Ok,
I have begun very small introductions of my newcomer to my resident cats. I have swapped scents in the past and now have begun to let them see her. Ironically, my most skiddish cat is the most intrigued and will take over the opening in the door to meet her. There is your minor growling and some small hissing, but I've gotten them to eat treats on either side of the door while seeing the other one, so this is good. Problem is I put the new one back upstairs where she's staying and let mine back into their portion of the home (I put them in the basement while I let the new one roam around and get to know the house - and mine are comfortable and familiar with the basement - they sleep there a lot). Anyways....after they are back upstairs with me, there has been some hissing between two of my resident cats that wasn't happening before. I can only imagine that this is directly related to the newcomer. So:
1) Is this normal? How can I relax them not only around the newcomer, but around each other. They've lived together for over a year now with no problems at all and a new one is going to be hard enough without tension between them as well.
2) Introducing 4 to a newcomer is slightly more complicated than introducing 1 (which is all I can find advice on). How can I best do this? I was thinking that I would take the one that's the most comfortable first (the one that's been right at the door) and make an intro of those two and then over time, just take the next one that appears at the door to meet her. Does this seem logical? Or should I let her see all 4 at once? I don't know which is worse - the intro to a group or prolonging the intro over time with a constant new face.
Thanks!
I have begun very small introductions of my newcomer to my resident cats. I have swapped scents in the past and now have begun to let them see her. Ironically, my most skiddish cat is the most intrigued and will take over the opening in the door to meet her. There is your minor growling and some small hissing, but I've gotten them to eat treats on either side of the door while seeing the other one, so this is good. Problem is I put the new one back upstairs where she's staying and let mine back into their portion of the home (I put them in the basement while I let the new one roam around and get to know the house - and mine are comfortable and familiar with the basement - they sleep there a lot). Anyways....after they are back upstairs with me, there has been some hissing between two of my resident cats that wasn't happening before. I can only imagine that this is directly related to the newcomer. So:
1) Is this normal? How can I relax them not only around the newcomer, but around each other. They've lived together for over a year now with no problems at all and a new one is going to be hard enough without tension between them as well.
2) Introducing 4 to a newcomer is slightly more complicated than introducing 1 (which is all I can find advice on). How can I best do this? I was thinking that I would take the one that's the most comfortable first (the one that's been right at the door) and make an intro of those two and then over time, just take the next one that appears at the door to meet her. Does this seem logical? Or should I let her see all 4 at once? I don't know which is worse - the intro to a group or prolonging the intro over time with a constant new face.
Thanks!
