Moving and introducing a new cat. How to do it right?
Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 5:43 am
Hello everyone!
I'm new and have a very specific situation that we need help with. My husband and I are buying a new home and will be moving in a little over a month from now. We own two cats, Mac and Tonka, who will need to be introduced to the new home. Though that is pretty cut and dry, the tricky part is that we will also be moving with my brother who owns a cat, Elliot, and dog, Luna. Our cats are already used to the Luna and are well adjusted to being around her, however, they have never met Elliot, who brings his own set of issues. So the question is, how do we go about safely introducing the three cats to the new home and to each other?
A little back story! Our cats are insanely docile: they are both indoor cats and are both a bit handicapped. Mac has a bum elbow that fused at birth while Tonka is nearly blind because of a neurological issue. Out of the two, Tonka is the most skittish, but after four years of having them in our care, he has come into his own and really turned into a trusting and loving cat.
My brother's cat on the other hand, though very loving, is pretty maladjusted. He is fearful and aggressive: my brother took him is as an abandoned kitten that was taken from his mother too early. He then had a bad run in when he first escaped outside which turned into an obsession with escaping and ultimately ended up changing him from an indoor cat to an outdoor. The topper on his strange behaviors, however, came when my brother was forced into a less than perfect living situation and Elliot, who had only lived with a dog before, was introduced to a house full of cats. Elliot became the lowest man on the totem pole and was quickly the victim of cat bullying. This is where his odd behaviors turned aggressive and erratic. He doesn't get along with any of the other cats in the home and when they aren't attacking him, he's pouncing and fighting with them.
Moving Elliot into a calmer home with non-aggressive, non-territorial cats will be good for him, but introducing our gentle fluff-balls to a hair-trigger kitty is less than ideal for them.
I know introductions should be done slowly and after safe spaces have been established, whether it be introducing a new cat or a new space, but how do we introduce both, new cats and a new place, at the same time?
I'm new and have a very specific situation that we need help with. My husband and I are buying a new home and will be moving in a little over a month from now. We own two cats, Mac and Tonka, who will need to be introduced to the new home. Though that is pretty cut and dry, the tricky part is that we will also be moving with my brother who owns a cat, Elliot, and dog, Luna. Our cats are already used to the Luna and are well adjusted to being around her, however, they have never met Elliot, who brings his own set of issues. So the question is, how do we go about safely introducing the three cats to the new home and to each other?
A little back story! Our cats are insanely docile: they are both indoor cats and are both a bit handicapped. Mac has a bum elbow that fused at birth while Tonka is nearly blind because of a neurological issue. Out of the two, Tonka is the most skittish, but after four years of having them in our care, he has come into his own and really turned into a trusting and loving cat.
My brother's cat on the other hand, though very loving, is pretty maladjusted. He is fearful and aggressive: my brother took him is as an abandoned kitten that was taken from his mother too early. He then had a bad run in when he first escaped outside which turned into an obsession with escaping and ultimately ended up changing him from an indoor cat to an outdoor. The topper on his strange behaviors, however, came when my brother was forced into a less than perfect living situation and Elliot, who had only lived with a dog before, was introduced to a house full of cats. Elliot became the lowest man on the totem pole and was quickly the victim of cat bullying. This is where his odd behaviors turned aggressive and erratic. He doesn't get along with any of the other cats in the home and when they aren't attacking him, he's pouncing and fighting with them.
Moving Elliot into a calmer home with non-aggressive, non-territorial cats will be good for him, but introducing our gentle fluff-balls to a hair-trigger kitty is less than ideal for them.
I know introductions should be done slowly and after safe spaces have been established, whether it be introducing a new cat or a new space, but how do we introduce both, new cats and a new place, at the same time?
