Some cats don’t have problems with other cats pretty much at all, I’m very lucky that my grey male tabby has never ever hissed or scratched anyone or any cats ever. Every cat I introduce him to is effortless on my part, my black and white female tabby is a different story lol but she doesn’t freak out just avoids the other cats and will hiss when they are near, they still never fight.
I used most of these techniques seven years a ago before I saw this with an added element of taking a pair of socks, patting/petting each cat with one sock then placing each sock beside the other's food bowl to create the positive scent association at feeding time. It only took five days to get to a face to face meeting and six years later they get along really well.
Introduced my new cat the wrong way from the get go and she got chased around the house in a cat tornado. Followed this video and a week later they're cohabitating and I'd like to even say they're friends now. Perfect advise!
Okay, this makes me feel a bit better 😅😭 I had the new cat separated in the bathroom and it seemed like he was becoming ambitious and ready to explore outside the bathroom (even tho he was totally shy and timid this morning when I adopted him LOL) as a few hours passed. I didn’t calculate that he’d try running out every chance I opened the door 💀 finally I got a gate set up in the hallway after the door to prevent him from going into the whole apartment, and sure enough he ran out and was at the gate! There on the other side was my residential cat, and of course they had the forbidden stare down, and the new cat got all scared 🥲 so back to step one LOL he’s no longer ambitious but we’ll work on it 🤣
This is good to know. I also made the mistake of badly introducing. My cats were fine, the new guy was not happy. We are now going to follow these steps since it is only day 2.
My resident cat is 11 years old and we introduced him to a younger 2-3 year old cat who is very well socialized and forgiving. I followed everything Jackson said in the video at about 90% accuracy. My resident cat would hiss, growl and run away hiding from the new cat for the first week of the introduction. At the two weeks mark I noticed that my resident cat stopped rejecting the new cat. In fact, my new cat would follow my resident cat around because he loves him so much! At 3 weeks, they began playing together and sitting on the same cat tree on different spots. At 4 weeks, they could sit side by side and sleep together with some touching. At 5 weeks, my new cat grooms my resident cat (resident cat does not groom back lol). Some helpful tips I learned along the way: 1. immediate reward for good behaviour when two cats are together. Snack works best. 2. Play with both of them together at the same time or within the same area. 3. Spend a lot of time with your resident cat so they don't feel like you are moving your love to a new cat. I really thought that this would never work but with a lot of hard work and barely any sleep in the first 2 weeks of introducing them, it worked wonders. Good luck everyone!
Update: Been 6 months since I introduced my cats to each other and now they sleep together, eat and play every single day. I adopted my resident cat when he was 6 years old so I never got to know him as a kitten. Now, my resident cat will go around the apartment looking for his new friend so that they could play together. My resident cat has always had a weight problem since he only wants a lot of kibble and no wet food. Now that we feed on a timed schedule twice a day, with one bowl wet food one bowl kibble, my resident cat is now more receptive to the wet food! So good to see that my 11 year old boy is now more healthy, active and being a kitten all over again!
@@Cabbits not good.. my resident cat and my new cat fights. My resident cat won't eat if my new cat can see him even though the screen is between them... It's been a month
@@pepperface2eating meals together took my resident cat 5 months to do. I suggest using high reward treats/snacks to eat together. Something they will absolutely love and devour. You can start by putting the snacks 1-2 meter apart. Then, over time slowly close that gap until they are eating within 30 cm of each other.
My girlfriend and I followed this method to the point when introducing our new female kitten to our two adult male cats. it was amazing how well it worked! I reccomend this channel to every cat owner I meet. Thank you!
I followed Jackson Galaxy's advice to introduce my new cat (7 mos, fixed male) to the existing cat.(3 years, fixed male) I couldn't do it exactly like he said because the separating door had glass panels (with a curtain over it) and they did see each other, when the newbie discovered he could peek around the curtain. A week later, they were REALLY wanting to meet, chirping at each other, no fear or aggression. They had a great first meet, used a toy to distract from stare downs- then I heard a spit/hiss and they were put back in their own spots. They got another meeting after a break, no problems there, good play, and then separated for the night. Today is the first day with the door just open and they are buddies! Noseboops, tag, play boxing with no upset noises- thanks for the great advice!!
