Question about adopting a second cat

[Cat0727]

A year ago my dad adopted a friendly female cat, Bella, from a lady who runs her shelter out of her house. He decided to adopt another cat, a male this time, so Bella would have a playmate. We thought since she lived with cats before she'd be okay living with another. He picked Bear, a small 10-11 month old cat who was around Bella's size, had a sweet temperament and wouldn't bully or overpower her. The lady told us once we brought the carrier back to my dad's place to set it down and let Bella approach and inspect it. If she hissed, growled, spit- those reactions were normal. But if she let out a scream we had to come back with Bear immediately.

Well yesterday Bella didn't come out of the closet right away- she thought the carrier was for her. So my dad let Bear out of the carrier and eventually he went and sat on top of the stove. That night Bella came out and when my dad picked her up to show her Bear, she cried. Then a little while later she began stalking him, walking around the stove that he was still sitting on and hissing a couple of times at him and his empty carrier. This morning she made the screaming sound at Bear twice while he was sitting in-between the bookcases. So my dad brought Bear back He said Bear was glad to be "home" but I feel bad. Could things have worked out? I was reading about this online and they say to let the cats work it out on their own...I guess Bella is best off as an only cat since she's been by herself for so long now and is really attached to my dad and loves people. I don't know. For those who have more than one cat, what are your thoughts? Thanks.

 

[southern_redhead]

I've never heard of a cat "screaming" at another cat. Why would that be worse than hissing or growling or batting at it?

We have 2 cats, the first one we got almost 3 years ago and the second we got at the end of last summer. Our older cat (male, fixed at the time) was used to being the darling of the house and he wasn't overly thrilled when our new cat (female, now fixed but then just a young kitten -also named Bella, too funny!) showed up. In fact, they spent the first evening alternately trying to jump each other and keep each other off the furniture. By the next morning it had settled down quite a bit. To tell the truth, I don't know that he still cares much for her...I think he just tolerates her presence. He will happily sit with us in a chair or sleep at the foot of our beds UNLESS she is there or tries to get on. Then he huffs off. She doesn't seem to be the dominate cat, though, he just appears to dislike sharing and he is quite a sulker.

 

[pixiewings71]

I think your adoption cat lady was wrong. We have a kitten, we found him in October with his sister, they were about 4 weeks old. His sister didn't make it, we lost her a couple days after we brought them home but we've had Tigger since October. He's a cute fiesty fun kitten of about 6 months old. We had 2 cats already, Tink and Mouse, they are sisters, Tink doesn't mind Tigger much at all, Tig plays with her and Tink will hiss when she's had enough, she's swatted at him a time or two as well but nothing major. Mouse on the other hand still hisses everytime she sees Tig, she's never swatted but she does hiss, growl, and make all kinds of weird noises. I think your Dad should have waited a few more days to see how Bella adjusted to having Bear around. Cats don't often get along right away, case in point, we've had Tig since Oct and Mouse still doesn't "like" him.....

 

[si-am]

It can take weeks for cats to get used to each other. Heck, our cats have been together for 7 years and they still don't really like each other. They have learned to tolerate.... but hissing still happens occasionally.

 

[bitohoney]

Try Feliway and/or Rescue Remedy Pet. It works well with my 3 cats. I brought a kitten into the house last year and all hell broke loose! My vet recommended Feliway, I use the spray and plug-in. It can get expensive but don't buy it from a vet...$$$$$. I get mine from Amazon. There are also other all natural remedies that I found on onlynaturalpet.com

 

[Magpie]

I would have said cats could always work it out, if you just left them alone - until I tried to keep my mom's cat for awhile.

We have several cats. We've fostered other people's cats for short periods of time. It's never been an issue before. There's always lots of hissing, spitting, growling, and batting, but they work it out.

However, there's another sound that I've only heard when we keep my mom's cat. It's hard to explain, unless you've heard it. It's just pure rage.

