How do I introduce a new cat into a house that already has two adult cats?

Question

I am thinking of adding a third cat to our household. We have two adult males now, both fixed and almost five. Should I get a kitten around 15 to 18 weeks old or should I get an older cat? Also should the new kitty be male or female also fixed? How do we do this so they all will get along and the older one's won't terrorize the new arrival?
Thanks K

Answer 1

1. Let your adult cats smell the box (if you brought your kitten home in a box) that your kitten came home in. This will help the adult cats get to know the kitten's smell.

2. Separate the new kitten and the adult cats for the first few days, maybe a week. Do not let your new kitten be bullied by your adult cats and leave him to fend for himself with your adult cat(s)!

3. Do not ignore your adult cat(s) and give all your attention to your new kitten. This will only perpetuate the situation. Allow times where you will play only with the adult cat(s). Maybe there will be a time when you will spend a full hour with your adult cat(s), while your spouse spends that hour with the new kitten. That way, the kitten will have a lot of individual attention, and your adult cat(s) will also, and they will not feel ignored. Again, a lot of times the reason why the adult cat(s) do not like the kitten is because they feel threatened for their owner's attention.

4. Slowly let your adult cat(s) and new kitten come into contact with each other, with your supervision, for short periods of time, building up to more and more time every day, with less and less supervision. Let them smell each other- they won't always just attack each other. They need to "get to know each other." Also, some adult female cats take new kittens under their wings and let them "nurse" on them! But then other adult cats will never like the new kitten, no matter how much time goes by.

5. It also may help to "condition" your adult cat(s)-- whenever you show them the new kitten/let the kitten come out and see the adult cat(s), give them their favorite treat. So, every day for two weeks or so, whenever the new kitten comes out, give the cats tuna fish as soon they see the new kitten. The adult cat(s) should start associating the new kitten with the treat, and therefore liking the new kitten more. As time goes on and they get more used to the kitten, you can slowly stop doing this.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Cats are usually more accepting of a kitten than an adult kitty.
Keep the new kitty in a separate room for a few days, let the resident cats sniff around the door & get familiar with the new sent. Slowly introduce them all for a while each day (supervised in case of a smack down). So, you will need a seperate litter box & food/water bowels for new kitty for a while.
Also, this method is good for new kitty because they feel more secure with their own quiet space.
Now, with that said.. the more cats you have, the more the odds are that you will have behavior problems out of one or more. Overcrowding can be a problem. Inappropriate urinating ect.. Just something to think about. My vet seems to think if you have males, you should get a female. I'm not sure about that one.

Good luck & God bless

Answer 3

Introducing A Third Cat

Answer 4

There are plenty of multi-cat households. We've got five, and they all were introduced at different times, we didn't get them all at once.

The kitten idea is nice, but those were the introductions that kept one cat's nose out of joint for a while since the kitten had trouble respecting personal boundaries (the adult female didn't want the youngster within 3 feet of her and all the kitten wanted to do was jump on her tail). The adult to adult introductions went pretty smooth. We've got 2 female and 3 males--the adult tomcat (soon fixed!) introductions went best. No jockying for position, no 'this place is mine', just some hissing, keeping their distances, and everyone stayed calm.

The newcomer should be supervised quietly for the first 2 days, and separated into a closed room for the night for a day or two to keep things calm. Feed everyone in separate bowls in different areas of the room, with their backs to each other, it helps cut down on stress at meal times. You can pull the group together later with one bowl when they're all ok with eating with no fuss.

Keep the litter box extra clean during the introduction time too.

There'll be stress, but being calm about it is the best way to deal with it. If there is face to face posturing and the start of yowling, grab a broom (NO don't hit either of them!) and put it between the two to break the eye contact. This allows both to back down without feeling like the need to fight is mandatory. It gives the fearful cat a quick window of retreat knowing that they won't be chased. And it keeps you out of harm's way as well. We call it the 'Paw of Mom', they have to listen.

Answer 5

Seems to me that male cats are always more tolerant of new arrivals. If you get a female kitten (fixed or fertil) there is gonna be a series of dominance skirmishes between the two males. Let the older cats terrorize the younger, that's how cats do cat business. They wont hurt a kitten. Just put your new arrival on the floor and let the cats sort things out.

Answer 6

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Here's how we introduce new comers to our gang: Cats need to be introduced very slowly. First of all, we do not allow a new cat to have any contact with our other cats until a vet has given the new cat a clean bill of health. This includes tests for such things as FIP and Feline Leukemia. Cats can be successfully introduced to each other regardless of their ages. We have successfully added adult cats to your family containing both young and old cats as well as introducing very young kittens to the other cats. It has to be done slowly. If you simply put them together, you will fail the vast majority of the time. The new cat has to be given time to get used to you and the new environment. The existing cat has to get used to the smell of the new cat. We introduce cats by keeping the new cat in the back room for up to a month. My office is there as is my wife's sewing table. There is a sofa and bookshelves. We spend a lot of time with the new cat to get them used to us, the new environment and the new smells. After they accept us with no problems, we put a screen door on the back room door frame and let everyone see each other for a week or so. It may take a lot less time than a month to get to this point but we just take it slow and easy. Once we judge it safe to do so, we let the new cats out into the house and chaperon the first encounters. We've only ever had one problem introducing cats like this and that problem was resolved in a couple of weeks. We've had 25 cats over the past 22 years and many of them were adults - 12 and older - when they joined our family. We've also introduced several kittens, ranging from ages of 7 weeks to 4 or 5 months, to the rest of the crew with no problems. You have to take it slow. If you can't put up a screen door, perhaps two baby gates, stacked one on top of the other, will close off the door but still allow the cats to see each other. If you can't use a screen door or baby gates, try letting the existing cat into the room with the new cat for a few minutes while you chaperon. If things get bad, take the cat out of the room. You just have to introduce cats slowly There are cats who could be thrown together and become pals but they are few and far between.

Answer 7

Contact your local Humane Society, there is a pamphlet that will help you with that task

Answer 8

I think 2 cats is already 1 too many. please don't get a 3rd.