I'm on day three and terrified. I'm just so nervous thinking what if it doesn't work out. The resident cat was rescued from a crazy person keeping her in small cage for a really long time, she's very jumpy after a long time healing and getting back to normal the other one is a social chill cat who was at our office and had to be removed from the building for creating some problems so I adopted her. Now the first one wants to kill the new one and the new one acts like she doesn't care and it's all good. Don't know how to calm the first one down 😭
This method worked amazingly for introducing my new 2 year old cat to my resident 10 year old cat, who had been an only cat for 4+ years. There were some rocky moments and a few scuffles, but this morning they booped each other's noses as if to say "good morning" for the first time. It has taken us about 3 weeks to get to this point. If anyone is having a hard time, I would say to trust the process and be patient - it really does work! Thank you Jackson!
I needed this comment! My partner and I are moving in together soon, he has a 3 year old cat and I have a 13 year old cat who started out as living with 3 cats, but has been an only cat for 5 years now. We've tried some introductions with them before and there was never close to a fight, but my cat would growl and hiss. His cat just slow blinks at her lol this gives me hope that she can one day tolerate him
I have to say that I didn't do a good job introducing my cats. I separated them by a door for about two hours, not two weeks. It took Baby Kitten six months to stop hissing at Babiest Kitten. But they are fine with each other now and I live in a peaceful household
I’m back to smelling through the door phase after 2 months.. Our resident male cat is NOT being friendly even through the door.. Our new female cat has the “ I couldn’t care less” attitude cause she’s had 2 litters and many cats around her all her life.. I am concerned mainly about male resident cat beating up new female cat.. We started the steps all over, hopefully they will be better at their next introduction..
@@jessmolloy6070 My male resident cat is use to her smell now but when he sees her through a glass door, he goes back to hissing, growling and slapping the glass like he’s going for a kill.. Our male indoors resident cat had never seen another cat unless at the vet’s office.. He has been the only cat for 4 years, so we are proceeding slowly still..
1:14 1 get on schedule 1:45 2 basecamp 3:51 3 catification 4:51 part 2 introduction: 4:58 1 other side of the door 6:39 2 visual access 7:56 3 eat play love 10:00 last note
Took this guy's advice on scent sharing in different rooms to introduce our new kitten to an older cat and less than a week later, they are best of friends! was stressful at first but really worth it, thank you!
It's easier with kittens lol. The only time I've seen the "just drop them in the main room" approach work is with kittens, older cats seem to be more tolerant of babies than a new fully grown cat.
For those of you in the first week or two of cat introductions and feeling discouraged - this can take a long time. We've been following these steps and they definitely work. We are in week 6 and doing the Eat Play Love step. The cats can generally play together for 5-15 minutes twice a day before they start to get a bit combative. A huge part of this process is learning how each cat communicates with you and then respecting what they are telling you. our resident kitty is 7 and was a stray who lived in a colony. We thought that since she has lived with cats before, this transition would be easy. That was not the case. We brought home a 4 month old kitten about 6 weeks ago and it has been a test of everyone's patience. This is how our journey has gone so far: Week 1: lots of curiosity from the resident cat. Meowing at the door, playing patty cake, and lots of hissing and growling through the door. The kitten was unfazed. Week 2: we attempted our first visual contact but we pushed it too far too fast. Resident kitty stopped eating and the hissing got worse. We went back to closed door meal times. Weeks 3-5: slowly building the visual contact. Started as far apart as physically possible and slowly moved the kitties closer. The hissing and growling continued, but only when the kitten would approach the gate and stare at the resident kitty, so we did our best to distract the kitten when she started to lose interest in her food. Resident kitty also started swatting through the baby gate, but that was easy to correct by keeping the kitten away from the gate. Week 6, current: we are now doing direct contact. Some days are better than others, but each contact is better and challenges both kitties. We are hopeful that this phase will move relatively quickly so we can be one happy family soon. Stay the course! It can be really frustrating and hard. It's emotional for everyone involved. But hopefully it results in a happy home.
@@usedevilthing We are 6 months in and the cats are still separated, actually. We ended up consulting with a behaviorist because we couldn't get past the 3-5 minute mark of direct contact. The cats are now at a point where they can both be downstairs together as long as they are supervised, but we don't trust them out together without us there. Part of this process taking so long was my sensitivity to their communication. I'd separate them at any hiss or swat, but the behaviorist said that they need to set boundaries with each other and benign hissing and/or swatting is normal while they learn to live with each other. It's been a rough few months and we've considered rehoming the kitten countless times. However, once we met with the behaviorist it was like night and day. Being able to have them both out while supervised has been a huge stress relief and it feels like we are over the hump!
