New Cats and Adjustments

Hi! I'm new to this forum. After owning our female Maine Coon for the past five years, my husband and I decided to adopt another (a 1-year old male orange tiger) from the shelter. He seemed to be affectionate and a lap cat at the shelter the times we went to visit with him. On the last visit to the shelter we had taken our son along. All of a sudden the brother of the cat we were interested in getting suddenly decided to warm up to him. So, long story short, we ended up adopting the two brother cats instead of the one we originally decided on. They have been home with us now for almost a week and have not been introduced to our current cat....we plan on taking this very slow. Anyway, I'm hoping for some reassurance, I guess, here because they both turn out NOT to be lap cats like we had hoped. They are fine with a little attention from us but would rather be playing together and come to us for treats and play only. I'm just worried that they won't want anything really to do with us (as far as cuddling and such), and find comfort only with each other rather than any humans. Will this change down the road? Our 5-year-old Maine Coon is a total lover and a lap cat and I just thought all cats would be like that. Would it have been better to separate them and only adopt one? What do you think this might do to our current cat once they are introduced? I guess I just worry too much...at least my husband says I do. Any thoughts?

A week is much to early to make judgments as to what these new cats are going to be like when they get used to their new home and their new humans. I wish I could tell you for sure they're going to become the kind of cats you want, but I can't do that. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. It's good you're going about the introduction slowly. That works best. One thing I'd like to suggest that I haven't seen mentioned in most of the articles about cat intros is that when you're ready for them to interact, do it one at a time: one-on-one with your resident cat. Getting accustomed to two newcomers all at once may be a bit overwhelming.

Well I just adopted a 2 year old for my 14 year old. It's been 2 months and it still isn't where I would want it to be but it's getting better. Really the only time they get along is when it's feeding time and food is used as a bribe - very effectively I might add.

I would tell you to shower your old cat with lots of attention even BEFORE you acknowledge the new cats.

Both our cats are now 'loose' to roam the house and the confrontation rarely escalate into the 'murder screaming' as I like to call it. There is still the usual growling and hissing by the resident cat but it's becomming less and less - it's almost like he feels obligated to at LEAST hiss a little.

I would recommend to take it VERY slow and expect that this process take several months - DON"T PUSH IT is my advice. You will be tempted to take short cuts and intro them but better slow than quick.

There is a book called Cat vs.Cat by Pam Johnson-Bennett which I found helpful and you can probably get at your library.

Keep us posted.

Thanks for your replies guys! I guess I'm just trying to work through my own feelings with this whole situation. I'm so used to having my cat give me so much attention and love that I guess I'm expecting it from the newcomers too. It might take time, I know, but I just worry that they will never really come for attention from us and only get it from each other.