Misbelief About Cats’ Sociability
There’s a misbelief that cats are not social animals but that’s simply not true. Cats will appreciate and thrive if they can enjoy the company of another cat like the stray cats in your community too. And like people, some cats will become best friends and sometimes will never do. But what’s true is that cats that won’t be buddies at least learn how to avoid each other and respect their boundaries.
Cat Personalities
Cat personalities can be divided into two major generic types: timid and fearful, and confident and friendly cats. Depending on the personalities of the cats that we want to introduce, dynamics may vary. In order to create a good first impression and ensure a long-lasting friendship, we need to use a protocol that’s going to work no matter the personalities of the cats that we’re trying to introduce. If we don’t use a protocol, we leave too much to luck and aggression might happen, making the bonding between the two cats way more difficult or even impossible. Some of the non-medical causes for aggression between cats can include fear, lack of socialization, not enough space (we’re going to talk more about it later), few resources like water, food, litter, and finally, an improper introduction of a new cat.
Identifying Your Cat’s Personalities
I want to share with you how to identify your cat’s personalities as well as provide a protocol that’s going to help you in the case that you want to introduce your cat to other cats or you’re bringing a newcomer home. If you’re a new cat mom or a new cat dad or even if you’ve had a cat for a while and you’re looking for a fresh start, consider subscribing. I’m going to be uploading weekly content with tips and tricks to improve your cat’s life and do more with your cat.
Introducing a New Cat: Step-by-Step Process
I would love to tell you that there’s one proven way to introduce the cats, give you a schedule: day one do this, day two do that. It doesn’t work like that. Every cat is different, every interaction and every dynamic is going to differ, so most of the time we’re going to have to play it by ear.
The process that will ensure the quickest and safest cat-to-cat introduction goes as follows: scent sharing, creating a place of comfort, scent coexistence, visual contact, and finally, get-together. Each one of these steps is going to take a different amount of time depending on the couple that we’re trying to introduce, from several hours to days. The objective is to move forward as far as there’s no tension. With every step, we create positive reinforcement through our cat’s motivators: sets, food, and play. If fear, hissing, or aggression show up, we’re going to move one step back until a more relaxed and comfortable mood is established again. And here’s the trick: if you can supervise this process closely, you’re going to be able to go more back and forth and accelerate the process with it.
Every Cat Introduction is Unique
Every cat introduction is unique, so I would recommend you to not have preset expectations, but anything between 2 and 10 days is considered normal for two cats’ introduction. Despite the bond, it’s not going to show up until later on. I’ve introduced Cosmo to four friends’ cats already. With two of them, the relationship is amazing. They chase each other, they play, they even groom each other. With one of them, we’re a work in progress, and the last one, it looks like it’s not working so far, but we’re going to keep on trying.
Understanding Hissing and Growling
Before we start, hissing and growling are normal behaviors in cat-to-cat dynamics or inter-cat aggression. The cat who hisses is usually the victim, the one that’s being chased or antagonized. When it happens, it’s an indication to stop and take a step back. If we don’t, things might escalate and set us back several steps or even forever. One thing I’ve learned through all these introductions is that if you let two cats figure it out, chances are they won’t.
Roles of Resident and Incoming Cats
Let’s put names to things. In the case that we’re introducing cats indoors, we’re going to have two different roles: the resident cat is the cat that belongs to the territory, the one that has all the soft surfaces impregnated with their smell. The resident cat is characterized by being territorial, protective, and dominant. On the other hand, we have the incoming cat, which is the cat that’s new to the territory. They have no place of comfort and everything is impregnated with another cat’s smell. They are characterized by being curious, unsafe, uncomfortable, and sometimes even overwhelmed.
When introducing cats outdoors, the story is different. Both cats are going to be non-dominant and the dynamics are going to define which cat is dominant and which cat is not. In today’s tutorial, I want to focus on cat-to-cat introductions happening in an indoor environment with a resident cat and an incoming cat. I’m super curious what kind of cat introduction you are planning on doing and why did you decide to do it? Leave it in the comments. I would love to know what brought you to this article.
Preparing for the Incoming Cat
Introducing two cats should start before the incoming cat arrives. Because we’re going to be using food as a positive reinforcement tool, we need to be able to control when our cat is going to eat. If you are free-feeding your cat, meaning that you always have a bowl of dried food available for them, you should remove it. Instead, we need to put our cat on a schedule, eating two or three times a day. I would recommend one meal at 7 am, one meal at 3 pm, and the last meal at 11 pm.
Not free-feeding our cat is also a great way to get our cats to sleep through the night. If you’re curious about it, if you want to know more about it, you can check out this YouTube article where I explain how can you train your cat to sleep through the night. By quitting free-feeding, we are also going to increase the value of the food and therefore the positive reinforcement is going to be stronger.
Setting Up a Comfort Room
The second thing we want to do before the incoming cat arrives at our place is preparing a room for them to be in. This room or area is going to become their place of comfort, their sanctuary. In the case that we’re introducing a recently adopted cat, it’s important that we visit the pet supply store before the cat arrives home. The cat doesn’t know us yet and they are generally overwhelmed, so preventing the cat from going to the pet supply with us is going to make them a favor. To set up their place of comfort or their sanctuary, you’re going to need five things: a soft surface or blanket that they have already impregnated with their own smell, a litter box and some litter, some self-playing toys so that they can entertain themselves such as mice or balls that they can chase around (and do not worry if they don’t play at the beginning, the surroundings are way more interesting than the toys that they have on the floor), and finally, a water bowl and a food bowl.
