Moving and introducing cats, help!

Here is the situation:

One new house, two adults, two cats that have lived together for 6 years and one cat that is used to being the princess. I don't know how to handle this situation because all three cats will be new to the house and one of them will be new to the other cats.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The single cat is several years younger than the other two and still pretty active. The older cats ignore each other most of the time. All three cats crave attention.

I guess I should also mention that the house is two floors with a full basement. Only the bathroom and the bedrooms have doors.

Hi Bea, welcome!

You may find this thread helpful for your situation:
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67321

And these articles have some good information too:
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.ph...ingwithyourcat
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.ph...tintroductions

Thanks!

I guess my main concern is that all three cats will be stressed out from the move so I don't want to make that any worse by throwing them together and having them fight.

They were once in the same house, although separate, and my little cat wouldn't eat or stop hissing the entire day.

Hi Bea and welcome!

I am in a similar situation right now and here is what I think would be best: give the 2 cats who know each other the run of the new house and put the single kitty in a room (if possible) where she can see the other cats, but not get out. We did this by putting a screen door in the doorway to a bedroom. Then gradually let them spend time together.

They will definitely be stressed by the new environment, but they'll all adjust. And don't be intimidated by all the hissing and weird noises. I just went through this myself and the kitties who were hissing and scratching a few days ago are now buddies!

There will be some drama, but in retrospect I think it adds a little spice to the cats' lives. Don't stress--they'll work it out in time.

Just my 2 cents.

Thanks, my boyfriend is afraid if we give the older cats the run of the house they will feel it's their territory when my little cat get let out.

I actually think she will have a harder time adjusting to them then to the new enviroment. She has always adjusted well to new surroundings, just not new cats. She's also very attached to me and almost always in my lap so I'm nervous about how she will react to the other cats, who are also lap cats.

Of course they could always become buddies and turn on me