Do you think your cat needs company while you’re away for work? If you don’t get the stimulation you need, you can feel lonely and depressed, but how do you add a second cat to your home without territorial disputes?
In this SoyUngato entry, we collect all the information you must keep in mind when carrying it out. As necessary, following the steps of the process is to respect certain aspects that we show you in the following lines.
Tips prior to the arrival of the second cat
Why do you think your cat needs company? Is there an ideal companion profile for your pet? To answer these and other questions, we will develop the aspects that you have to attend to before taking the step of welcoming a new cat:
- Is your feline properly socialised and has not been separated from your mother and siblings before the month of life? If you consider that your cat tolerates its peers and that its quality of life will improve it will be a good idea a second cat.
- Do you have enough space for both felines to work happily ever after? If you live in a small apartment place shelves on the walls or raised platforms to lie down and observe everything. You’ll make room.
- Ensure that the new tenant is vaccinated, unwarranted and does not have any infectious diseases through the corresponding veterinary checkup. The last thing we want is for pathologies to be transmitted.
- As for the profile, it is recommended that you opt for the second cat of shortage and a related character to the one you already have. Cats up to 5 years old generally welcome puppies.
However, suppose you have a very quiet or older cat. In that case, it is not advisable to introduce a puppy because its energy level or perception of the game is not comparable, and conflicts could arise.
If you have an until sterilised male, we do not advise you to add another male without fixing because the fights, escape attempts and markings will be constant.
The coexistence is more peaceful between same-sex specimens that have been sterilised. If you don’t want to fix them, a male and a female will get along. However, prepare for the demographic explosion you’ll experience.
How do I introduce my second cat without startling?
At this point, you should know that the self-knowledge of both felines must be addressed calmly and progressively. It’s crucial that you’re patient and don’t force them to do what they don’t want to do. They must set the pace for the process.
There are different approach alternatives from the so-called “15-day system”. However, some ethologists discourage this technique because it encourages territorial disputes once the fortnight ends.
Therefore, our recommendation is summarized in the following stages.
1. Preparing the home
You must have prepared a room with all the new tenant items (sanitary tray, feeder, drinker, bed and toys) and close the door when it has arrived.
Please note that this room does not occupy a preferential place in the house, as your primal cat may feel relegated to a second place.
This initial phase’s duration will vary depending on the reaction of both felines, but should not last beyond several days.
Reward your primal cat with your favourite snack or treat every time you get close to sniffing your new partner’s room.
One resource that accelerates both cats’ acceptance is to share objects, such as a blanket, impregnated in their pheromones and exchange them. In this way, you will promote your self-knownness. They’ll seal their typical chemical signature.
You can use artificial products made to achieve this purpose. For example, we refer to Feliway, a diffuser of the cat’s facial pheromones that facilitates the marking of the space recognised as its own. They won’t feel overwhelmed with it.
2 Allows the new cat to search throughout the house
After several days of being aware of the other’s presence, you can allow the new cat to leave his room to know the rest of the house. Your primal cat can access the new tenant’s space without his presence.
3 Prepare eye contact
The next stage is to prepare the first eye contact between them. To do this, help yourself with a rigid plastic carrier. Please enter the new feline into it and let them be seen.
Don’t worry if you notice that they’re scared, go into the natural and don’t have to mean they’re not tolerated. After a while inside the carrier, you must let the cat go out with the other feline at a certain distance.
As a precaution, close all doors and cover the under of the beds or sofa to prevent disputes in which you cannot intervene.
The healthiest thing is that you resort to neutral deterrents, such as water, to tackle fights that you consider to endanger their integrity and that prevent you from taking sides in favour of any of them.
4 Let them know each other
If the meeting has been satisfactory, you can leave them alone in the same room, always with some supervision, at least during the first few minutes and even sleep together.
As you can see, the priority is that they get to know each other little by little, familiarise themselves with each other’s smells and that neither of them considers the other an intruder, but quite the opposite.
You must facilitate the new space’s knowledge to the newcomer and the acceptance of the other by the primal, making him understand that his companion’s arrival will not diminish his status.
Now that you know how to add a second cat to your home, we encourage you to put it into practice. They will enjoy their company, learn from each other and end up wanting each other, despite not being gregarious animals like dogs.