I’m going to start this article off by stating – I’ve never had more than one cat before. Not yet at least, I expect to sometime in the (hopefully) very near future.
Taking this household from a one cat, to a two-or-three cat household has always been my plan. But I haven’t done so yet for a couple reasons.
My first reason? Moving. I knew I was going to be making a massive cross-continental move from Canada to the UK, and didn’t want to be taking more cats on this trip than necessary, so I didn’t adopt a second cat while I was in Canada. My current reason for not adopting a second cat? Space.
Right now I live in a studio flat, and while I’d be okay having two cats in this apartment, as I’ve ironed out most of the kinks when it comes to living with cats in small apartments, I feel it just wouldn’t be a good idea to introduce two cats in such a small space, where it’d be hard to separate the cats if I needed to.
Having been interested in adopting a second cat for quite some time (Edit 03/24/2019: I have, and so here’s a personal update to this post based on my perspective now; Edit II 05/30/2019: Now also have an article up with my tips on how to encourage cats to get along), I’ve looked up and discussed potential issues that may arise with quite a few people; and since my brother is hoping to do the same, getting his cat Beau a sibling once he’s settled into his new place, we’ve chatted a lot about other people’s experiences with taking in a second cat even just between ourselves.
Then I get this comment –
Hi! I have two cats in my household, an almost two year old cat named Tonya and a kitten who is seven months named Sasha. Before adopting Sasha, Tonya and I were inseparable. It would physically pain me to leave her at home when I would go to school. But, every night that I came home, she would purr with excitement and played with me until she was tired. Then, she would always wait for me in bed to sleep through the night together. After adopting Sasha, I noticed a complete behavior change. Tonya became entirely standoffish- and as a result, runs away when I get near her, does not sleep with me at all, and meows in frustration whenever I pick her up. It breaks my heart because I love her and her sister equally, but I don’t understand the reason for this behavior switch. I can only assume it has to do with the adoption of her sister, but it’s been months since I’ve gotten Sasha and surely Tonya would’ve adjusted by now? What can I do to resolve this? Any and all advice would be very appreciated, thank you!
And I know I have to address this topic on my blog. It may not be as common a problem as cats scratching up your furniture, but personality changes in your first cat after you’ve adopted a second are not uncommon, and so I don’t think it’s a topic that should be overlooked.
When reading through this post, please keep in mind I have no personal experience with any of this.
The opinions I have come from theories I have about cats and their behaviour, my own personal biases, as well as some research I’ve done digging through forums and social media posts for opinions left by other cat owners.
Please do your own research, talk to your vet, and all that jazz to help you make up your own mind, but my 2c is up here as a conversation starter at least, as well as for anyone who wants it.
Personality Change in Only Child Cat After Second Cat Adopted
The “Only Child” Velcro-Cat Personality
While not true of all “only child” cats, many who adopt a solitary cat into their household find their cat exhibits the traits of a velcro cat: incredibly cuddly, highly affectionate, and enormously needy and attention seeking.
What kinds of behaviours do these types of cats exhibit?
To name a few: the cat will often follow their human around the house, become upset when they leave (even if it’s for short periods of time), sit and sleep consistently by their human’s side, and may even whine, cry, or try to grab attention in other ways when they feel the attention their human is giving them is not enough.
Some pet owners, while loving and appreciating their cats for their velcro-cat personality, also find the behaviours a bit concerning since they worry when they leave their cat alone at home, especially if they have to do so for long hours for work, their cat may be incredibly lonely.
So they, with the best intentions at heart, take in a second feline…
The Somewhat Common Personality Shift In the First Cat When a Second Is Adopted
I’m going to stress: this definitely doesn’t happen to every only child velcro-cat, but there are many firsthand accounts of pet owners witnessing their first cat’s personality change dramatically after the introduction of a second cat into their household.
The type of change we’re talking about? An almost anti-social attitude toward the human in comparison to before the introduction of the new cat. The first cat will sometimes refuse to be picked up, hate being petted, become agitated at their human for trying to give affection, while before the new family member came home, the first cat would have loved that kind of attention.
