How to Introduce New Cat to Household

It is a very big milestone to a pet lover to bring a second cat home. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of such a transition is absolutely dependent on the way you handle the initial few weeks. Cats are the animals of the habitats and they prefer their own space and set rules over all things. Coming back with pets in an unexpected manner can cause resentment, stress in life or even physical fights between pets. Through a systematic process, both cats will be able to be assured and comfortable in their mutual living space. This guide has given me twenty crucial guidelines on how to make my multi-cat home happy and peaceful.

The first step is to set up a Sanctuary Room

A new cat deserves its own area in which to relax after the stressful move. Select a small area such as a guest bedroom or a quiet office to use in this purpose. Prepare the room with littering box, food, water and a few hiding places. It is the place where the newcomer is able to get used to the sounds of your home without confrontation with the resident cat. This would keep them apart initially preventing a conflict of territory instantly and anxiety to both animals.

Gather Duplicate Supplies

The homes perceived to lack crucial resources are the cause of territorial tension. You ought to give the new customer his own bowl set, beds and scratching posts. It is recommended that there be one extra litter box to the total number of cats that your veterinarian has. This abundance of the resource does not make the resident cat feel that their territory is being stolen. Cats will not be much bothered as they have no reason to fight over the basics during the introduction.

Utilize Pheromone Diffusers

The presence of the synthetic pheromones will greatly reduce the levels of stress of both the new and resident cat. These products are imitations of the normal facial markers cats use to mark safe environment. Install the diffusers in the living rooms and the sanctuary room of your home. These smells also tend to reduce hissing and promote a feeling of overall wellbeing to many of the owners. Although it would not be considered a magic cure, pheromones offer a beneficial chemical basis of a peaceful encounter.

Respect the Resident Cat

The whether you replace or threat the current cat, on arrival of the new animal in the house, the current cat will feel threatened or replaced. They have to continue with their regular life so as to reassure them that their world is stable. Give them an additional one to one time playing with them or grooming them in their favorite places. Focus much attention on them and praise them verbally to make it clear that they occupy a certain position in the house. And an affirmed resident cat will readily accommodate a visitor as opposed to one that is envious.

Implement Scent Swapping

Cats use the sense of smell to recognize their friends and enemies. It should be done by rubbing a clean cloth on the new type of cat and laying it close to the bed of a resident cat. Same with the resident cat so that the new visitor can explore their scent without fear. This gives the two animals an opportunity to know each other by smell without them incurring the physical danger of physical confrontation. Swapping the scents between the two cats is the most significant factor in the process of creating a positive association between the two cats.

Conduct Site Swapping

When the two cats appear to have gotten used to each other and their scents, allow them to venture in other places. Take the resident cat to the room of the sanctuary, as the new personalities get to do with the rest of the house. This offers a new cat an opportunity to explore the area and seek shelter places. In the meantime, the house indoor cat has an opportunity to whiff deeply into the personal living quarters of the novelty. This activity enables the two cats to feel that they share certain areas of the house.

Feast dear through the doorway

The food can be used to form positive associations since it is a strong motivator. During dinner and lunch times, food bowls are placed on the other side of the closed door of the sanctuary room. If cat is fed on its favorite food, they will smell each other associating the food to a reward. Begin with the bowls which are some feet apart and draw them nearer to one another whilst staying still. In case you can hear hissing, push the bowls back until the cats feel at ease once again.

Use Visual Barriers

Once a few swaps have been tried successfully in terms of the scent and site, you may introduce the cats to one another. Separate them with a high baby gate, or a screen door, to ensure that they are not physically together, but can still see each other. Give great treats to the two cats as they watch each other over the barrier. Make these visuals sessions very short; they may only last two or three minutes each time. This is aimed at terminating each session prior to the manifestation of any form of aggression or fear.

Monitor Body Language

You have to get to know how to read the financial signs of cat stress when visualizing meetings. Pay attention to flattened ears, big pupils or a tail that is barking back and forth. A relaxed customer has a lax body and may even look away or groom himself. When one of the cats looks straight into the eyes of the other, it is an indication of an imminent battle. Distract them by use of a toy or at times close down the door to terminate the session.