Would it work if the cats have live together for a period of time? Like reintroducing them again using this method, cause I was afraid it won’t work cause they know other cat’s scent already.
Thanks for encouragement. I'm on day 2 of week 2 since bringing in new kitten, Boo. Day 2 of site swapping. He's been in a great basecamp for 7 days. Today's site swap was great for Boo kitten bc my husband played with him for 2 hours, with light and toys, while I rotated the resident cats in and out of base camp. Also had my small dog on leash, treat rewarding him for not reacting to kitten, and looking back at me. 30 times. After 2 hours of kitten exploring big space, time to go back to basecamp but old cat (17) won't come out. He is in deep hiding, and won't come out of kitten's room. I finally put kitten back in basecamp for litter box, food and sleep, with old guy still hiding. Peaceful for 3 hours but don't know how to nudge older cat out.
The rescue told me my first cat needed to be the only animal in the house; I said hold my coffee. Adopted a buddy for her, took a SOLID two weeks with them separated physically and with baby gates, followed EVERY step laid out by Jackson and now... they are best friends. Be patient, you'll get there 👍🏻
Did it work out? I've got a phyco it turns out, and it's only getting worse. He now running drop kicks the door of the base camp trying to get at the little kitten. 😤 He's also taken up attacking my feet when he realises he can't get her. Exhausting!
@@anonanon9245 Male & female. No sadly still not a happy house. What made things even worse was the door to base camp didn't shut properly, so the first we knew of this was when we heard cats growling and fighting. He had her trapped and pinned in a corner and was a full fight. No real damage luckily, but all progress made so was lost. Actually it's now worse than ever as now the little girl also hates him. She growls at him through the door at feeding times, hisses, tries to stalk him all of a sudden which is weird. He doesn't seem as bothered as he was, he doesn't jump at the door anymore and can be distracted from her with food. Overall it's an absolute nightmare, had cats over the last 20 years, never had such major issues. We've basically got a divided household right now, being extremely careful not to let the cats into the same areas. Still exhausting!
This worked like a charm. Our traumatized cat was cuddling the new kitten within days after first contact. Awesome, thanks for this elaborate and great content.
Please do. I’m a new cat mom and honestly I didn’t know this and I’m glad I actually went to search for this. I have an indoor cat that gets along with dogs but doesn’t get along with the other cat.
9:30 I love this part about getting back on the horse. When I first got my new cat, the resident cat was scared and defensive for a while. I was worried it wasn’t going to work out even when following this advice. But I stuck with it. Now the resident cat is obsessed with his adopted sister and I’m glad neither one has to be alone whenever I’m not home. Thanks for this video!!
Thanks for your help. After 4 days of side swapping twice a day I removed the curtains and allowed to new cat and resident cat to see each other for the first time through glass windows. They both seemed very interested in each other by getting close to the glass window that separated them. New cat is confident and mellow. Resident cat is nervous and shy. I just felt that it was time to let them get together. I about did a back flip when they touched noses and just walked away together like pals. No fighting. They just started hanging out together. Since day 5 both cats have been sleeping in bed with me at night.
These are great steps, but some of these steps require a lot of space and two people. I live alone in a small 2 room apartment. They can reach the door anytime and can smell eachother anytime. and i have to go back and forth to give them equal amount of attention. can we have an introduction guide for people that live in small appartements and/or studio appartements?
I'm in the same boat! My first cat can hear the new cat and gets upset just at the sound. Its odd though bc the smell of him doesn't seem to upset her any more, just when she hears him meowing, but especially when my parrot is around AND the kitten is meowing or making noise from the other room. Also, my first cat is NOT food motivated at all... she eats but ONLY when she wants to (she will go 24hrs or more without eating if she doesn't want to eat when I feed her or if she doesn't want the food I give her, but she's totally healthy and weighs a healthy amount).
@@Shamrock04 thank you for sharing. My kittens are fine together now. it took nine days. Around 4 accidental meetings as i went from one room to the other. they sleep together and play together, share food bowls. @jacksongalaxy I still wonder how to introduce cats/kittens in A studio apparemment when you have a small bathroom where you cant really leave an animal?
@@inesnathaliengoua if you think about it a cat could live in a small bathroom. When theyre in an overcrowded shelter theyre in much smaller spaces than that. Plus new cats might feel more comfy in a smaller space at first
JenNichole04 I’m on the boat too! And my 1st cat is same as yours with food...I waste so much money on food too cos I give it to her and she won’t eat it! And now I got a new kitten and I’m in phase 1 with base camp and she’s not eating at all
We have a 13 year old cat and brought a binded pair of 1 year old cats to the household. We followed Jackson's process of introducing them to the letter and it worked!! It took 6 weeks of very slow and repetitive steps of introduction, but it was worth every minute. Thank you, Jackson!!