I tried to let my mom's cat work it out with my other cats for over a week. They cornered my mom's cat in a closet and wouldn't let her eat or drink. I brought her food - she refused to touch it. They kept attacking her every time I went to bed - there were bits of her black fur all over the attic. Finally one of my males decides to PEE all over her. Literally - she was sopping wet. So I cleaned her up, and my daughter agreed to keep her in her bedroom. It took a couple days of hiding under the bed, but eventually she began to eat again. Meanwhile all my other cats took up post outside my daughter's bedroom door, trying to figure out how to break in and beat this cat up.

I don't know what it is about that cat, but my cats hate her. She's actually really sweet and mild and not aggressive at all with other cats.

I'm thinking the cat lady knows what she's talking about, and she's got her cats' best interests in mind.

Oh... and it's not just my cats who hate my mom's cat. The reason I had her was because my mother's usual cat-sitter got a new cat, and the new cat tried to "kill" my mom's cat. I didn't believe it at the time - I thought my mom's cat-sitter was just being oversensitive and alarmist. Now I think she might have been telling the truth.

 

[Kat77]

We are currently introducing our three cats to a new kitten. Sometimes it takes a while (as in months). For now they are confined to the master bedroom, bathroom and closet while the kitten is kept upstairs in DS13's room and bathroom. We socialize each cat individually with our new kitten in neutral areas and sometimes take the kitten to explore their space. They still like to growl and hiss at him from afar most days. One cat will finally sit near him because he has some cool new toys she is interested in. She's a playful cat and he is too. The other cat will ignore him unless he comes too close. Our queen bee despises him, she likes to hiss and will occasionally chase him down to growl over him but she is getting better at tolerating him. Sometimes we will return a cat from a visit and the other cats will hiss because they can smell the kitten on that cat. They will eventually tolerate the new cat.

 

[SookieStackhouse]

I have a female Siamese, and she is insanely territorial. We tried to bring another cat into the house (a fairly large male that had been fixed, I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not), but she would have nothing of it. She freaked out upon seeing him the first time, and it went downhill from there. She would attack him regularly, she would get up on shelves and jump off on him. After a couple weeks we found a new home for him. I was very afraid that he would get enough of her and fight back and hurt her.

Couple years ago, I found a small cat hanging around me outside, barely bigger than a kitten, brought her inside the house... My cat took one look at the kitten and got all bristled up and was hissing... I promptly returned the little cat outside.

 

[njmom47]

We had 2 cats who had grown up together, and one passed away. Since Junior seemed lonely (I'm sure he was looking for Mugsy) we decided to get another cat. We looked for an older declawed fixed male (who we found at the 3rd shelter we went to). They tolerate each other for the most part, and do fight from time to time, but we feel they're on even ground. HOWEVER...dd brings home a kitten last summer, and he is not declawed (he is fixed though). He wreaks havoc on Boo Boo (our newer cat...we've had him 3 yrs, not really so new) but pretty much leaves Junior alone. Brody (kitten) is upstairs is dd's bedroom most of the time, but we do let him out every day for a couple of hours. When we hear the fighting get bad, we put Brody back. I don't know if they will ever get along.

 

[Swalphin]

I had a cat that was the DIVA of all Diva cats. One day I
brought home a little male kitten as a companion cat for her.
The Diva cat hated him.
It took 2 weeks and she started to tolerate him.

And then it dawned on her, he was a hot mess. She took on the job of teaching him proper grooming, litter box etiquette. He was so starved when we got him he would sleep in the food bowl, she taught him that there is always food and not to sleep in the bowl.
I am glad I stuck it out but, II have been thinking about this, I originally worte "sometimes it just can't be done" and I have to say I think it, and I do believe it can be done, you just need time and patience, sometimes lots of both. I woud never want to discourage adopting an animal, that if left in a kill shelter, would not to get a chance.

