How to introduce cats?

lilquote wrote:

I adopted a cat a few months ago. He's very sweet but has had limited exposure to other animals, aside from his time in the shelter. He's generally very curious when he smells another animal and has never shown signs of aggression.
I've been considering adopting a female cat as a companion for him. How should I go about introducing them? The cat I am considering would be a rescue from a high kill shelter. They're the same age but she has displayed a "lack of social skills", as in she shys way from being pet by humans.

I figure it's not the best idea to just put them in a room together. However, my current cat was said to be timid in the same way, but totally opened up when I brought him home. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Well first of course she has to get used to the new environment, that could take a while depending on the cat. For getting her used to the environment, when I had gotten a new cat, I grabbed a very, very slightly damp cloth and rubbed it over the cats fur and body to get as much of the scent of the cat as I could on the cloth, then I wiped the cloth over a few small points in the home that I knew were going to be in that particular cats vicinity if you're planning on keeping them in a specific area, you don't want to take over the entire place with the other cats scent though, it could overwhelm and give anxiety to your other cat, your other cat needs to get used to the scent as well, but this will help make the new cat feel a bit more comfortable.

You want to get both cats used to and familiar with the smell of the other cat in the same way. Use the damp cloth method, have two for each cat's scent and just introduce the scent to each cat, don't force them to have to be in constant vicinity of it, just place the cloth in front of each cat for them to smell for a few minutes, let them examine it for a while and then walk away. Then in another hour do that again and keep doing it every other hour for a while and for a couple of days. This also helps the cats associate that there is nothing harmful or dangerous about the scent as the cloth obviously isn't hurting them.

I would personally after doing that for a few days, allow them to kind of familiarize with each other, always, always, ALWAYS supervise them when they are in the same room with one another or are near by each other. Give them room to breathe, don't trap them and force them to interact if they are not comfortable with it, they will gain confidence and will test what the boundaries of the newfound relationship are in time.

Keep it slow but steady and progressive and always supervise them. I would keep them separated at night in different rooms when you're sleeping because you never know what could happen or transpire overnight without your awareness.

Eventually as they grow more used to each other and figure out the hierarchy, they'll find a comfort zone and this could be the potential time where they might start forming a bond of sorts. Be wary, but let them explore a bit and know not to stress them out too much. Make it gradual.

Ghost in the Machine wrote:

Well first of course she has to get used to the new environment, that could take a while depending on the cat. For getting her used to the environment, when I had gotten a new cat, I grabbed a very, very slightly damp cloth and rubbed it over the cats fur and body to get as much of the scent of the cat as I could on the cloth, then I wiped the cloth over a few small points in the home that I knew were going to be in that particular cats vicinity if you're planning on keeping them in a specific area, you don't want to take over the entire place with the other cats scent though, it could overwhelm and give anxiety to your other cat, your other cat needs to get used to the scent as well, but this will help make the new cat feel a bit more comfortable.

You want to get both cats used to and familiar with the smell of the other cat in the same way. Use the damp cloth method, have two for each cat's scent and just introduce the scent to each cat, don't force them to have to be in constant vicinity of it, just place the cloth in front of each cat for them to smell for a few minutes, let them examine it for a while and then walk away. Then in another hour do that again and keep doing it every other hour for a while and for a couple of days. This also helps the cats associate that there is nothing harmful or dangerous about the scent as the cloth obviously isn't hurting them.

I would personally after doing that for a few days, allow them to kind of familiarize with each other, always, always, ALWAYS supervise them when they are in the same room with one another or are near by each other. Give them room to breathe, don't trap them and force them to interact if they are not comfortable with it, they will gain confidence and will test what the boundaries of the newfound relationship are in time.

Keep it slow but steady and progressive and always supervise them. I would keep them separated at night in different rooms when you're sleeping because you never know what could happen or transpire overnight without your awareness.

Eventually as they grow more used to each other and figure out the hierarchy, they'll find a comfort zone and this could be the potential time where they might start forming a bond of sorts. Be wary, but let them explore a bit and know not to stress them out too much. Make it gradual.

Thanks for the quick and detailed response. My only concern now is that my boy has been meowing(he doesn't sound to be in pain or anything) and walking around the house a lot over the past few nights. I'm not exactly sure why he's crying (he's always got food and water in his bowls), but he stops when I play with him. Maybe he's bored but he used to do this excessively when we first adopted him, like he was nervously exploring the house every night.
However, he's usually crying like this in the middle of the night, then sleeps in the morning. I plan to bring the girl cat home this weekend and I wonder if the crying will get worse when she's here.
Maybe I should try and tire him out before bed?

lilquote wrote:

Thanks for the quick and detailed response. My only concern now is that my boy has been meowing(he doesn't sound to be in pain or anything) and walking around the house a lot over the past few nights. I'm not exactly sure why he's crying (he's always got food and water in his bowls), but he stops when I play with him. Maybe he's bored but he used to do this excessively when we first adopted him, like he was nervously exploring the house every night.
However, he's usually crying like this in the middle of the night, then sleeps in the morning. I plan to bring the girl cat home this weekend and I wonder if the crying will get worse when she's here.
Maybe I should try and tire him out before bed?