Thank you! Thanks for giving me hope! ❤️ I'm in the same situation as Im about to move in with my elderly Aunt who has a senior cat. Mine are 1½ (brother/sister.)
I have an elderly cat 14 years old who has been a house cat his whole life. I need to introduce and bring into the house another Elderly female cat of 13 years old again who has been a house cat and never lived or had any interaction with another cat. Is this even possible and would it could too much stress to both of the cats? Any help and advice would be hugely appreciated. I would be so grateful if someone can please give me any tips around this. 🙏
My first cat is a boy and now 5 months and recently we just got a bonded pair of boy cats that are a year old. They dint seem to mind him at first but now they run after him everytime. My first cat hates them. I don’t know what to do and I don’t want to get rid of them.
@@wonderingtraveller4786 I'm in a similar situation! Trying to introduce two cats that are old and do not play with toys anymore. I see your comment was 7 mos ago. I'm curious how it went? Do they get along well now?🤞
@@eiddam39 Hey, unfortunately it didn't go ahead I was worried my maincoone wouldn't get one with another cat because he's been alone indoors cat. The other cat is my brothers cat in another country so I didn't bring him over. How are you getting on? x
During my childhood, I was raised with two alpha female cats who did not get along with each other. They were not introduced properly, because we did not have any Jackson Galaxy cat videos during the 1960s. Calico TC was the senior cat, who just showed up as a gentle, friendly stray, house-trained, spayed, and was a skilled predator. She owned our yard, and could be seen hunting throughout my neighborhood. Siamese Lucy was adopted when my father's friend's Siamese Queen had a litter of pure Siamese kittens. The day my father brought her home, I remember her walking around the kitchen, filling the house with her distinctive Siamese voice. Having seen the movie "That Darned Cat" Lucy did not seem to be strange. The first time they saw each other, it was a war between two Alpha Females, who instantly disliked each other. They hissed, howled, and swatted at each other for the next 15 years. Eventually they divided the house between each other, with certain rooms belonging to one or the other. They divided the Living Room and Kitchen by sides of the room. The TV belonged to Siamese Lucy, because the vacuum tubes kept it warm. One day one of my brother's friends saw Lucy in her Sphinx pose, and remarked "I swear I saw your statue move!" Feeding time always was challenging. We would have to feed Lucy first, before feeding TC. Then Lucy would leave her food, and nudge TC away from TC's food. TC would just walk to the door, as if to say "I can catch better stuff than that!" Within a half hour, TC could be seen chowing down on some unfortunate rodent or bird. One day TC was absolutely insistent demanding to go outside, despite the rain. So I opened the front door to show TC that it was pouring rain. This angered TC, she pulled her ears back, and turned away from the door. At that moment, Lucy came bopping into the room, happy with her tail straight up. TC hissed and attacked poor Lucy, who had an expression like "What did I do?!?" Those incidents went on for 15 years, until TC died. Lucy walked the house for days, calling mournfully and searching for her rival housemate. Lucy adjusted to being an only cat for the next two years. Decades later, I still miss those two stepsisters.
Ok. Ever since my other kitty died, whenever I sit down, my 10 year old male thinks it's time to be an attention seeker. I can lay him down next to me and pet him, but the second I stop, he's literally in my face bugging me for more. It's the same when I go to bed. I've got to pull the covers over my head to get him to leave me alone to sleep. He's not at all interested in interactive toys, even if I give him catnip before I play with him. There aren't enough hours in the day to get my things done, give him all the attention he wants and sleep too, it seems. I'm pretty sure he looked at the other kitty as his toy.
Hello! I would appreciate a topic about what cats feel when they are alone or when someone else comes to feed them. I'm the kind of people never going on vacation because of guilt of leaving my pets! And there is a lot like me.
Thank you for not having any hissing sound effects! I’m sitting right here with my new kitty, and I’m finding lots of cat videos have hissing noises that make my kitties nervous. So I’m thankful that I don’t have to use headphones on this video!
