Adding an older cat to a multi-cat household

We recently adopted Angel, a 10 year old female cat from some people who needed to find a new home for her because of allergies in the household.

When I decided to adopt Angel, I knew I would be facing some different challenges than I had with our previous additions because of Angel being an older cat who had never lived with other cats. True, I had adopted Jackie at around 11 years old but only my dog Abby was in our home at the time, and it was an easy transition because Jackie was used to other animals from being at the Humane Society for so long. And Gidget and Lola were both young when they joined us and blended in very quickly. Now I would be adding an older cat to a home with 2 dogs and 2 cats in residence.

So I looked for some advice on handling Angel's homecoming to make the transition as easy as possible on her and our existing pets. I found a lot of information on bringing home a new kitten, but very little for an older cat. Luckily I ran across an excellent article by the Humane Society.

First and foremost, confine the new cat to a quiet room or area that can be sealed off so that the other pets cannot enter. Place the cat's food, separate litter box, bed and some toys in this room. Plan on the new cat staying in this room for 10 to 12 days. The separate room is important so that both your existing pets and the new cat feel secure without having to come face to face, and also to quarantine the new cat until you can take him or her to the vet for a checkup.

The Humane Society site has 6 steps to follow to be sure your new cat will accept the other pets in the home and vice versa, and everyone learns to get along and hopefully become playmates eventually. To read these steps, CLICK HERE.

Angel moved through these steps much quicker than I anticipated. One of the things I did a bit differently was instead of having a solid door separating Angel from the other 4 was to place an old door screen across the opening to her room. This allowed her to feel safe but she was able to watch the movement in the house and the others were able to look in on her too. It also got them all used to each other's scents so the step involving the washcloth under the feeding bowls wasn't necessary. Beginning the 1st day, I would go in and read or sit quietly in her room so she could get used to me. The first day she wanted nothing to do with me. She discovered the closet and some blankets on a low shelf where the other cats like to sleep, and claimed it as her own. The 2nd day she came out of the closet for a short time and wanted to be petted, then without warning she hissed and went back into the closet where she sat and studied me. But from the 3rd day on, she has been very affectionate and wanted attention constantly. Then around the 4th day, I let one cat at a time go into Angel's room for a short time while I was in there. Even though there was some hissing, Angel had her perch in the closet she could retreat to where she felt safe, yet could observe the others and see they meant her no harm. On the 5th day, I put the dogs outside, and confined the other cats in our bedroom, and brought Angel out to let her look around the rest of the house. When she was ready to return to her room, I then let the others back out. On the 6th day, I took the barrier down as I felt confident there wouldn't be any fights by this time. One by one the others would enter her room and look around, and then leave. That afternoon I once again confined the others and she ventured out and explored all over the house including the basement. Then first thing in the morning on her 7th day with us, I was feeding the rest of the animals and she came walking into the kitchen to join the group on her own and ate beside Gidget, the older and calmer of my two cats.

The next couple weeks Angel still got spooked if there was too much commotion around her and would run back to her "safe room," but she made wonderful progress every day. It has now been a month since Angel joined our household, and she has gone from a scared and timid girl who didn't want me anywhere near her, to becoming a very affectionate lap cat. She has discovered a new place in our closet that she has made her napping spot, and I often find her lounging on our bed with one or more of the others. My cats are all females and non-confrontational, and I think that helped make everything go much easier. However, if your cats tend to be aggressive or are males, you'll most likely want to follow the 6 steps more closely to achieve optimal results.