How to Introduce My New Cat to My Old Cat?

Getting a new cat can be a very exciting time, however it can be very stressful for the cats involved. But if you take your time and follow a few simple steps you can make the whole situation go a lot smoother and hopefully allow both cats to accept each other quicker.

Whenever you bring a new cat home, make sure you keep it in a room by itself for the first several days. This way the new cat can get used to the smells of the house and it will give it a spot to rest for a while.

After a few days you can lock up your old cat, and let the new cat roam around the house for a while so it can get used to the surroundings. Once the new cat is used to the house then you can introduce the two cats to each other.

Only do the introductions for short time periods at the beginning and then separate them again. During the first several initial introductions, always make sure that you are around to supervise them.

That way if there is any fighting you can immediately separate them. Remember though, that there will be some degree of fighting and hissing possibly but if you do the introduction slowly over time it should be minimized.

Also, remember its a good idea to trim both cats nails before introducing them to help minimize any damage from fighting. If you take your time and slowly introduce them then the amount of fighting should be dramatically less and sometimes even zero.