Bringing second cat home

akesha

Hi all,

my husband and I have a lovely cat, Dexter, an european short hair of 6 years old.

As we spend a lot of time outside at work, we always wanted to bring another cat to home (a british short hair kitten). We have a couple of doubts about doing this:

- Dexter had an acute renal failure in October. Now he is recovered, but he is on diet. We are not sure if Dexter or the new kitten will eat the wrong food. Could be bad if Dexter eats kitten's food? Could be bad if kitten eats renal diet?

- Adaptation phase. We read that it should last days, but we will have a weekend only, maybe 4 days if we get a day off. Dexter is very friendly, we only have seen him angry with vets So we think it won't be a problem, but we cannot be sure.

Thanks a lot!

Dandelion6

akesha wrote: »

- Adaptation phase. We read that it should last days, but we will have a weekend only, maybe 4 days if we get a day off.

No no no no no. You need to plan to keep them in separate rooms for a while. Possibly up to a few weeks or more, less if you're lucky. Read the advice here.

Shivi111

Hi, we have three cats, one of whom is on a special high fibre diet. We allow them to graze and tried to stop this when the special diet was needed which did prove difficult. We had a chat with vet & it was fine for everyone to eat the high fibre diet so that's what we ended up doing, so I guess that bit depends on what vet says.

I know there is an advised way to introduce cats, with long periods of separation and scent swapping and have been prepared to do this with each new kitten that came home (we've fostered once so the big cat has been through this three times, the second cat twice)... Perhaps we've been incredibly lucky but we've never needed to go through this, we've dropped the kitten into the household, completely supervised for a day or two to gauge the others reaction to the newbie and after a day or two of hissing and gentle bops on the head the newbie has been accepted. We've never had a cat fight. Mori has met new kittens at 6 months, 15 months and two years old with no problems, but I guess this could get more difficult as he gets older.

So, perhaps read up and be ready to separate if needed... But you might be lucky as we were... I certainly wouldn't leave the kitten alone with the older cat unless you were sure it had been accepted, eating side by side and mutual grooming are good signs I think.

Speedwell

It's good to keep the cats separated for a few weeks anyway, simply to ensure that little guy has the cat flu, ear mites, and whatever else handled before passing them on to your medically compromised adult cat. Also, the adult cat, who is coping with less-than-optimal health, will welcome a gradual, low-stress introduction.

I, too, had an adult cat adopt a kitten on sight. He was a neutered three-year-old male and the kitten was an eight-week-old female with a very compatible, gentle, friendly personality, and she won his heart from the first day. But here in Ireland, I have two fourteen-year-olds (one of which is the female kitten) and we adopted an Irish seven-week-old rescue, fully tested and vaccinated, and neutered at eleven weeks. The kitten is the rambunctious, bratty, independent sort, who is always pestering the big cats to play (and starting fights), and it took a full eight weeks and more to the point where the female adult grooms and sleeps near him and the male adult tolerates him. Now that the brat is nine months old, he has finally stopped jumping on the adults all the time, but things are not completely calm yet.

Manach

Bringing in another cat depends on a number of factors, age, temperment of both, if they live in an area with other cats etc. My own experience is there is always some tension at the start but it tends to reduce in frequency as they get used to each other, beyond the occasional spat. Having other pets present, such as dog, would also seem to introduce a better stage of socialisation.

akesha

We will ask the vet to know what we can do about the diet.

About the adaptation phase, we won't have weeks to do it, as we both are working. And I don't like the idea of enclosing the kitten in a room. I know Dexter, and he will go crazy about knowing a cat is there and not able to do anything about it.

Dexter is extremely friendly. I don't see a way in which he will start a fight with a kitten. He never hisses anyone but vets. And when strangers are at home, he starts to rub their legs, and put his legs up to get a caress. That's why I think that 3 or 4 days will be enough. We will go through all steps anyway, but quicker.

Also, Dexter is an indoor cat. We have bought a house recently, and we are preparing the garden to be cat proof and let them to go out. So he wasn't in contact with other cats in his entire life (but his brothers before we adopted him). He met a dog (my husband's family dog) and they are getting along very well.

Thanks for all your comments!

Dandelion6

akesha wrote: »

About the adaptation phase, we won't have weeks to do it, as we both are working.

You don't need to be there all the time during the adaptation phase.

And I don't like the idea of enclosing the kitten in a room.

Even when a new cat is an "only cat", it's usually recommended to leave them in a single room for a while. They find it easier to adjust to a new home when they can do it gradually, one room at a time, until they're comfortable with their new surroundings.

None of the other factors you've mentioned can reliably predict how Dexter and the kitten will get along after just a few days. Maybe they will and maybe they won't. Only thing that's guaranteed is that if they are introduced too quickly, it will be a lot more hassle in the long run than it would have been just to take the introductions at the recommended pace to begin with.