One thing I want to note here: many behavioural changes can happen to cats, not only after introducing a second, but even a third, fourth, fifth, or even sixth cat.
Cats can develop a plethora of issues, from peeing outside of litter boxes to refusing to eat, when they are unhappy with the new addition to the family.
But, while these behavioural changes are incredibly important to pay attention to and take seriously, especially as they can always be signalling something besides stress is actually wrong with your cat, these other behavioural changes are not what I’m talking about here.
What I’m specifically addressing is the aspect that seems to be different about the introduction of the second cat.
The personality change many “only child” cats undergo from being overly cuddly to being a bit anti-social to their pet owners – and not any other behavioural change.
Again – all behavioural and personality and behavioural changes are serious, and should be paid close attention to in case a cat is ill or unhappy and needs the stress to be remedied through human intervention.
But I’m not going to get into other behavioural changes besides this one in this post, since behavioural and personality changes over a new feline family member in general merit an entirely different article.
What Could Account for the Shift In Personality?
For the most part, we only have theories. Not enough research in general has been done on cats to know even the most basic things about them.
We still don’t even know what their ideal diets are, let alone why they socialize the way they do and how to make life perfect for them inside our homes.
But the theories we do have are helpful and make a lot of sense.
The likely explanation for the personality change in a first cat after the adoption of a second cat?
Pretty much the exact same thing that accounts for a behaivoural shift in any resident cat when any new cat (third, fourth, fifth, sixth…) is introduced – your resident cat is stressed out by the new addition to the family, and this stress is causing your resident’s cat behaviour to alter.
The good news? If it all boils down to stress over the new cat – there’s one simple solution you can try that may fix everything.
And no, it’ doesn’t involve giving your new cat away.
The Likely Solution: Re-Introduce the New Cat Very Slowly
Yes, you may have tried to introduce your cats before, but either you didn’t do it right, or your first cat wasn’t a fan of how quick the introduction process took place.
So what can you do? Just start over. Pretend that first bit never happened.
Been a few months since they were introduced? Feel it’s impossible to get the first impression right after so much time has passed?
Honestly, while first impressions are a big deal – you can have a second shot at a first impression with re-introduction.
Don’t write it off before you try it, no matter how much time it’s been since the two were initially thrown together.
How to Re-Introduce Cats Successfully
I’ll do my best to get a full fledged article out on the ins and outs of introducing cats, including some tips for troubleshooting, but in the meantime, here’s a not-so-short play-by-play of what the process of re-introduction should look something like:
1. Keep each cat in a different room.
Make sure each cat has everything he or she needs (litter box, water, food, scratching post, etc.), and ideally, make sure the cats can’t see, hear, or smell one another.
So don’t have one cat roaming the living room, able to sniff beneath the door of the other. Keep each in an individual room and shut the doors so neither can access the other at all.
Spend enough time with each of them, essentially maintaining a “two only child cats” household.
2. Give the old cat some time to reset and become less anxious.
Your old cat will undoubtedly smell your new cat on you when you come in to spend time with him or her, and this is almost guaranteed to make your old cat anxious, so don’t feel bad if your cat doesn’t reset back completely to his or her old personality just because they have their own room.
Nonetheless, with his or her own space, your cat’s anxiety should get a lot better. Once the anxiety looks like it’s subsided a considerable amount, proceed to the next step.
3. Bring in blankets and clothes that smell like the first cat into the second cat’s room and vice versa.
Obviously, there’s likely to be a lot of hissing at first.
But keep making your cats smell the scent of the other cat. The hissing and anxiety should really lessen over time. Once you’re at that point…
4. Introduce your new cat to the old cat through the bottom of the door.
Don’t jump the gun and put the cats together in a room. Just let the new cat roam around the outside of your old cat’s room.
Your old cat, again, will probably throw a hissing fit, but that’s okay. Leave the new cat outside the door to sniff for a few minutes, then take him or her back into their own room.
