Help Please

I have to move in with a friend right now and I have my baby Eddie.. He has never been around other cats, my friend has a cat who has been around other cats and does well with them. how do i get Eddie to get along with her cat...........this is a 2 bedroom appartment and not much room......please give me some ideas if you can.

Thank You
Eddie's Mom

Can you share more info? Is the other cat a male or female? Are the cats spay/neutered? How old are they?

Will you have your own bedroom that you can close off?

My friends cat is a female spayed and declawed....Minw Is a male and neutered and not declawed....There are 2 bedrooms and both our kids are sharing one and us another............whole nother story........lol. I just hope they will get along........any advice would help. Thank You

Right off you have a problem, because it is not a safe situation to keep both a declawed cat with a non-declawed cat. Most will tell you that should never be done. I am not a proponent of declawing, and this is one of the reasons why. A cat that is declawed can never go out, nor can it join a household with clawed cats, or visa versa. It is very limiting, besides being extraordinarily painful.

If there is absolutely no way around this, I would not suggest declawing your cat. They sell these things (I forget what they are called -- others here can tell you) that you can put over the cat's claws to at least even up the playing field a little. Don't take this problem lightly. If one cat has claws and the other doesn't, since cats use their claws as defense, it's like putting two fighters together and tying one's hands behind his or her back and telling them to go at it. It's a very dangerous situation for the declawed cat. So this matter has to be dealt with. Perhaps others here have had more experience that I in mixing claws with non-claws.


Who is sleeping where does not matter. What matters is the ability to keep the cats apart when necessary until you are sure they get along. Are the children old enough and responsible enough to keep one of the cats in their room if necessary for a while? To begin to get the used to each other, the new cat should be put in one bedroom and kept there a day or two while the resident cat has run of the rest of the house. They will get used to each others scent that way. After that you can begin to let them meet, always supervised, until such time that you know they can coexist together. If they fight, it usually can be accomplsihed, it just takes patience and time. I think even here in the iste there is a sticky thread about introducing cats.

Their ages could come into play also, but their personalities would be more the factor, I think.

The important thing would be to keep them apart and keep the control over how they interact, when, etc. I personally have not had too much experience in this, but it is a common problem, and I know many others will join in to share their expeiences and knowledge too.

The experiences I have had were ones where I had to keep the cats separated regardless of the inconveniece it cost. That is something you will need to make sure you can do, unless you are very lucky an the cats get along right away.

How long do you have to move in?

You might want to take a look at this thread in the health & nutrition forum about keeping clawed and declawed cats together - most people don't seem to have a problem.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85034

I assume your friend's cat has free run of her apartment? I think the best thing would be if she could keep her cat out of the bedroom you and she are going to share and Eddie can initially use that. Put him in there with food, water and his litter box and then gradually introduce them to each other as you would any new kit. Start by exchanging scents (let one of them sleep on an old sweater or something then take it to the other one so that s/he can become familiar with the scent). A feliway diffuser might help too.

Try not to worry - your cat might not be used to being around other cats but they might surprise you and get on fine. Just be prepared to do the introductions gradually. Good luck.

Here is a good link with lots of info about introducing cats.
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67321
To me, the big plus is that the resident cat is used to other cats. Also, that both are spayed/neutered.

I don't think the fact that she is declawed and he has claws will make any difference. I foster for an agency, and we adopt cats with claws to homes with a declawed cat. It is bad to declaw, but even worse to declaw an older cat.

The main thing is time, give him lots of time to adjust to the idea of a new home and a new kitty friend.

I agree with Becki. Patches and Beauty are both declawed and Luna and Whitey have their claws. Just as long as you monitor your two cats CLOSELY for a good 4-6 weeks, you should be good to go.

Are you two moving into a brand new apartment together? One that your friend's cat hasn't previously scented? That will reduce the introduction time as well. Just make sure that one stays behind a closed door and is in a spot where both can have a good sniff at each other.
Definitely do the towel swapping. It may be horrible to them at first, but it will help.
PS, don't just plop them into the apartment together from day 1. You'll have more problems, hissing, fighting then you would if you do the proper introduction.