming and cuddling.
How are they doing?
ReplyDeleteHow are they doing?
ReplyDeleteThey're doing great! In fact I'm pretty sure they're plotting together to wake me up at 5:30am to feed them.
ReplyDeleteWe just started leaving them home alone together and so far that's been going well too. Sammy actually started grooming Cleo the other day and I was so excited I almost cried, then he bit her ear and they started wrestling, so it was short lived but a definite good sign.
Thanks for the reply Laura
ReplyDelete:D Sounds about right!
Anything you would change if you did it again?
My husband and I are talking about getting a female kitten, I am somewhat nervous about introducing a kitten to our male cat.
I don't know that I'd necessarily change the way we did anything but I'd probably be calmer myself. I'm a big worry wart so the first two weeks were really stressful. I felt terrible having to leave the little guy in a separate room and was constantly worried that they wouldn't get along. I did order a Feliway diffuser which is supposed to help the process but by the time it arrived they were already starting to get along so I didn't notice any difference with it.
ReplyDeleteI think some things that I found important along the way were to make sure we both spent time with both cats while they were separated, and to let them go at their own pace. Gauge their reaction to each new step and either back peddle or move forward from there.
It's really important to keep an eye on them when they're together initially but they also do play pretty rough. As long as it's relatively quiet play, and there's no hissing or growling, they're probably fine. Occasionally Sammy will still hiss at Cleo if she gets too rowdy but she backs off and he always runs back for more.
I read somewhere that often male cats are more easygoing when it comes to new arrivals and that opposite sexes get along better (so getting a female would be a good idea). Having lived with a dozen different cats over the years, I really think they all have unique personalities and it's nearly impossible to tell how well they're going to get along. When we adopted Sammy, the vet said to introduce them slowly and eventually they'll learn to live together whether they're buddies or not.
Hmmm.....I just recently moved to Kansas and am staying with my daughter who has 5 adult cats. The oldest is 8 and the youngest is about 2. I brought my cat who is 7 and always such a sweetheart but also was an only cat. I moved here in mid May and we still are trying to integrate them. I know to go slow but so far we've only done one of the males and they tolerate one another at this point. They hiss and walk away. Yesterday he (BamBam) was sitting on the chair and my Zoey would stand up with her ears so flattened it was creepy but then she'd sit back down and act like nothing was happening. She did it twice and BamBam didn't seem to impressed.
ReplyDeleteI put up gates at night so she can see the other cats while they roam the house at night and Zoey is locked into the room with me. The youngest of my daughters cats is the one that will hiss and bat back and forth through the gate with Zoey.
I just don't know what else to do. We've tried the food thing but then gave up but maybe I need to go back to picking up all their food so they are nice and hungry in the morning.
I am ok with them tolerating each other but I really want them to be happy. My Zoey never hissed before I brought her here and to see her so stressed saddens me. I know she doesn't know what the heck is going on but it is what it is and I will do whatever it takes.
What do you think I should do at this point? Do you think it will make a difference if I start back at the 2nd step where they see each other while eating?
Eek Karen, I know how stressful it can be for a cat mom to see her baby so stressed out. I'm not a behavioral expert but here are some thoughts based on my own experience:
ReplyDeleteI think hissing and posturing like you're describing is pretty normal between newly introduced cats. If they're tolerating each other than that sounds like a good sign.
The flattened ears usually indicates fear or anxiety (although Cleo flattens her ears every time she's mildly surprised). I think if Zoey flattened her ears then sat back down, it seems like maybe she saw BamBam and decided that he wasn't a threat and relaxed again. Hissing is also a defensive sound, so if they're hissing at each other I think they're probably just still nervous.
I think if the young cat is batting back and forth through the gate that's probably also a good sign. Younger cats are more curious by nature and may be more accepting of a new cat in the house. Even with the occasional hissing, if the batting seems playful then I'd guess that this cat is probably curious about the new arrival.
Have you let Zoey explore other rooms (without the other cats there)? It's a good way for her to leaver her scent in other places around the home without feeling threatened; then the other cats will get used to the smell of her more quickly. We did this a lot with Sammy and as soon as we let Cleo have free reign again she would sniff everything he touched. At first it seemed to annoy her a little bit but after a few times she seemed to accept Sammy's scent as part of the house.
You could try using Feliway (http://www.amazon.com/Feliway-Plug-In-Diffuser-bottle-Milliliters/dp/B000WHUOEI), it's supposed to emit a neutral ferimone to help cats feel less territorial. I have one but by the time it arrived (I live overseas), Sammy and Cleo were already getting along pretty well so I didn't notice any difference.
