Hi all! Hope I'm in the right place for a question like this - if not please excuse my new kid mistake and let me know!
I've got two three and a half year old cats, a bonded pair of sisters, and yesterday we brought home two new siblings - a pair of four month old brothers - and I'm hoping for some tips and tricks to get these four socializing smoothly.
So far things are going pretty well- we have the new kittens set up in a "base camp" where they feel secure, and the girls have the run of the majority of their territory as usual. We are feeding on opposite sides of the doors with minimal grumbling and attention paid to the other pair, and so far scent swapping is going well - both sets of cats have access to towels and socks the other cats have rubbed their scent glands against, and while there's a lot of curiosity there's no aggressive or stressed behavior going on during these exercises.
I'm just wondering if anyone else has experience introducing a new set of siblings to a resident pair - so far the advice I've read for single cat intros seems to be having positive results, but I want to help everyone stay as balanced as possible during this process. Any special tips for helping bonded pairs feel confident during the introduction process? Are there ways to use the strong sibling relationships already at play to the advantage of all the cats involved? Any tips, tricks or ideas would be appreciated!
I've got two three and a half year old cats, a bonded pair of sisters, and yesterday we brought home two new siblings - a pair of four month old brothers - and I'm hoping for some tips and tricks to get these four socializing smoothly.
So far things are going pretty well- we have the new kittens set up in a "base camp" where they feel secure, and the girls have the run of the majority of their territory as usual. We are feeding on opposite sides of the doors with minimal grumbling and attention paid to the other pair, and so far scent swapping is going well - both sets of cats have access to towels and socks the other cats have rubbed their scent glands against, and while there's a lot of curiosity there's no aggressive or stressed behavior going on during these exercises.
I'm just wondering if anyone else has experience introducing a new set of siblings to a resident pair - so far the advice I've read for single cat intros seems to be having positive results, but I want to help everyone stay as balanced as possible during this process. Any special tips for helping bonded pairs feel confident during the introduction process? Are there ways to use the strong sibling relationships already at play to the advantage of all the cats involved? Any tips, tricks or ideas would be appreciated!