Rinse and repeat 5-6 times a day until your old cat seems to finally be okay with the new cat being outside. Then finally…
5. Bring both cats together into the new cat’s room.
I think it’s probably better to be bringing the old cat into the new cat’s room so your old cat doesn’t feel his or her space is threatened by the new cat. But of course, I haven’t done this before, so please correct me if you think I’m wrong in the comments.
Ideally, when you bring the cats together, you should have one person with each of the cats, doing your best to distract them both with play, food, catnip, and anything else the cats like.
Keep trying to have visits once or twice a day until the two cats are finally okay with the other’s company.
6. Let the new cat into the house, and when the old cat is ready, open his or her door into the house as well.
First, allow the new cat to roam the house freely so the old cat feels his or her constant presence outside his or her door and becomes okay with it.
Once your new cat is ready – and you should be able to tell by anxiety being a lot lessened even though the new cat is always around outside – open the door for your old cat, but leave the room as is, in case your old cat feels a need to retreat.
I’d recommend keeping your old cat’s room door closed after he or she leaves so the only cat allowed in is your old cat. Once your old cat is finally happy and rarely ever runs back to his or her room to escape, you can ditch the room made just for him or her and place everything wherever you want in the house.
Why a Re-Introduction Should Help
Since your first cat is likely only behaving differently because he or she is stressed, re-introducing your cats should help your first cat to be a lot less anxious about the new cat.
Why? It’s a lot easier to get used to something completely new when the introduction happens gradually.
Ever heard a song on the radio you thought was weird or annoying and really didn’t like? Then heard it a couple more times and thought, “Meh, I guess it’s okay but still not great.”
Chances are, if it became a hit and you slowly and gradually started hearing it more and more often, you’d get used to the fact that it was around and maybe even come to enjoy it and not just tolerate it.
Re-introducing cats slowly and gradually is something like that process.
How Long Will Re-Introducing Properly Take?
Honestly, I have no clue. It really depends on your cats.
From what I’ve seen, introduction and re-introduction could take little to no time a tall – a day, half a week? But if your old cat is really anxious around the new one, it could take up to a month, maybe even more than that.
I have no real timeline to share with you on this one.
What Happens If I Don’t Re-Introduce My Cats?
Without re-introduction, there’s the possibility that the two cats will over time become okay with each other’s company, or even begin to enjoy it, but this could take ages to happen, and there’s no guarantee it ever will.
Re-introduction significantly improves the chance your cats will be okay with or even start to like one another, so it’s definitely advisable to attempt a re-introduction if you aren’t happy with your cats’ current relationship.
Obviously, you should take the process seriously and slowly to get the best results, but done right, the re-introduction should drastically help reduce stress.
Is The First Cat’s Personality Guaranteed to Revert Back Normal?
While the re-introduction will almost certainly help, it is possible your first cat will not go back to normal.
I’ve seen accounts of first cats going back to normal 100%.
I’ve seen accounts of first cats going nearly back to normal, but being less needy because they begin to get more attention from a source besides you (the new cat), and thus aren’t so desperate for your attention.
This is a situation I consider to be a great success if you were worried about your first cat being lonely while you weren’t home and that’s what led you to adopt a second in the first place.
I’ve seen a couple accounts where both cats turn out to be crazy attention-lovers, and actually end up competing for their human’s attention – which I mean, I’d never have expected to hear that, but sound to-die-for levels of cute to me!
But I have to admit – I have also seen accounts from pet owners saying their cats have not gone back to velcro-cat personality types at all, really, and that upon the adoption of a second cat, their first simply behaves in ways that “normal” cats typically behave – being a little standoffish and putting up with petting at times, but not always following them around the house, looking for cuddles, like they would have been before.
What I’d recommend in situations where your cats are fine together but your old cat doesn’t return to normal?
Give your old cat some time, and tackle the particular problems that arise as they do. If your old cat begins to run away from you, train him or her to stop running away.
