introducing new cat - 1 bedroom apartment!

Hello,
I have Lucky's new brother-to-be, Bugsy, coming home in about a week or so. The problem I am having, is how to do a proper introduction in a small 1bd. apartment...
Lucky is a shy cat, and it took A LOT of work to have her bond with me; I don't want to scare her away with a new kitty... I am adopting an older cat - he is 4 years old, also a ragdoll, and very mellow, somewhat shy as well, which is the reason I am bringing him in (unadoptable, and also not an alpha cat). He is from the same rescue group I got Lucky from, and they did live together before I adopted her; the rescue lady said they got along fine, so I am thinking their personalities will do well together (I know I still need to have a proper introduction).
Aside from that, here is the situation: Lucky sleeps with me in the only bedroom, uses the box in the only bathroom, eats on the only kitchen, and hands out on the only living room.
Any Ideas as how do I introduce them in such small space?
Thanks!

here is Bugsy by the way



Isn't he a gorgeous boy???

Hmmm....that's a tough one! Is there any way to confine him to the bathroom or kitchen? I wonder if you got some of those gates you use with children to keep them out of certain areas if that would work. You could get 2 or 3 and stack them on top of each other to fill the door.

Either borrow a large dog crate, temporarily move little box out of bathroom or use your bedroom. It won't be perfect for Lucky no matter how you look at it--but its temporary.

I'll be honest Jack absolutely loves our downstairs bathroom tub/shower. He'd spend 5 hours a day there if he could. However the bathroom is currently being used to house my two box turtles I couldn't hibernate this winter--they are in a large rubbermaid but without lid. So he can only go in that bathroom when supervised--he hates not having freedom of that room, so we try allow time everyday for him to go in supervised. It's been a pain in the butt since october/november but its temporary until spring.

Leslie

If I were in your shoes, I would move Lucky and all her stuff into your bedroom and keep her there. Let Bugsy have the rest of your apartment.

It sounds like a pain but hopefully won't be for more than a week. The reason I say to keep Lucky in the bedroom instead of vice versa is that I think you should still sleep in the same room with her. I know my older cat would get mad if I shut her out and slept in the same room with the new cat- she would surely scratch at the door all night and be stressed.

Do you live with anyone else? What I did is have the new cat in my bedroom and I slept out on the couch with my older cat at night so she wouldn't feel left out. If you don't have another person, then I would put Lucky in the bedroom.

I live alone - my bedroom is out of question for the new cat, as Lucky is very settled in sleeping with me on my bed...
Keep the suggestions coming please !!!

You can put him in the carrier first then transfer him to the bathroom.
Take her stuff out of the bathroom.
I used to live in a 1 bedroom apartment.

I first would use the bathroom but the next thought is the large dog crate ...

wow your babies are adorable! I'm sure they will get along, all they need is time to adjust. I started out with 2 kittens, then when they were about a year and half, i rescued a 5 months old kitten off the street. At first they hissed at him a bit, but then a week later they were bathing him, sleeping together etc. A year goes by and my dad decided to bring me another kitten he found in a construction field where his company was working. My 3 boys welcomed him as well.

Congrats on Bugsby and good luck!

Was Bugsy the new guy an owner surrender?

If so....then you know if he lived with cats in the past, which IMO makes a bit of a difference in an intro....I know you said he's living with cats currently, which will help.

I'd try to set him up somewhere that he can feel 'safe', like a bathroom, or another room that'll be quiet (I imagine your house isn't too busy, just you & Lucky). From what you said, he'll be freaked when he gets home.

Bugsy has been for a while with the rescuer - I am not sure of his history before... since he is very gentle, and also a purebred, I am assuming he was surrended. The rescuer said he has been there for a long time, partially because he hides away when people comes in to adopt...
He has been to the vet, and will be clear to come home this coming Saturday; I am bringing him home on the following Tuesday, because Monday I am going to be out of town, and don't want to leave them alone...
I just hope they get along... For Lucky's sake... I am getting him for her, to make her company when I go away... I don't know what I am going to do if they don't...