If you want to try something much cheaper first, a lot of people swear by "the vanilla trick". You take a small drop of vanilla extract and rub a little under each cat's chin and at the base of their tail before you introduce them. The idea is that if everybody smells similar, they'll get less territorial. I did try this and besides both of my cats smelling like cookies, they did seem to be a little more relaxed when they met face to face.
Thanks for the encouragement! I am going to try the vanilla trick and see if that works.
DeleteWe've been letting Zoey have free run of the house during the day since my daughters cats seem to enjoy hanging out in her room during the day (except the youngest, Pebbles, who is the most talkative cat I have ever had the pleasure to meet!). Yesterday morning I got up and did the 'kitty herding" routine so I could let my Zoey out and while I was in the bathroom I heard some hissing and immediately realized I had forgotten to get Boots, a 2 yr old female. I quickly opened the door and they were about 2 ft apart, sitting like bunnies and just eyeing each other.
We've tried to get my daughters cats to explore Zoey's room but only Pebbles (the youngest, the nosiest) goes in there and today we are going to bring Zoey into their room so she can FINALLY explore their safe place (my daughters room).
I think Zoey WANTS to be a part of the herd!! I really do!
Keep at it slowly but surely, I think they'll all warm up eventually. We had a few accidental meetings too and although they're not 'supposed' to see each other at first, I don't think the little exposures hurt anything. It sounds like Pebbles will warm up pretty quickly. I think the younger ones have an easier time with change. Sammy was also much more excited to meet Cleo than she was to meet him.
DeleteLet me know how the vanilla thing works for you!
*What the articles don't tell you is how hard it his to have two very needy cats on either side of a heavy metal door. YES on this 1000 times YES! My 3 year old male cat Milo has been more reactive then Cleo seemed to be from your description. I may get the diffuser to see if that helps. We got the spray and I also tried the vanilla trick today but it has only been on them for a couple hours...I hope it works. How much did Cleo hiss? Did Sammy hiss back? Sometimes he will be fine but other times he runs up to the door our kitten is in and hisses at her...
ReplyDeleteFirst, congratulations on your new kitten!
DeleteSeriously! I think one of the hardest parts of the whole setup was feeling so bad about having to have one of them always separated. Besides going in and playing with Sammy, I tried to take my book and read in his room too, just so he wasn't alone all the time.
The room we kept Sammy in is actually built as a bomb shelter so the walls are almost 3 feet thick and the door is a solid 2 inches of reinforced metal that deadbolts when it closes so I don't know if Cleo understood that there was another cat behind the door until we started cracking it a little while they ate. After she figured it out though, sometimes even when the door was shut and we were both sitting in the living room we'd hear Cleo go back and start growling at the door and occasionally hissing. Usually when she did that I would call her away or try to distract her. She did get pretty annoyed with me once or twice. One day she literally gave me the silent treatment all day.
Sammy did hiss at her a few times but I think his curiosity overruled his caution and he was ready to play much before she was. Hissing is usually a defensive sound. I read (maybe in one of the articles listed above?) that sometimes older cats get nervous around kittens at first because they're afraid that mamma cat is going to come and beat them up so they hiss to say "get away from me before your mom comes back!". Once they realize that there is no mamma cat, they usually feel less threatened and calm down a bit.
Which stage are you on in the introduction process?
We have done the sock exchange since we got them. The vanilla trick/pheromone spay seemed to be helping but now I am not so sure...? They can eat about 2 feet + 2 feet (4 feet) with the door completely open and a screen in between them without a problem. Our kitten eats a lot faster then our 3 year old though so we try to spread her food and we once put a golf ball in her bowl to try and delay her but it really just made her a mess...haha. Once she finishes our cat isn't as comfortable eating. They were doing better playing around each other but my 3 year old gets too distracted when he can see her and isn't very interested in playing when he can and just wants to watch her so we may drape a blanket over the gate or something?...so we may try working on that some more. At first it was usually our 3 year old initiating hissing. Now he is seemingly doing better as of the last 2 days and it is now the kitten doing the hissing if he gets too close to her. Our 3 year old walked around her safe room the first time a couple days ago and was fine, we had him do it a second time and he was really upset about it and hissing and just wanted to get out. Today he hit on the door handle of her new safe room (which is what he does when he wants to go in somewhere) so I picked her up and let him in and he walked around and smelled everything then came up and brushed against me. He is okay if I am holding her and he will come up to my legs and brush against me and I can kinda of kneel closer to him and pet him but the last couple times that makes her uncomfortable and she hisses. They still don't seem okay interacting. We have had a few run ins. One where my husband and I didn't realize they were both out and my 3 year old came running up the stairs to see the kitten drinking out of his water fountain which he then proceeded to go after her hissing and trying to smack her. Then yesterday morning when we opened the door to get her breakfast she jumped out and ran at him. This time he didn't seem to have enough time to react and just kind of watched as we scooped her up (sounding kind of like what happened to you guys). So I guess that one was successful...or at least didn't end badly? I am not sure when I will start to put him or her in a carrier and let the other one come up and smell them. The last time it seemed to upset them both so we figured we were moving to quickly. They have been hissing through the door less so that is good. I am most nervous about having them interact with each other and am not sure about the best way to get that going.