If he or she stops liking cuddles, re-train your cat to be cuddly. Things should improve considerably over time, though it may take more time and effort than you’d hoped.
Do You Have Any Advice for Cat Owners Adopting a Second Cat?
I would love to hear your thoughts and experience with regards to taking a household from a single-cat household to a multi-cat one.
Have you done it yourself? What was your “only child” cat’s personality like?
How did you introduce the cats and did your cat’s personality change when the new cat was introduced?
If your cat’s personality changed, did it ever go back?
Did you try re-introduction? Did re-introduction help, and if so in what ways did it work or not work?
You would be helping out so many pet owners thinking about adopting a second cat, as well as ones who have already taken the plunge in becoming a multi-cat household: so please do share any and all insights you have below!
My first cat, Charlie, was a velcro cat until I recently adopted his little sister, Gemma. Charlie is 1.5 years old and Gemma is 7 months. I introduced them very slowly and they started to get along almost immediately. They absolutely love each other, which is exactly what I wanted! I am so happy Charlie has a friend now, but, while he is not “anti-social” with me, there have been some noticeable changes to his behavior with me. He used to purr whenever I pet him and roll on his back and expose his belly; he doesn’t do that anymore. In fact, he seems to just tolerate my pets. He still comes to cuddle on my lap when it’s cold and I am wearing his favorite blanket, but honestly it seems like he cares about the blanket more than me 🙁 He still sleeps with me at night (so does Gemma), but I never wake up to find him purring on my chest and nuzzling my neck anymore, which was literally my favorite thing ever. He still follows me into the bathroom, but he doesn’t meow at me with big curious eyes like he’s saying “hello! I love you!” anymore.
The good thing is, he is clearly happy and very much in love with Gemma, but I just miss his cuddles and his affection! I hope they will come back. The other good news is that Gemma is highly affectionate with me.
I’ve only had Gemma for 3 weeks, so I am hoping Charlie just needs more time to adapt. He loves her, but it’s still a big change, right?
Hi, it’s been a while since you wrote this but any chance you can tell me how it turned out? Thinking about getting a second cat and I’m worried about this. Thanks in advance.
I have a 2 year old that used to hang in the same room with me every day and cuddle me at least several nights a week on the couch and sleep on me or beside me. I adopted a kitten and those behaviors all stopped. However, as she has grown to love her new sister, she is slowly becoming more affectionate. She slept on my for the first time this week! After two months. But still lays by me at night. No couch cuddles but is happier to be pet than before. She’s definitely not her normal self yet, but I’m hopeful that will improve.
I have a 13 year old female named Salem and an 11 week old kitten named mochi and salem used to be so lovable and give kisses and snuggle with me at night but every since I bought the kitten into the house she won’t even get near me I feel like my best friend hates me 😢😢 and only wants to interact with me when food is involved but the kitten won’t leave me alone or let me spend time with Salem plz help 🆘 💔💔😢😢
I have this same problem :/ my Bella used to be way more affectionate. She’s 8 years old and started to get anxiety and urinary issues whenever I’d leave home for a bit. I got a kitten who is 4 months old named Minerva taco, and they get along great now. In fact, Bella and her are constantly playing and groom each other. But now, Bella growls at me and while she tolerates petting, she won’t play or interact. Meanwhile my kitten is super cuddly with me and follows me everywhere. I don’t know what to do :/
Any advice? Thanks!
