3rd Cat?!?!

Hello all! I currently have a 1 yr. old female persian/himmi , and an almost-2 yr. old Manx cross . I am trying to decide if I should adopt a 7 week old black persian girl , and I have a few questions . I brought home my girl when she was 5 months old, and she was very tiny and very sick. My male cat did all the regular things when being introduced, such as chasing and sniffing, etc. My little girl seemed indifferent, as I expect her to be if I bring a new kitty into the home. I'm rambling a bit, so I'll get straight to the questions! Umm, the cats have a sleeping pattern, and know where "their" areas of the house are. My male cat sleeps upstairs with my mom, and my little girl sleeps on the bed downstairs with me. I'm worried that if I bring home a new cat, it'll be shunned, banished. I don't know where she should sleep during the introduction phase. During the day, while we're at work, she'll be downstairs with toys, water, and food, but what do I do with her at night? I don't want to encroach on my current cats sleeping areas, but I want the new cat to be able to sleep with one of us if she wants. How do I enable them to sleep together while the new cat and old cats are still getting to knwo each other? PS - Sorry about making a SHORT question a LONG one!

The short answer to your long question is to read up on introducing a new cat to an existing cat. Many good articles on the internet. Probably some here -- sorry, I'm not familiar enough with the site, yet. Google on "introducing new cat" or "new cat introduction" and you'll find lots of material to study. Search this forum, also. Good luck!!

I had the same concerns when I introduced a 1-month old kitten to a 1 year old (female) and a 2.5 year old (male). They both sleep in our bedroom.

For the first 5 or 6 nights, the kitten slept in her own room (bathroom). During the day I allowed all the cats to socialize, and she went into her bathroom for food times and sleep.

after that, I let them figure things out themselves. Turns out the older cats are not too bad with having the kitten on "their" bed, but they won't sleep there if she's there. At least not yet - she's still too hyper. BUt the pattern seems to have settled itself - the kitten sleeps under the bed for the first half of the night while the older ones sleep on the bed, then at some point they switch.

Our older cats are also very accustomed to sleeping on the couch or their cat tower - so it's not like they don't have somewhere else to sleep.

We do make sure to give the older cats more than their fair share of attention, and make sure they realize they're still king and queen, and that helps too.

Do your current cats have other sleeping places, or is there somewhere you can establish with the kitten that is "hers" until such time as the older cats are accepting?