ReplyDeleteI also started interactions by holding Sammy and letting Cleo come up and sniff at him if she wanted to. Sometimes she'd hiss or growl, then I'd take him back to his room, others she'd bump his nose and walk away and those times I'd praise her and give her a treat. Once she got really mad and took a nice chunk out of my knee with her claws (I think that was the only time she's ever intentionally scratched anybody) I shouted 'ouch' and probably quite a few profanities (it really hurt!) and she looked pretty bewildered and never did it again.
DeleteThe first few times we actually let them loose together, I followed them around with a blanket in case I had to break up a fight. I think maybe once Cleo started getting really upset and I did toss the blanket over her and scoop her up but we never had a full blown fight. Once we started letting them move around a little more she used to trap Sammy in a corner and pummel him with her paws. We let her get in a few hits before we intervened because I think it's good to let them set up some boundaries on their own but usually a firm "hey!" would break it up.
We've had Sammy for just over a month now and they still hiss occasionally if one is annoying the other but they also have started grooming each other. I think that with a three year old it might take a little longer to adjust, Cleo is just about to turn one so she still can be pretty playful and Sammy can be quite the little nuisance when he wants to be. How old is your kitten? Do you have some lightweight balls or something for her to chase around? When Sammy is really annoying Cleo, I try to get him to chase things so he tires out a bit.
Try not to get too discouraged. I was so stressed during the first few weeks, I was afraid that we had made a big mistake and worried that they'd never get along. Now they're like siblings, playing and squabbling in turns but they both seem pretty happy with the company.
Hi I've just been reading through your blog and found it really useful! I am about to introduce an 10 week old kitten (boy) to a 6 yr old female. My female (Frankie) was one of two sisters that I got together from 8 weeks old. Unfortunately Frankie's sister died two years ago and since then Frankie has been fur mowing on her belly and down the inside of her legs. She has been prescribed hormone tablets to try and calm the fur mowing down but it is not something she can take long term due to side affects so two vets at my surgery on two separate occasions have recommended I get another cat (they feel her fur mowing is psychological) hence where I am now. I have gone for a male kitten as I feel that will be the most 'subservient' scenario. Reading your blog has given me lots of information and a plan to follow. Do you have any additional advice at all before I start the process? I am picking the kitten (Bear is his name) up Thursday afternoon and then I have a week off to spend time getting them adjusted.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear about Frankie's sister. That must be hard on both you and Frankie. When I lived at home we also had two sister cats from about 5 months old and one of them died around age 6 as well. Soon after we were accidentally gifted with a litter of kittens from our outdoor cat so she ended up with six new friends.
DeleteI think it's great that you're able to take a week off to help get Frankie and Bear integrated. In my experience the whole process took about three weeks, with an older cat like Frankie (Cleo is only 1 yo) it might take a little longer to get adjusted. My best advice is to try to be as relaxed as you can. I was a big stressball through the whole process and it turned out just fine.
At 10 weeks, I think Bear should be starting to play with toys (Sammy was about the same age when we got him) so make sure to put several small balls and other toys that he can bat around himself in his safe room. Sammy also loves things that dangled so we found some places to hang things for him around the room. Try to wear him out as much as you can when you start introducing him to Frankie. I don't know how active she is but at 6, I'm guessing she's probably pretty mellow, so it might be easier on both of them if he has other outlets for his energy.
I mentioned in one of the other comments that some people have had success with using vanilla extract. Place one small drop at the base of the tail and one under the chin on both cats. This is supposed to help them smell the same so they don't look at the other as a stranger. At the very least it will make your cats smell like sugar cookies.
Some people suggest using a product like Feliway. Personally I didn't see much of a difference in behavior, although I didn't use it until later in the process.
I think the hardest parts of the whole thing is staying calm and trying to spend enough time with both cats. After a week or so I also started playing music or a movie in Sammy's room when I couldn't be there so that he'd feel less lonely (I have no idea if this helped).
Best of luck!
Thanks for the advice. I will definitely try the vanilla - it can't do any harm and certainly less expensive than Feliway.
DeleteI will let you know how it goes :))
Kitties are doing much better. They are playing with each other in the mornings and my 3 year old just licked our kitten's feet. :)
ReplyDeleteYay! Jessica, that's great to hear! Isn't it such a relief when they finally start getting along?
Delete