New cats in the house - Day 1 and a question

I picked up Cory and Carly (I may change their names) yesterday and they were safely set up in their sanctuary room (spare bedroom) by 3:30 in the afternoon. This morning, Cory is already wandering the room freely and meets us at the bedroom door when we walk in. He's an absolute lover and seems to take everything in stride. Carly will come out to see us and will let us pet her, but still spends most of her time under the bed. All in all, I think they've done very well for a first day. These two are a closely bonded pair and very funny to watch. If Cory eats, Carly will eat. If Cory come to me, Carly will come to me. She is always trying to cuddle with him. I feel like we didn't get two cats, we got one cat and also our cat's cat.

My 14 year old resident cat seems totally oblivious to the fact that there are two new cats in the house. He's shown no concern or even acknowledged that there is the scent of other cats on us or our hands, even though we've petted both and Cory has rubbed all over us (they both have a clean health check). Chance sleeps with us and I expected him to sit outside the spare bedroom door most of the night, but he's paid no attention. The new kids didn't make a sound, but I would have thought he'd pick up the scent. Chance is very laid back, but I find this very surprising. Makes me wonder if he has any sense of smell.

Anyway, on to the question. Based on this reaction, or lack of, do you think it's ok to proceed with exchanging scents via blankets today and if that goes well, today, doing the cracked open door tomorrow?

That is so sweet how close Carly wants to be to Cory.

I'm not an expert - or even an amateur, really, lol! - in introducing cats, but I know that cats have 14x our sense of smell, so I can say with absolute certainty that Chance knows those cats are there! Has he actually seen them with his eyes yet? I'd say you're definitely ready for scent exchanges since Chance seems so calm about the newcomers. I hope this is an omen for a very smooth transition!!!

How old are the new cats? Babies or adults? If they're kittens, I'm so glad you got two so that Chance will get a break from the insanity and they can wrestle with each other

p.s., this is such a given, but we want pics!

Parsleysage, I'll try to get pics tomorrow. Chance has not actually seen the new guys yet and they haven't seen him. The new boy is 1 1/2 years old and the girl is just under a year. She's extremely shy and will need to be worked with.

This afternoon I rubbed a blanket on each of the new cats (a bit of a challenge on the girl because she's still under the bed) and took it down to Chance, who totally ignored the blankets. Then I rubbed one on Chance and to it to the new cats "base camp". Carly hasn't gotten near it because she's still under the bed, but Cory just laid down on it and rolled on his back for a belly rub. So he obviously isn't upset by Chance's scent.

I'm going to try the cracked open door tomorrow and see what happens.

I have a feeling that I'l be able to integrate Cory much quicker than Carly.

I just got a kitten today as well. My current cat, Monet, took no note of her scent, but once he saw the kitten and made a connection to the scent, thats when he started hissing and snarling.

Let Chance see the new cats at a distance and see how it goes then

Personally, I would give Carly a couple more days to settle in before introducing her to Chance. I think she needs to become more comfortable in her new home.

Great news that Chance is so chillaxed. Personally though, the kittens may need a little time to feel comfortable, so for their sake until they seem outgoing and confident I might hold off a bit. That way Carly will feel like she has her very own sanctuary that is HER territory.