Hi, I’m also looking for advice:
I grew up with dogs, but since moving away from home thought it would be a better idea to get a cat instead to live with me in my single bedroom apartment on the fourth floor. I adopted two-year-old FeLV+ Sabrina, and she’s our little love. She was a little bit of a jerk at first, meowing loudly at 3 AM and banging on the door through all hours of the early morning, but after a couple of weeks thankfully stopped. Always there when I came home for cuddles and kisses, she’s normally affectionate (constantly purring) and never scratches or bites (unless she’s playing). That is, until we spontaneously adopted six-year-old Sookie. Sookie is on her death bed, unfortunately, as we found out at a post-adoption vet visit she is anemic, has liver issues, kidney issues, likely caused by her being FeLV+. Since adopting lovable Sookie, Sabrina isn’t aggressive… just completely and utterly depressed. She’s stiff and standoffish when I pick her up and spends most of her time sleeping in her usual spot. She’s clearly unhappy about this new cat (lesson learned for me! When Sookie passes on, it’s a one-cat house for us)! But the bottom line is we’re giving Sookie a loving home until her time comes, and the vet says that can be anywhere from a couple of months to 2 years (but probably less). The vet says it’s going to take some time for Sabrina to chill out, and reintroducing them won’t work because we’re a single bedroom apartment (can’t put them in separate rooms; and sorry, but the cats keep me up ALL NIGHT if either of them are in the room with us and I need my sleep! Besides that, they try and claw their way out of closed doors and nearly ruin the carpet). I’m so upset about Sabrina’s personality change (I miss my baby!) and don’t know if time will heal all wounds or if she’s gonna’ be like this until Sookie kicks the bucket.
Help?
I’m desperate for a bit of advice reassurance. We have two indoor cats – Mo, a very easy-going 5 year old tabby and Elsa, a beautiful, slightly highly-strung 4 year old Abyssinian. Both have always been very happy, super-affectionate cats, really loving with us and each other.
Elsa’s always been a bit fragile – she has allergies and asthma – and about a month ago was given a course of steroids by the vet to help her stop scratching and biting at a sore she’d made on her flank. He then prescribed Prozac – she had two doses but it gave her tummy trouble, so we stopped that. I wasn’t really comfortable with it anyway. She seemed to be getting better…..
… then, six days ago, her personality completely changed. She acts as if she has never seen Mo before, and is incredibly aggressive (really terrifyingly so) if she sees her. It’s not safe to go near her once she gets wound up. If Mo is not around, she is more her normal self, but still seems incredibly uptight and on edge, twitchy and hyper.
We’re keeping them separate as much as possible (difficult in a big but largely open plan apartment, with mainly sliding doors that they can both open), with short, supervised periods in the same space. We intervene and remove one of them before any hissing / growling escalates – after having been attacked / chased a few times Mo is now pretty wary of Elsa so does her own share of growling.
We have Feliway diffusers plugged in all around the apartment, I’ve been giving both of them Zylkene, I’ve tried Composure chews – all sorts. I love them both so much – but this situation isn’t sustainable. Can anybody offer me any hope?
I am looking for advice.
I’ve had my cat since he was born – literally, he was born on my couch, and I have held him every day since then. He is now 6 1/2 years old. We have always had a special bond. He would get in my lap, purr every time I touched him, “bunt” me, etc.
8 weeks ago, we rescued a kitten. She was orphaned and abandoned outside. She was about 3-4 weeks old. We brought her home and we had a relatively easy introduction, it seemed. She was kept in a separate room for the first several weeks, and spent much time in a play pen where he could observe her.
However, he has not been the same since. He no longer gets in my lap (he has done so only twice or so in the two months she has been here), no longer head bunts me, and he no longer purrs at me like he used to when I would cuddle him. He doesn’t run away from being cuddled, but he no longer purrs. He sleeps on me like he used to about 50% of the time. He seems to be eating normally, going to the bathroom normally. But the change in his purring and lap time has me so distraught I have cried over it. I love our new little addition, too, and it breaks my heart to feel like I might have to give her away, but it also breaks my heart to snuggle my boy and have him just sit there silently. 🙁 Will he ever go back to normal, or is the only way to get my baby boy to purr at me again to make him an only cat again?
