2 cats from 2 separate homes into one new home

[12xalt]

I am in the process of purchasing my first home. I have a cat and my roommate-to-be has a cat.

Mine is around 7 yrs old, fat and lazy and declawed up front (not by me). She was given to my by friends because their grandmother left her behind when moving to Florida. She was very unhappy living with them because she didn't care for their other cats, two dogs and two children. She loves me and has a hair fetish.

The other cat has only ever lived with his brother (the brother had to be put down a few months back) and is around 13 years old, has all his claws.

I do not know if the former owner ever had pets in the house. She passed away 3 months ago so I cannot ask. I did not smell any evidence of pets, but she may have had some in the past.

Would it be best to bring them both into the new home at the same time? Or bring over one first, then the other later? My roommate-to-be will most likely be out of state when I move into the new home, but I can go get his cat if having them show up at the same time would be the best option.

*edit*

I glanced through the threads and was mostly finding information about introducting a new cat into an already existing home, and haven't had much trouble in the past at moving a cat into a new home. This seemed to me like a new scenario, but if it already exists please point me in the correct direction. Thanks.

 

[lisar]

Different cats take moves differently. My two are very used to moving into new homes, since when I grew up my family moved about once a year. They both adjust to the new surroundings just fine. In fact they look for the furniture and if they recognize it they are like "Yup! I know that futon! Okay this is home now!" It generally takes my two about 4 hours to adjust to a new home.

How often have you moved? It can take a cat anywhere to a few hours of sniffing to months for adjusting. If you were going to bring both cats at the same time you would probably have to section them off in house at first. Use the blanket trick to get the to meet, etc. It just depends on how the cats are gonna take the move.

With one cat declawed and the other with claws you'll have to do a slow and careful introduction as well. Personally I would get one cat there and then start introducing later once first cat seems fine. But I'm no guru on introducing new cats... just moving them it seems.

 

[12xalt]

I've only had my cat for about a year and a half, and I haven't moved anywhere with her. It took her about a day to get over being in a new place when she came to live with me. The first night was spent making a ton of noise, and then after that it was "wait? what? no other pets? no kids? YES!!!!!"

I don't know how many times she'd moved before I got her, as far as I know only from the first family that declawed her to my friend's grandmother's place (when grandma moved, kitty stayed and friends moved into grandma's house)

The other cat has moved 4 times that I can think of, though I've only been around for two of those moves. Both times he seems to adjust pretty quickly, but both of those times he also had his brother with him.

I should mention that both cats are indoor/outdoor cats. Mine isn't currently due to the apartment rules, but was where she came from. She doesn't go out for long, mostly 15 minutes in the yard then wants back in.

The other one though, was raised as an indoor and started attacking his owners (now owner due to a divorce) and any friends/family, he continued to get meaner and meaner and just plain freaking out. Finally one night my roommate-to-be had had enough and threw his kitty butt outside. Turns out that was just the right medicine. He's fine for about two weeks inside and then starts getting violent psycho. When he's got regular access to the outside world, he's the sweetest thing ever.

Since his owner will be out of state, and most of the furniture will be mine, I'm thinking it will be best to bring the clawed cat over once my to be roommate moves into the spare room. I was really hoping there'd be an easier way to bring both early on since I hate leaving him with the old roommates. They aren't mean to him, but they don't love on him much either and he gets so lonely.