It really is about keeping them seperated, one in a carrier, the new one, and being present when they do interact. My Diva cat would hiss like nobody's business, and have these deep gutteral noises directed towards the kitten. It took 2 weeks and when I look back at the relationship they evntually had, how could I have not given Diva cat that companion who she really took to.
When my Diva cat passed away, my boy kitty was deveastated,s much so I got him his own kitten. He took to her immediately he was a true gentleman.

 

[epcotprincess]

Use an internet search engine to look up proper cat integration methods.

When introducing a new cat into the household, there are certain steps you can take to minimize this sort of interaction. The alpha cat is supposed to be allowed to have free range of the house while the new cat is isolated into a separate room for 1-2 days. Then you swap blankets/ toys or other items so they can smell one another. Then you allow for safe interaction while one cat is in a carrier. You always feed them separately and praise with love and treats when they have a positive interaction. Slowly you can let them be in a room together and see what happens. This whole process takes about a week but has a very high success rate.

My 3 cats were not into each other at all for about the first 7-10 days but now are buddies and get along swimmingly.

Bella sounds like a great candidate to be a "big sister," but initial integration really has to be done properly in order for it to work.

Good luck!

 

[Kat77]

Use an internet search engine to look up proper cat integration methods.

When introducing a new cat into the household, there are certain steps you can take to minimize this sort of interaction. The alpha cat is supposed to be allowed to have free range of the house while the new cat is isolated into a separate room for 1-2 days. Then you swap blankets/ toys or other items so they can smell one another. Then you allow for safe interaction while one cat is in a carrier. You always feed them separately and praise with love and treats when they have a positive interaction. Slowly you can let them be in a room together and see what happens. This whole process takes about a week but has a very high success rate.

Yes, This is what I'd read also. We had to tweak the process because we were fostering a litter at first and our alpha cat wanted to terrorize them all day. She would just hang out outside DS13's doors and growl. So we confined both groups and started to focus on taming the feral kittens (one was horribly skittish). Our Alpha cat is coming along. I have hope.

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't know what it is about that cat, but my cats hate her. She's actually really sweet and mild and not aggressive at all with other cats.

That's exactly what our cat was like. We were her 3rd or 4th home, and in each previous home the other animals (not just cats!) despised her and tried to kill her. And she was THE sweetest little cat you could ever meet...to humans, at least. But man she must have put out some evil kitty pheromones or something...

 

[Cinderella94]

We had our cat Daisy for almost 2 years when we wanted another one. We brought Woody home and for a full 2 days--not kidding, 48 straight hours--wherever Woody went, Daisy went. She followed him like a hawk and hissed, tried to start fights with him. Woody was just a baby though and had no idea why this other cat didn't like him . After the first few days, Daisy got over it and now they're fine. But as we see with this thread, that always doesn't work out...sorry OP!

 

[MyManGoofy!]

I have 4 cats of my own and have successfully fostered and place over 40 cats and kittens in the last couple of years. I have yet to have a cat come in that everyone did not like. I have had up to 12 animals at once in my home.

You cannot just put two strange cats together and hope they work it out and like each other. The new cat/kitten (or even a dog) needs to be slowly integrated into the household.

The best way is to place the new animal in their own room with the door shut. No face to face interaction for at least 5 to 7 days. Place a towel under the food bowls for both new and old animals and swap back and forth so that each animal becomes used to the scent of the other. There will be plenty of curiosity and back and forth under the crack of the door. Maybe even hissing and growling as everybody figures out who is who. This is ok and normal.

You will see around that 5 to 7 day mark that there is far more curiosity going on that aggression and this is the time to make a face to face introduction. There may be some initial insecurities on either side, if it becomes too aggressive, return the new kitty to their room and try again later. Extend the amount of time they are allowed to interact and before you know it, the new and the old are acclimated.

Now this does not mean that they will all become best cuddle buddies forever - they may just tolerate each other. That depends entirely on the cat's personalities. But they should not all out fight. Please give them at least 2 weeks of this process before returning them.

If you would like more information and great advice - go to thecatsite.com. There are some really helpful people over there.