The last thing that we can do before the newcomer gets home is scent sharing. There are two good ways to do it. The first one: swap soft tissue toys between the cats, those that can absorb smells. This is going to help them link the other cat’s smell with a positive experience such as playtime. The second one is petting the incoming cat after having pet the resident cat and vice versa.
Creating a Positive Environment
Because we love our cats and we’ve done our homework, we’re going to receive the incoming cat to a home that’s ready to receive them. This means that there’s a designated area or room that the resident cat doesn’t have access to anymore, where the incoming cat has everything they need to be happy and at peace. When we get home, we’re going to take the incoming cat directly to their place of comfort, if possible avoiding visual contact between the two cats. You can achieve this by covering the carrier with a blanket or by placing the resident cat in a separate room while you move the incoming cat from the car to their place of comfort.
Once the incoming cat is in their place of comfort or their sanctuary, leave the carrier on the floor, open it up, but do not take the cat from the carrier. Let the incoming cat leave the carrier at their own pace. If overwhelmed, just leave some food and water and leave the room. The real work starts now. This process can go as quickly or as slowly as you see fit. We are going to consider our cats can move to the next step when they are comfortable and curious instead of being tense and agitated.
Recognizing Signs of Discomfort
Your cat might show some of the following behaviors when afraid or uncomfortable: running away, hiding, aggression (which includes spitting, hissing, growling, swatting, biting, scratching, puffing fur and tail, arching their back, twitching tail, and flattening the ears). If any of that happens, it means that you went too far too soon.
Step-by-Step Introduction Process
Keeping our cats separate while working on creating a positive association with the other cat’s smell is the very first step towards success. This means putting them in separate rooms. This next step is all about allowing our cats to get to know each other by smell and sound before they have any visual contact. This is because cats have a very strong body language and they can trigger aggression or fear in the other cats as well. In this phase, we’re going to create a positive association with each other’s smell. Every cat motivator is different, but the main three are play, cuddle, and food, with food being the most common one. What this means is that we’re going to offer our cats opportunities to have positive experiences while smelling the other cat’s smell.
Examples of Creating Positive Associations
For a cat that’s food-motivated, a good opportunity to create a positive association is feeding that cat while the other cat is present (present in terms of smell, remember that they are not going to see each other). A good way to achieve that is having both cats sitting on opposite sides of a door. This practice is great because you can put the food bowl closer or farther from the door to increase or diminish the amount of scent that they are perceiving, so you can start a little farther away and get closer with every meal.
For a cat that’s play-motivated, we’re going to draw the cat’s attention closer to the door where the incoming cat is and we’re going to play there. By creating playtime opportunities close to the door that’s separating both cats, both cats are going to be experiencing the smell and also having that positive association with play. Finally, a way to share smell if our cat is a snuggle or cuddle-motivated: cuddle with our cats while we are wearing clothes that are impregnated with the other cat’s smell. Be alert for signs of stress and agitation; you can always diminish the intensity of the experience by drawing your cats further from the source of the smell.
Allowing Partial Visual Contact
Allowing partial visual contact is going to fulfill some of their curiosity without allowing them to see full-body expressions that are going to transmit body language and might trigger aggression or fear. For this, I like using a slightly open door with one cat on each side. There might be some hissing or growling and that’s okay, but be alert for signs of aggression or fear, and if that happens, close the door and go to the previous step where they can smell but not see each other. Feeding our cats together might be a good way to create a bond as it is for many animals, but it can also make them fearful that their food might be under threat. Start by putting down the resident’s food bowl first because failing to do so might put the resident cat in territorial mode. Also, feed them at a distance when they feel comfortable and relaxed. How do you know if your cat is comfortable eating?
Well, that’s an easy one: face down in the food versus eyes up controlling the other cat, intermittent eating and going away versus finishing the bowl, alert and scared versus being laying down or with the tail up while eating. If the eating phase is successful, we can start thinking about letting them interact, because interacting with a full stomach usually leads to better experiences. So it’s a good idea to do it after a meal with visual contact.
Handling the First Interaction
Contrary to what we would imagine would happen when we opened the door, the incoming cat is absolutely going to ignore the resident cat. Instead, their curiosity is going to want them to roam around and get to know the place. It is common that the resident cat will follow the incoming cat while the exploration happens. A small hiss or growl or even a swat is normal and can be accepted.
This is a cat’s way to ask for personal space. If one cat attacks the other though, they have to be separated immediately. To be able to do that, we should not let the cats roam around on their own, because cats are smart and they might be able to figure it out, but the outcome of them figuring it out might not be the outcome that we’re looking for, especially if one of them feels trapped and the situation escalates. Ensure that the less dominant cat always has an escape route.
No Preset Expectations
I highly encourage you to not have preset expectations, because every couple of cats is going to be different. While some cases might be very fast, some might take days, even weeks. But be sure that cats are happier in pairs, so if you can afford to have a second cat in your home, you’re going to be rewarded with some personal space because they will play with each other instead of bothering you, and twice as much cuddle time.
If you found this article interesting, fun, and educative, and you haven’t subscribed yet, consider subscribing. I am going to be uploading new content on a weekly basis on how to improve your cat’s life and do more with your cat. Thank you for reading this article and happy cat introductions! See you soon!