My old cat used to do this as well when I moved into a new place, but he would stop as soon as I came to him. I believe it's a display of fear or nervousness with something new or unfamiliar, in perhaps he senses something is about to change and feels better with you around as your presence is something familiar and comforting to him. Cats are quite spiritually sensitive and you'd be quite surprised of the things they can be capable of doing, they can have intuition like we can to 'know' things through the akasha, perhaps he picks up on your thoughts about the new cat. They interpret information differently than us, through pictures and images, so if you're imagining this new cat around the house and integrating these ponderings on how it would be, he could definitely sense this and interpret it as knowing that a new cat might come into the house and he is displaying discomfort. There's a reason cats made very good familiars for witches.

I can't determine the exact reason for this behaviour though for your cat specifically but that's what I think it may be. He could of course like you said could just be bored. Try to just spend a lot of time with him before you go to bed, play with him for an hour and hang out with him, follow him around if you must to see what is what; my cat always loved when I followed him as he'd lead me around all over the house, it gave him confidence and made him feel like a leader as well as comfortable to have me by his side like that.

My old cat used to have a weird routine with me too, he would not go to sleep no matter what unless I followed him around the kitchen, he would circle through the living room, around through the kitchen and back again and he would do this a couple of times with me following him before he'd finally settle onto my bed and sleep with me for the night. And if I didn't do this he would meow for literal hours until I did. Some cats just find comfort in something. Whatever makes him feel better, and makes him stop, do it and help him out, figure out what it is too if you can determine it whether it's boredom or if he really does sense the coming change. If it's the change, then he will eventually get used to it in time if you heed my advice from my previous post. I'm sure other members could also put in their two cents here.

Ghost in the Machine wrote:

My old cat used to do this as well when I moved into a new place, but he would stop as soon as I came to him. I believe it's a display of fear or nervousness with something new or unfamiliar, in perhaps he senses something is about to change and feels better with you around as your presence is something familiar and comforting to him. Cats are quite spiritually sensitive and you'd be quite surprised of the things they can be capable of doing, they can have intuition like we can to 'know' things through the akasha, perhaps he picks up on your thoughts about the new cat. They interpret information differently than us, through pictures and images, so if you're imagining this new cat around the house and integrating these ponderings on how it would be, he could definitely sense this and interpret it as knowing that a new cat might come into the house and he is displaying discomfort. There's a reason cats made very good familiars for witches.

I can't determine the exact reason for this behaviour though for your cat specifically but that's what I think it may be. He could of course like you said could just be bored. Try to just spend a lot of time with him before you go to bed, play with him for an hour and hang out with him, follow him around if you must to see what is what; my cat always loved when I followed him as he'd lead me around all over the house, it gave him confidence and made him feel like a leader as well as comfortable to have me by his side like that.

My old cat used to have a weird routine with me too, he would not go to sleep no matter what unless I followed him around the kitchen, he would circle through the living room, around through the kitchen and back again and he would do this a couple of times with me following him before he'd finally settle onto my bed and sleep with me for the night. And if I didn't do this he would meow for literal hours until I did. Some cats just find comfort in something. Whatever makes him feel better, and makes him stop, do it and help him out, figure out what it is too if you can determine it whether it's boredom or if he really does sense the coming change. If it's the change, then he will eventually get used to it in time if you heed my advice from my previous post. I'm sure other members could also put in their two cents here.

Thanks for the advice. After following him around for a few nights, I can safely say he just wants to play. He makes sure I'm following him, then starts hiding behind things and jumping out. :lol:

lilquote wrote:

Ghost in the Machine wrote:

My old cat used to do this as well when I moved into a new place, but he would stop as soon as I came to him. I believe it's a display of fear or nervousness with something new or unfamiliar, in perhaps he senses something is about to change and feels better with you around as your presence is something familiar and comforting to him. Cats are quite spiritually sensitive and you'd be quite surprised of the things they can be capable of doing, they can have intuition like we can to 'know' things through the akasha, perhaps he picks up on your thoughts about the new cat. They interpret information differently than us, through pictures and images, so if you're imagining this new cat around the house and integrating these ponderings on how it would be, he could definitely sense this and interpret it as knowing that a new cat might come into the house and he is displaying discomfort. There's a reason cats made very good familiars for witches.

I can't determine the exact reason for this behaviour though for your cat specifically but that's what I think it may be. He could of course like you said could just be bored. Try to just spend a lot of time with him before you go to bed, play with him for an hour and hang out with him, follow him around if you must to see what is what; my cat always loved when I followed him as he'd lead me around all over the house, it gave him confidence and made him feel like a leader as well as comfortable to have me by his side like that.

My old cat used to have a weird routine with me too, he would not go to sleep no matter what unless I followed him around the kitchen, he would circle through the living room, around through the kitchen and back again and he would do this a couple of times with me following him before he'd finally settle onto my bed and sleep with me for the night. And if I didn't do this he would meow for literal hours until I did. Some cats just find comfort in something. Whatever makes him feel better, and makes him stop, do it and help him out, figure out what it is too if you can determine it whether it's boredom or if he really does sense the coming change. If it's the change, then he will eventually get used to it in time if you heed my advice from my previous post. I'm sure other members could also put in their two cents here.

Thanks for the advice. After following him around for a few nights, I can safely say he just wants to play. He makes sure I'm following him, then starts hiding behind things and jumping out. :lol:

Cat's are animals that sleep during the day and the stay up during the night, the problem is if your cat is always in your home he is probably bored. If you do not want him to stay up at night then try to play with him during the day as much as you can and so he will learn when to play and when to sleep. I do this with my cat and it works.