Do Not Hurry the Process

The error that is most prevalent by the owners is their attempt to encourage a face-to-face meeting prematurely. Each pair of cats does not move at the same speed depending on the personalities of the cats. There are those cats that would befriend after three days and there are those that would be friended after three months. Giving in to discouragement on seeing a setback and attempting to overcome it is not the correct response. And all one has to do is to go back one step and remain there until both cats are relaxed.

Supervised Physical Meetings

The short face-to-face introduction can be attempted in case visual meetings continue to be successful. House the two cats in a single room and also make sure that they are separated by a good distance. Get someone to assist you and thus watch the two cats at the same time. Interactive wand toys are also good in order to keep them concentrated on a play but not focusing on each other. In case of a tense situation, get one cat moving peacefully away without opening and closing anything.

Keep Meetings Short

Physical contact during the first few minutes should be several minutes so as to avoid the overstimulation process. Nowhere is even a short and pleasant experience as good as a single long one that results in a fight. You would also prefer to make each cat of the interaction a successful non threatened event. Increase the length of such meetings gradually as you observe improved relaxed conduct on both sides. What they need is consistency that would form a strong foundation in the future relationship.

Provide Vertical Space

Cats also feel so secure when they are able to see their surroundings at a height position. Provide cat trees, shelves on the walls and seats on the windows throughout the joint living rooms. This enables a cat to get it out of a scenario by climbing up rather than being in an entrapment on the floor. The vertical space has been used well in making your home look larger to a cat. It offers an automatic safety valve to your pets that could avert physical friction among your pets.

Reward Positive Interactions

Having bag of treats always be in that room where the cats are not far apart. Make them have a reward whenever they look at each other in a calm or sniffing one another. Positive reinforcement learns them that achieving good things is done when the other cat is present. They should not be punished or yelled at when they hiss because it will make him/her develop a negative attitude towards the other cat. Rather, not only talk in a soft voice but also redirect their attention on a toy or a reward.

Manage Play Sessions

The use of interactive play is another excellent means of bonding the cats but you have to handle this. Make different cat wand toys so that the cats do not have to share the same prey. This rids the accidental swiping or biting which may arise in the heat of the moment. Play is useful in dissipating surplus energy that will otherwise be directed to reciprocal aggression. It is much a calmer and a tolerable lover in a fatigued cat.

Never put them to bed early

Always keep a watch over your cats before you are certain that they are okay with each other. A fight may erupt in their absence just because they appear fine but a mere noise makes them fight. When leaving the house or going to bed, put the new cat back in his sanctuary room. Then they will never have access to the house unless you have observed them groom or even nap together. This additional precautionary measure helps to avoid the accidental injuries during a vulnerable transition phase.

Handle Hissing Calmly

Hissing is an animal instinct of cats and does not necessarily indicate the potential appearance of a fight. It is merely a method in which a cat expresses itself, that she requires more space at the moment. When your cats are hissing at each other, then you must not panic and move physically. Allow the time to them to relax or carefully dispense them in case the tension increases. Such a behavior of setting boundaries will allow you to stay calm when going through the process of introduction.

Address Potential Bullying

Look at the resources guarding or bullying tendency, including one cat blocking access to the litter box. The bully may also occupy doorways to make sure that the other cat will not move inside the rooms. As soon as you see such a pattern, ensure you introduce additional resources to the various sections of the house. Ensure that in each room there are various ways of leaving so that no cat would get confined. Implementing a solution to these power dynamics at an early stage maintains a healthy environment and stress free environment to everyone.

Consult a Professional

In case you have to wait a few weeks before your cats stop fighting, consult an expert. Observation can be done by certified feline behaviorist who can give you specific ideas applicable at home. At times, medical problems may compel a cat to be more irritable or aggressive towards other people. The tension can not be caused by pain or illness and a visit to the vet just in time determines the truth about that. A relationship that would fail may be saved by seeking professional advice at an early stage.

Celebrate the Bond

After your cats live together, make time and congratulate yourself on your efforts. They may be sleeping together like in the same sunbeam or even grooming one another ears. These catly associates are too gratifying to any fanatic cat lover. It is necessary to keep in mind that each cat is a personality with its social needs and limits. Your obedience to their nature has ensured an ideal and healthy home to your pets.