This method definitely worked for us. My resident cat, who is almost 11 was very stressed at first he even got bladder cystitis and I felt so so guilty about trying to introduce a companion. But we took it super slow - one full month of scent swap, site swap, shared mealtimes, interactions through barriers etc. Then when they were in the same room together it was only for 15-20 minutes at a time, first once, then twice then three times a day slowly increasing the duration of the visits. Now it's been two months and they're able to be around each other 24/7 without supervision. They are definitely still feeling each other out, establishing routines and getting to know one another, but I was meticulous about the steps when my friends and family thought I was insane... and I'm a believer. Even if they never become best friends they can totally function together safely already. If you have an older cat that's been an "only child" for most of it's life, I would suggest ensuring you can commit the time, logistical requirements and patience to this process. Lots of people seem to get lucky but I'm pretty certain we wouldn't be in good shape if I hadn't followed this process.
Amazon sells screen doors now that you can mount on your door frame with a sticky tape and velcro! It is made of a foldable material. You enter the room via a zipper. Brand is SHRRL. It sounds strange, I know. But it really works and cats can't destroy it with scratching. It is great for the first eye contact and smelling each other. Have used it on two introductions. The original door stays in place of course. So you can always decide how much of the screendoor you want to reveal.
That's my plan, because I'm so nervous with this introduction that will happen soon. I saw one of those screen door things and I knew it'd be a massive help.
It took me a couple weeks for two of my cats to befriend each other but the best thing that I used was a collapsible hamper. not right away but about 2 weeks in to them sniffing each other under the door. Our adult cat laid inside the hamper and watched the kitten play for an hour every night for about 4 nights. I would just manually keep the kitten from going into the hamper or too close. On the fourth night of intense observation, our adult cat started reaching out to interact with the kitten. Now they chase each other through the house having a wonderful time.
We went through a similar process when I started letting my first foster kitten explore the whole house. My adult cat sat on her perch every evening for several days just watching the kitten. Then she started creeping closer and eventually chose to interact.
i think i will do the same because my resident cat is not interested in playing when the kitten is near. he just watches him and is still scared of him (hisses when he comes to near). and the kitten is too interested in the resident one to just play with the toy when my resident one is also on the floor, so he can get to him. hope this will work. im 16 days in :P
@@raqueltwod yes i can 😁 just needs time. I can let them walk in the house when I’m at home. Feed them together etc. 2 more weeks till my new kitten gets neutered. Hope he gets a little calmer then. At the moment he climbs the older cat ( think it’s a sexual behavior) and is very dominant. When hes calm the lay together on the couch with like 50cm between them and sleep. The older one even lick the little ones head sometimes till the little play bites the older cat after it 😂 2 months ago I couldn’t even feed them with seeing eachother 😁 so I’m confident that they will get good friends when the little one is neutered and more time passes by.
It took my cats less than a day. Only because my existing cat wasn't an alpha but he also couldn't be bullied. He really wanted a friend and he let the new cat his and explore without interfering .
@@dartarro21 my two female cats were together after 2 days and sleeping together after 4 days. It can work. Everything is cat dependent, not just gender.
@@saraharmstrong9190 that makes me feel better! I feel like people are always saying that two female cats will never get along, but it mainly has to do with temperament.
I am SO SO SO elated to finally be able to come here to share the story of my two kitties getting along! My first cat (1y/o, Spayed Female) is a “diagnosed fearful cat” as the shelter described her. We adopted her about 9 months ago. She was a happy yet reserved kitty at first, but at some point she started exhibiting signs of pretty severe separation anxiety. My husband and I decided to adopt another kitten so that she could have a companion. We chose to go the foster route first (with the intention of foster failing if things worked out) and fostered our second kitten (3 m/o, spayed female) for a week. They got through scent and site swapping like a breeze! Because my resident didn’t react adversely, we ended up adopting the new kitten two weeks ago. Followed Jackson’s steps to the T! There were hiccups.. swatting, hissing, a little bit of growling, staring, stalking - you name it! And she did this not only at the new baby, but even at us! We had to learn to give her lots of space to cope with this change. Its easy to lose hope when this happens. But i kept coming back to this video to read people’s success stories and they helped me to keep going! And today, a little over two weeks since we adopted the little one, the two of them are playing together as i type this comment!! I was easily expecting at least another week of Eat Play Love. But something just clicked today and they’re actually behaving like friends! Thank you, Jackson!! And thank you, all the other commenters who also gave out some pretty great advice! If you’re going through this process and feeling deflated, please know that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and this will work out!! Remember, small progress may make it tempting for you to skip some steps. I’d suggest following them religiously as they indeed are fool proof.
