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- Aug 11, 2018
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Hello --
First time poster. I have questions about the best way to attempt to socialize two cats that have never met but will soon be living under the same roof.
I live alone and have a cat -- a female calico Manx who has been spayed. The cat technically belongs to my son (birthday present several years ago) when he was living with me part-time, but he's now out of the house and starting college soon, so I'm the cat's fulltime caretaker. Simba is 5 years old. She's an indoor/outdoor cat -- she spends most of her days outdoors but I bring her in at night. On the few occasions I've seen her interact with other cats, it's been a mixture of reactions. There are times when she doesn't seem to mind the other cat, but there have been mild conflicts on other occasions -- nothing out of the ordinary.
My girlfriend and I will soon be moving in together. She has a cat as well. Her cat is strictly an indoors cat. Zooey is a female black shorthair who is also spayed. She's generally skittish around strangers. My interactions with her have been fine -- she doesn't particularly like it if I pet her or pick her up, but she tolerates me better than most people. She will approach me, sniff me, and will also sometimes engage in play with me, which is better than she reacts to most people. Understandably, she's closest to my girlfriend. As far as I know, Zooey has never encountered another cat, unless it was briefly at the vet's office. Speaking of the vet's office, I'm told by my girlfriend that Zooey has reacted very badly in the past to going in the car and going to the vet's office -- she "freaks out."
We're planning on moving in together, and it will likely be in a completely different location. At some point, we're going to have to introduce the cats to each other. I figure the best place to do it will be at the new residence (when we figure out where that will be) rather than on Zooey's turf or Simba's turf. Aside from that, I'd appreciate any advice that other cat owners may have about how best to go about the process of trying to get these two to live under the same roof without too much fur flying. I'm hoping that there are people on this board who have gone through the same process and can give me the benefit of their experience.
First time poster. I have questions about the best way to attempt to socialize two cats that have never met but will soon be living under the same roof.
I live alone and have a cat -- a female calico Manx who has been spayed. The cat technically belongs to my son (birthday present several years ago) when he was living with me part-time, but he's now out of the house and starting college soon, so I'm the cat's fulltime caretaker. Simba is 5 years old. She's an indoor/outdoor cat -- she spends most of her days outdoors but I bring her in at night. On the few occasions I've seen her interact with other cats, it's been a mixture of reactions. There are times when she doesn't seem to mind the other cat, but there have been mild conflicts on other occasions -- nothing out of the ordinary.
My girlfriend and I will soon be moving in together. She has a cat as well. Her cat is strictly an indoors cat. Zooey is a female black shorthair who is also spayed. She's generally skittish around strangers. My interactions with her have been fine -- she doesn't particularly like it if I pet her or pick her up, but she tolerates me better than most people. She will approach me, sniff me, and will also sometimes engage in play with me, which is better than she reacts to most people. Understandably, she's closest to my girlfriend. As far as I know, Zooey has never encountered another cat, unless it was briefly at the vet's office. Speaking of the vet's office, I'm told by my girlfriend that Zooey has reacted very badly in the past to going in the car and going to the vet's office -- she "freaks out."
We're planning on moving in together, and it will likely be in a completely different location. At some point, we're going to have to introduce the cats to each other. I figure the best place to do it will be at the new residence (when we figure out where that will be) rather than on Zooey's turf or Simba's turf. Aside from that, I'd appreciate any advice that other cat owners may have about how best to go about the process of trying to get these two to live under the same roof without too much fur flying. I'm hoping that there are people on this board who have gone through the same process and can give me the benefit of their experience.