Hi Sarah. I just read your post. I am currently going through EXACTLY as you described with your cat situation. It has only been a few days for me but I am already heartbroken over the personality change in my once loving cats behavior. I am so distraught thinking this change may be permanent. Since it has been awhile since your post, can you tell me if things have improved with your original cat? Any positive changes back to original behavior? Your input is greatly appreciated.
same situation, would love to hear more
So, my fiancé and I currently have a two year old car, named Cudi, that we rescued when he was 14 weeks old. He has an extremely special relationship with both of us and really is a Velcro only-child cat. However, my dad has to get rid of his cat from a previous marriage and she is 6 years old and extremely skittish and really only lives in the basement of my dads house because my dad has 2 German Sheppard’s who do not do well with her at all. I told my dad I would consider taking in his cat because he has been trying to find her a new home for a while, but I am so worried about how it will effect my relationship with Cudi, because he really is my baby, do you have any tips on how to introduce an older cat to the home?
Heyya! I just recently introduced an older cat (3-4 years) to an older cat (4 years old) who had zero experience with cats prior. And they’re both the same gender. It worked out for me, so I wouldn’t be too worried about taking in the second cat.
In terms of what I did/my experiences, I have two articles up on this now:
1. My Lap Cat’s Personality Didn’t Change After I Got a Second Cat (This Did…)
2. How to Get Two Cats to Get Along: What I Did & Yes, It Absolutely Worked
Let me know if you need any more help after reading through these! 🙂
Hi Elise,
I just found your blog and I need some advice as well. We have 2 cats one is two years old and the other one is a kitten with 5 months. When we first got our older cat (named Zé) he wasn’t the friendliest cat but he did like to be petted sometimes, he ate well and loved to be brushed. He would also spend more time with us in the living room.
However when we got the new kitten, we introduced them slowly and they adapted quickly to eachother but his behavior changed a bit: he didn’t want to be pet and gradually stopped eating. Then, when we went on holiday to our other house we took them with us and I think this changed triggered Zé’s sudden behavioral change but it wasn’t his first time in that holiday house but anyways. He would hide all the time and he stopped eating.
When we came back from holiday we noticed that he became more happy however, whenever we try to brush him it’s always a drama since he starts hissing and trying to bite, we try to brush him without stressing him but he just becomes really aggressive. Now he rarely tolerates the kitten and he still barely eats.
He still plays occasionally with the kitten but he doesn’t like it when she gets too close.
We tried giving him more attention (it kinda worked since he became more playful with us) but I think the problem is that he gets frustrated when he’s doing something and the kitten comes to see what he’s doing (for example: sometimes he’s drinking water and then sees the kitten coming and he immediately stops and goes away. Or when he’s eating and the kitten comes and he stops eating).
I just feel sad because he has lost so much weight.
I’m sorry if some parts got confusing since English is not my first language.
Thank you.
Your English is wonderful; I never would have guessed it wasn’t your first language!
I’m not going to lie, it sounds to me like your adult cat could benefit from a re-introduction to the kitten.
What you do: separate them, giving him control over the entire house freely and keeping the kitten in a room with everything she needs (food, water, scratch post, litter, a nice view, lots of play time with you, etc.). Wait for a few days, then do a “visit” where you bring your old cat into the room to inspect her. Then slowly increase the amount of times you do visits with him coming in. Eventually, when he seems to find the kitten more acceptable, allow her into the house for a few hours to test if the kitten’s also acceptable in his space. Then put her back in her room for the remainder of the time. Keep doing this over and over until the time she spends out is longer and longer.
For some reason cats don’t accept new cats very well unless they’re slowly introduced like this. They need to feel like the new cat is not at all a threat to their way of life, and the best way to do this is give the old cat (or cats! in case you ever add another kitty to the mix) the whole house and no changes initially, then gradually increase the amount of “influence” the new cat has on his life to the point where your old cat doesn’t really mind the changes so much. He is stressed and anxious at this point, but the re-introduction, even if it takes a month, should allow his stress to “re-set” to normal and make his personality go back to normal (fingers crossed!).
Let me know if you decide to test this out and how it goes if you do! But I definitely think it should work since he accepts the kitten sometimes, but is stressed out by her existence at others.
