A few days ago I decided to introduce my cat to a new young female
cat that was infected with the same disease; FIV, feline immunodeficiency
virus.. I thought it would be good for both cats to have company and
to share their lives, taking care of each others grooming needs,
playing and sleeping together. My idea was good BUT I needed to take
it slow when introducing the new cat because I did not want either of
them to get stressed out.
I let them get used to each others scent, they played with their paws from under the safe room door for five days. Then I put the new kitty in a cat cage and allowed my cat Frankie to get to know her. Followed by the introduction with supervision. The face to face introduction went better than I had anticipated.
The new little kitty was territorial and I intervened, by grabbing both cats by their scruff, the way a mother cat would do. Then I petted both cats while speaking to them softly, followed by click from my clicker and a Temptations cat treat.
Cat treats help because both cats were more interested in how to get another treat from me and did not think about getting to know each other. Food is your friend when introducing new cat to existing cats.
The first afternoon for introductions was uneventful, the new female followed my male cat and my male cat followed the new female. Now things did get a little testy when the both tried to get on the cat tree at the same time. It was a territorial thing and I modified that by spraying the entire tree with catnip.
At night the female cat spent the night in a cat cage and during
the day somebody was always with the cats to supervise. A week
after this slow introduction process we let the cat be on their own,
and that is when the claws came out and the fur did fly.
We broke it up, and thought maybe our introduction was not slow enough so new female cat went back into the cat cage. That is when my cat Frankie climbed up on the side to give her a kiss. So we let her out and it has been love ever since.
One cat roll and tumble and they were done. Now both cats seem to be getting along.
I let them get used to each others scent, they played with their paws from under the safe room door for five days. Then I put the new kitty in a cat cage and allowed my cat Frankie to get to know her. Followed by the introduction with supervision. The face to face introduction went better than I had anticipated.
The new little kitty was territorial and I intervened, by grabbing both cats by their scruff, the way a mother cat would do. Then I petted both cats while speaking to them softly, followed by click from my clicker and a Temptations cat treat.
Cat treats help because both cats were more interested in how to get another treat from me and did not think about getting to know each other. Food is your friend when introducing new cat to existing cats.
The first afternoon for introductions was uneventful, the new female followed my male cat and my male cat followed the new female. Now things did get a little testy when the both tried to get on the cat tree at the same time. It was a territorial thing and I modified that by spraying the entire tree with catnip.
We broke it up, and thought maybe our introduction was not slow enough so new female cat went back into the cat cage. That is when my cat Frankie climbed up on the side to give her a kiss. So we let her out and it has been love ever since.
One cat roll and tumble and they were done. Now both cats seem to be getting along.
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