We used the bathroom for the new cat when we lived in a 1-bedroom apartment. We kept him in there for 3-4 days before we couldn't take the meowing. He had previously lived with another cat, and my pair of littermates I had at the time were obviously used to other cats. So between everyone being used to other cats and Stimpy's mellow personality, integration was very easy.

When we caught Lola, we took things very slow. She was sick, so there were 2 weeks in isolation. Then we had to do short excursions outside of her room and room swaps, scent exchanges using socks, etc. It was a bit rocky at first. We followed Pam Johnson-Bennett's cat integration for her. We had a 2-bedroom apartment with Lola, so that was a little easier.

Originally Posted by Jack31

Either borrow a large dog crate, temporarily move little box out of bathroom or use your bedroom. It won't be perfect for Lucky no matter how you look at it--but its temporary.

Click to expand...

When I brought Lucy home I bought a huge dog crate at Walmart and kept her there during the introductions. It is large enough for a small litter box, bed and food. It worked well because I could place it wherever I wanted.

Any way you look at it Lucky is going to temporarily have to give up some space to Bugsy for him to get adjusted.

Since you are adding a 2nd cat - are you also adding another litterbox?

I live in a one bedroom and my litterbox is in the bathroom as well. If I was in your situation I would probably put Bugsy in the bathroom and put another litterbox out for Lucky in the main area of the apartment.

Congrats on getting Bugsy - I hope they get along! Good luck!

We live in a small one bedroom as well. When we brought Roxy in we moved Monkeys litterbox into the kitchen, our kitch in almost as large as the whole apartment so we were able to put it in a corner away from food stuff. We are planing on keeping it there from now on but we will get a covered one for health reasons. Then we set up the bathroom, again the second largest room in the house, for Roxy. She has plenty of room to run and Monkey still gets the rest of he house. The door nob on the bathroom door does not work so we used the hook and eye method, one inside and one outside. This ended up being a blessing because the door wont close alll the way. It closes enough for them not to full reach eachother but they are able to see and smell eachother very well.

We have had Roxy since October and still have not done the full introductions yet. We know they are ready but we are still very scared. Neither one of us have done this before and are woried someone will get hurt. We plan to try this week. One of our neighbors is a vet tech and she also has 4 cats that she has hed to introduce so we plan to just have her over when we do it. That way she can help us if they need to be seperated.

Good luck with yours.

I have 4 male cats living in my room.....

I still live with my parents sooo even though my parents love animals, hence we have 5 dogs and a total of 8 cats...i do not like to let my kitties out of my room.

I'm sure your cats will get along just fine if my 4 male cats from different mothers get along so well....

I just went through exactly what you are going through not even 2 weeks ago! I live in a one bedroom apartment with one bathroom and living room. My resident cat, Tofu is pretty shy but I wanted to bring her home a buddy. That's where Georgi came into the picture.

We were originally going to keep Georgi in the kitchen but then we realized she had fleas, so she spent the next couple days in the bathroom. We moved Tofu's litter box (which was originally in the bathroom) into the bedroom. The 2 got to know each other through the door and I introduced their scents by using the sock rubbing method. Georgi really didn't care that there was another cat and Tofu didn't act aggressively towards the scent.

Without any bad reactions I set up a baby gate at the bathroom door so the cats could see each other and they were both pretty curious. Later I wanted Georgi to explore the apartment on her own so I set the baby gate up on the bedroom door with Tofu inside and let Georgi explore. About and hour later Tofu managed to squeeze through the openings (I guess she's not as fat as her fluff makes her out to be!) and they've gotten along better then I could have imagined at this point.

There have been a couple hisses and swats when one got to close to the other but that has pretty much subsided at this point. Originally, I only let them stay out together when I was home but now they stay out when I am out and when I am sleeping. So, introducing cats in small spaces can be done! I would just take it slowly. Also, both of my cats are pretty laid back and definitively not high strung or energetic, which I'm sure helped.

Good luck!