Caring For Your Cat

When you decide to bring another cat home, do not forget about how
your cat or cats will feel about a new cat.  You may be a little more
excited about getting a new cat than they will be letting another one
in their territory.  Even if your cat likes to be alone it could eventually
accept or at least tolerate the new cat.  You will also want to remember
that cats can be very territorial, which is why you should always be
careful when you introduce a new cat to the ones that you already have.

The length of time that it will take to get your cats to get along will depend
on each cat’s temperament and personality.  Each one will be different and
should be treated accordingly.  Do not forget about the cat or cats that you
already have, they do not want to feel left out, so shower them with lots of
love.  Give each cat some quality time with you so they know that they are
still appreciated and do not have to compete for your attention.  Mine often
will take turns with who gets to sit on mommy’s lap, but it took a while to
get to that stage.

When bringing the new cat home, you will want to keep them in a separate
room from the other cats for awhile.  It will be so much easier in the long
run that just having all of the cats together.  It could prevent some fights
between the cats.  When you keep your new cat in a separate room, make
sure they have plenty of food, water, toys, and a litter box.

Once you have the room set up for the new cat and they are comfortable,
you will want to start bringing in things that have the scent of the other cat,
and of course take something with their scent for the first cat.  You can even
try sharing one food dish for each cat, let one eat out of it and then take it
for the other one.

Once both cats have gotten used to the scent, you can begin to feed them
closer together.  You can feed them close to the door where the new cat is
staying and keep the door closed.  Try feeding them at the same time this
way.  After a few times of feeding them this way should lessen or eliminate
any hissing or growling.  When they can eat and not hiss or growl at each
other you can then introduce them to each other.

When they do finally meet face to face, there could still be some hissing
and growling, but hopefully not too much.  Your first cat still thinks that
the house is their territory.  Eventually they will get along; it could be a
few days to over a year.  It depends on the cats themselves.  It took mine
almost a year to finally at least tolerate each other.

There is one thing that brings all of my cats together no matter what their
mood is or how much they do not want to be around the other cats.  It is
Playtime.  All I have to do is get out the string and they all come running
and grabbing and jumping for the feather or mouse on the end of the string.
It is the most precious thing to see, all of them getting along and playing
together.

So when you do decide to bring a new cat home, just be patient with all of
them.  They will eventually get along, or at least tolerate each other.  Try
getting them to play with each other; it may be what will bring them together.