Hi Elise,
I hope you have some advice for me. I had one cat (Milo) for 1,5 year, he was always with me, laying next to me or on my lap. Very cuddly and always followed me wherever I went. He is very easygoing, loves strangers and could always go along with other cats in the neighbourhood. He was also very playful. But when I started working full time I felt bad for him, since he would be alone most of the time. So I decided to adopt a second cat (10 months old while Milo was almost two). I introduced them step by step which went quite easily and fast. At first there was hissing an growling but eventually they accepted each other. Now they play together and sometimes cuddle together and wash each other, so they seem to get along fine. But Milo’s attitude towards me has changed, he never lays with me and is very much on his own, wants to be outside whenever possible and when I reach out to him, most of the time he ducks away. When I play alone with him it is fine, but when the new one joins, his attention goes to him instead of the toy. What do you think I can do to change this and get the old Milo back?
I hope you have some good tips!
Thank you in advance, Merel
I have a feeling Milo could benefit from some one-on-one time with you, and that with a little solo attention being paid to him, he might slowly be brought back to normal. I have never had two cats at once to test out my theories, but that’s what my intuition tells me at least.
It sounds to me like your new cat is possibly the dominant one of the two (which is fine, there’s always a dominant cat, and so long as the cats get along that’s what’s important), and that Milo is a little uncomfortable being cuddly around you while the new cat is present. If you could get Milo back to normal in the new cat’s absence, say by having the other cat play with an automatic interactive cat toy in another room while you work at re-gaining Milo’s connection to you, it may spill over and get him to be more comfortable being like this in general, including when the two cats are together again.
If there’s another person living with you or who visits you and loves to interact with the cats, go off on your own with Milo and interact with him while this other person interacts with your new cat, then gradually, when Milo gets more comfortable with you on his own, try bringing the cats together in the same room, but still having just one person interact with each cat. Then if it’s at all possible, try to engage with both cats at the same time, like placing one on either side of you as you’re sitting down to watch TV, and snuggling both at once. Again, not sure if this will work or how easy it will be to do, but let me know if you find it’s possible to try it, and if you do, what the outcome was.
Also, please if anybody else has tips for Merel – do chime in!
My family had gotten another cat. Please keep in mind the cat we already had was a rescue cat and we we have no idea what her kittyhood was like. Then we got Daisy Mae as a kitten and we put a screen door for a while then introduced them to each other and surprisingly Tigger’s personality mellowed when she saw Daisy Mae playing. Tigger our older cat started playing again and getting some exercise. A second cat helped our other cat. Of course Tigger hissed every-now-and-then but not much. Everybody’s Experience is different. Here’s wishing everybody that 2 or more cats/kittens the best of luck.
That bit about Tigger starting to play again and get more exercise is exactly what I’m hoping will happen when we adopt a second cat into our family. Avery’s horrible about playing, but when we were at my mum’s for around a month him and his cousin, Walker would play under the door at times, which was encouraging to see. Hissing is fine as long as over time it subsides and the cats become okay with the others’ presence. Hoping the very same as you for everyone who takes in a second cat. It’s terrible when things go sour, but I do think most cat relationships can be salvaged with a re-introduction, at least I hope so!
Well, we’ve tried twice to introduce new cats into the house, and it didn’t work either time. Now, we keep Angel (13 year old) in a separate part of the house, while to two rascal brothers Manny & Chili Bruce live downstairs. Angel just doesn’t like other cats, end of story. I’ve heard many stories of someone opening the door to a stray, who wanders inside and the resident cats could care less and they are all sleeping in a big pile together in 15 minutes! I WISH! My outside cats won’t come in, my inside cats are in separate apartments, and such is life at Eastside Cats.
I definitely think your situation is special since Angel is such a calm presence while the little rascals are so polar opposite hyperactive haha. I think it’s amazing when cats can get along right off the bat, but I doubt that’s the case with most. I think it’s really good of you to keep them apart when you know it’s what’s best for them – though I’m really rooting for a day when Manny & Chill Bruce will mellow a little and the three can somewhat get used to one another! I’m sure it’d be easier for you to just give up on your system, but the fact that you don’t makes Angel such a lucky girl to have such an understanding mamma!