Hello!! My friend, boyfriend, and I are all moving in together!!! We are all very excited about it but we have three cats (two brothers, and then my kitty) that need to be properly introduced to the apartment and each other.
Some background on the cats:
My cat's name is Luna (who I've posted about in other forums) and she's a 2 year old, petite, black domestic shorthair. Luna is an anxious and skittish kitty who warms up if you're trusting, calm, and patient. Once she's comfortable, she loves to play, run around, and snuggle up. She doesn't like being picked up or handled very much but she's a lap cat when she wants the attention. She has asthma, and a too-big-for-her heart, and just recovered from a UTI so we've been trying to be mellow with her. She's never been with another cat outside of when she was a kitten but she was bullied by her littermates. She's a cat that will swat at you if you're too close to her and let you know when she's done interacting.
My friends cats are 4 year old Maine Coon/Ragdoll longhair mixes named Philbert and Newton. They are large, floppy, and very loving especially with playtime and food. You can literally pick em up and toss them around and they are just happy to be held. They have a lazy streak but tend to chase each other a ton and play together. When they are active they are ACTIVE. You can hear them running around and messing around. They were shelter cats who also spent some time apart so while they are close, they aren't a bonded pair. One is more goofy and social than the other but they go back and forth between being the most affectionate of the two. They were believed to live with other cats. They don't really use their claws or swat unless they want attention.
When I brought up introducing the boys to Luna, I recommended having her explore the apartment first so that she can get comfortable and ease into it since she tends to hide places that are newer. Afterwards we would keep her in our bedroom and have the boys explore the apartment. Then we would feed them both near the bedroom door (in their separate rooms) and play through the door so they can associate good things with the other cat(s). We would also swap blankets or toys so that they can get used to the scent and then progress to supervised playtime,etc.
My friend seemed a little weary of the process and recommended pheromone diffusers and swapping blankets but not the entire process of slowly introducing them. She has tried introducing her boys to other cats (at home and in another apartment) and both cats either didn't like them or got really anxious. The one at home tried beating them up and the one in the apartment was wildly anxious but she said it was due to how her roommate raised the cat though I am unsure of that. I was told that the anxious cat would've gotten along with the boys if they were able to spend time together.
I'm very anxious about having Luna introduced correctly because not only is she 1/4 of their size but before my boyfriend and I moved with a friend we were planning on adopting a mellow playfriend for her. I don't want the introductions to go wrong and have Luna be too anxious to be around other animals due to a traumatic meeting. I researched introducing cats for a very long time and have done so personally a few years ago so I'd like to think I have an idea of how to do it but I don't want my friend to jump to an immediate face to face introduction. It would be great to be able to have our cats get along, and I'm aware of the fact that some animals just aren't great with others, but I don't want it to turn into a situation like my roommates previous apartment where one cat was stuck in a room whereas her cats were out and about.
Is there any recommendations on how to handle this easily? Or how to properly introduce cats to a new environment AND other cats? I'm okay with it taking a while but I'm unsure of my roommate. Thank you for reading this!
Some background on the cats:
My cat's name is Luna (who I've posted about in other forums) and she's a 2 year old, petite, black domestic shorthair. Luna is an anxious and skittish kitty who warms up if you're trusting, calm, and patient. Once she's comfortable, she loves to play, run around, and snuggle up. She doesn't like being picked up or handled very much but she's a lap cat when she wants the attention. She has asthma, and a too-big-for-her heart, and just recovered from a UTI so we've been trying to be mellow with her. She's never been with another cat outside of when she was a kitten but she was bullied by her littermates. She's a cat that will swat at you if you're too close to her and let you know when she's done interacting.
My friends cats are 4 year old Maine Coon/Ragdoll longhair mixes named Philbert and Newton. They are large, floppy, and very loving especially with playtime and food. You can literally pick em up and toss them around and they are just happy to be held. They have a lazy streak but tend to chase each other a ton and play together. When they are active they are ACTIVE. You can hear them running around and messing around. They were shelter cats who also spent some time apart so while they are close, they aren't a bonded pair. One is more goofy and social than the other but they go back and forth between being the most affectionate of the two. They were believed to live with other cats. They don't really use their claws or swat unless they want attention.
When I brought up introducing the boys to Luna, I recommended having her explore the apartment first so that she can get comfortable and ease into it since she tends to hide places that are newer. Afterwards we would keep her in our bedroom and have the boys explore the apartment. Then we would feed them both near the bedroom door (in their separate rooms) and play through the door so they can associate good things with the other cat(s). We would also swap blankets or toys so that they can get used to the scent and then progress to supervised playtime,etc.
My friend seemed a little weary of the process and recommended pheromone diffusers and swapping blankets but not the entire process of slowly introducing them. She has tried introducing her boys to other cats (at home and in another apartment) and both cats either didn't like them or got really anxious. The one at home tried beating them up and the one in the apartment was wildly anxious but she said it was due to how her roommate raised the cat though I am unsure of that. I was told that the anxious cat would've gotten along with the boys if they were able to spend time together.
I'm very anxious about having Luna introduced correctly because not only is she 1/4 of their size but before my boyfriend and I moved with a friend we were planning on adopting a mellow playfriend for her. I don't want the introductions to go wrong and have Luna be too anxious to be around other animals due to a traumatic meeting. I researched introducing cats for a very long time and have done so personally a few years ago so I'd like to think I have an idea of how to do it but I don't want my friend to jump to an immediate face to face introduction. It would be great to be able to have our cats get along, and I'm aware of the fact that some animals just aren't great with others, but I don't want it to turn into a situation like my roommates previous apartment where one cat was stuck in a room whereas her cats were out and about.
Is there any recommendations on how to handle this easily? Or how to properly introduce cats to a new environment AND other cats? I'm okay with it taking a while but I'm unsure of my roommate. Thank you for reading this!
