Introducing a new cat to our home, we have 1 dog and 2 cats already?

Question

Any tips for doing so? the Dog is the youngest "10 month" is very friendly. Cats are 7 and 2 1/2 years old... are there gonna be problems?

Answer 1

well cats hate change so whenever you move a cat to a new home, or bring a new cat into your home, you should ideally have one room separate from all your other animals with a litterbox, food bowls, bed, and toys just for the new cat. The new cat should stay isolated from all other pets in this room and be visited by human family members throughout the day, this allows your new cat to adjust to the smells and sounds of your house, as well as adjust to the human family members, before they are introduced to other pets in the home. This process is neccessary because cats hate change, and to reduce stress, they should be introduced to change very slowly.
http://petvideo.com/index.cgi?category=24

after a couple of days of being isolated to one room of the house and visited by human family members regularly throughout the day, your cat is ready to start to be introduced to the furry members of your family (ie, your dog and other two cats); you may want to start this process by allowing the cats to paw at each other from underneath the closed door. I believe a good way to get them used to each other's smell is to rub down each cat with a separate towel, the two towels used to rub down your previous cats should go in the room with the new cat with some treats on top so that your new cat learns to associate the other cat's scents with a good thing like treats; then the towel used to rub down the new cat should be put in a common area for the other two cats to sniff and adjust to. After a few days of pawing underneath the door at each other you may take your existing dog and cats one at a time to the doorway of the new cat and open the door just a tiny bit so that they can all take turns smelling each other through the open door. Try to make this a positive experience for all the animals involved, give them treats and praise them for sniffing each other. Under no circumstance should you allow the animals to show aggression towards one another, you need to assure all of your pets that having a new animal in the house is a positive thing and that you are in charge, so they are all safe. After a few days of sniffing each other through the partly opened door, you may then graduate to the next step which is to carry your new cat around the house and show him/her all the different rooms one at a time. After a few days of this you may then leave the door open while you are home to supervise your pets interacting with the new cat. Continue to isolate the new cat in the room when you are not able to supervise until you are completely sure a fight will not break-out in your absense.
http://petvideo.com/index.cgi?category=26

remember that cats are extremely cleanly and territorial animals so each cat in your house should have separate food bowls and it's own litterbox offered to him/her
remember that having several clean litter boxes in the house will help prevent your cats from spraying and fighting; here is an article on "how to breed harmony in your multiple cat household" I think it will be helpful
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?dept_id=0&siteid=1&acatid=208&aid=752


good luck!

Answer 2

It is best to introduce new pets on neutral ground, such as the back yard, somewhere outside is best. Animals can be very Territorial, so if they meet outside of their home they will become friends and then when they are introduced in the house they will have already met so it wont be brand new. When you place them in the home, there shouldn't be any problems with the cat and the puppy, they should just want to play, the cat will show him when he has had enough. As for the other cats.....they will fight over their territory for a little while and then they will eventually become friends, this could take as long as 2 weeks, it will usually only take 1 week.
I hope this info helps. Good luck!

Answer 3

This so funny. Cause it seems to me that every winter, a stray cat will find it's way to 770 Barlow str. It happen to me this winter. She is a lovely older cat, brownish fur and dark brown paws. She is long haired and it could be most likley a Siamese cat. I do not know where she came from. Our two dogs are respectiveley 8 years old (poodle) and a new baby Chihuahua who is 6 month old. First the little dog, barked the heck out of it and scared the cat. But now they want to play with her. My poodle and the cat this morning hissed each other a short kiss. The poodle is alright with her and now the little Chihuahua is too. But the Chi is wondering why the cat won't play with it. Funny. They will get used to each other. They have there own way of doing that. Give it time!

Answer 4

When I first got my kitten my older cat would not like him AT ALL. what we did was we would take the new kitten out of the bedroom and kind of let the new cat smell him even though as soon at it will get near she would run away. then when we had to go to work we would leave the kitten in the bedroom all day with a litter box and food. we did that for probably a week until they got along. good luck.

Answer 5

http://www.bestfriends.org/theanimals/petcare/cats.cfm

This website can help answer your questions and any others you have about a new cat too. Good luck!!!