We tried a lot of these methods, and although we were able to get them ok with each other for a little bit, they would always wind up fighting. We ended up moving to a new house, and retried introducing them, and now they’re cool. Not bestest buds, but they play, bathe each other, and are generally ok with each other. I think having a territory that was neutral (didn’t feel like one cat was invading the other’s space) was hugely helpful
We just moved and are wondering how to merge cat families. When you took them into the new house did you let one cat settle first or did you move them in at roughly the same time and give them both base camps and then swap as suggested? I'm worried that if we move one in first we're going to have a problem with the second cat feeling at a disadvantage.
Two months ago we rescued a two year old cat from a kill shelter who was less than 30 days away from being destroyed. We had a resident cat that has been with us for eight years. Fortunately our 24 year old daughter told us about Jackson Galaxy and this method. We followed this method to a t, and today they are best friends and inseparable. It took some time (about three weeks) before all the hissing ceased. But it worked like a charm.
This helped me soooo much. I had gotten the advice to just “let them work it out” and that, of course, went terribly. So I watched this video, followed the instructions and about a month later they’re hanging out and becoming good friends. Thank you so much!!!
Did you close the door after every meal with the screen door because my screen door is attached to the other side of my door so I can close my normal door… I am not sure… I close it after every meal because my cat hisses to my new cat if it get to close to the screen door… 🥺 I don’t want to give my resident cat negativ association
We are on day 3 of introducing our two cats and I must admit: it is HARD not to rush things and be patient. But I know that rushing would only prolong the process, so we are staying on the patient path. Luckily our new cat is an absolute sweetheart, I have no idea how we would be able to manage otherwise… I can’t wait for me to be able to post an update on how great they are getting along 😅
Now I can actually post an update. A couple of days ago, we started feeding them on both sides of an OPEN door (we have used a glass door to separate them for the past two weeks or so) and things are going great. There still is some occasional hissing, but they mostly just look at each/ignore each other through the glass door, while we aren't doing the feeding exercises. I must admit that we didn't stick 100% to the introduction plan (our resident cat is the fussiest eater and we still free feed her, because she does go up to 24 hours without food when she doesn't get things her way), but we have made SO MUCH progress these past three weeks. So, to anyone feeling as frustrated, desperate and impatient as I was the first few days: hang in there, it really gets much better!! In my opinion, those first few days were the absolute worst, now I see steady progress and I simply give them all the time they need. Am I still super scared that they might kill each other the first time I will let me meet without us being right next to them? Sure, but for now, I'm focusing on all the excellent progress we've all made.
I thought I should post another update, since it was so very frustrating to me to not see any to some of the other posts. We‘re now entering week 5 and we are still in a bit of an introductory phase. Last week, there has been a bit of a setback, as our new cat entered the room the resident cat was in at nighttime, in the dark and we had some chasing around the house for a minute that seemed to never end. We thought we would have to completely start over, right as they were starting to get along, but the chase didn’t mess up all that much with the introduction. They still aren’t best friends, but there is sone progress on a daily basis, so that’s encouraging..
Thank you for your updates, I also introduced mine completely wrong and have had to start at square one. It’s now been 5 days and like you I’m feeling a little frustrated but can see some very small improvements in my resident cat. Still hissing if he catches the smallest sight of the little one so we still have a long way to go
We are on month 4 of our introduction and honestly y'all, patience is KEY. I lost sleep thinking we might have to rehome one because the hissing and growling and stalking was seemingly endless but yesterday they both eventually fell asleep on separate chairs in the same room! The older cat still freaks out if the young one approaches her but we're continuing to stay the course and have faith they'll be fully integrated in another few weeks. Taking it slow DOES PAY OFF!!
Patience IS key. I was getting SOOOO frustrated with the "Eat Love Play" stage not going well and having to put Baby back in base camp. Now she is out and my resident cat is grooming her. I could not be more impressed and pleased with the results of the VERY SHOW but EFFICIENT introduction process
I want to thank Jackson for his amazing cat introduction process. In April, we adopted a 4 month old male kitten who ended up being a very hyper and somewhat reckless boy (adorable). We adopted our 3 year old resident female cat right before the pandemic, so she is pretty unsocialized and nervous/jumpy in general. She likes to play/run but is also happy to observe and relax. We followed Jackson's steps verbatim, not rushing them at all for the past 2 months (and reverted back a step if either cat showed signs of stress/fear). From the jump, our resident cat hissed/swatted/growled and wanted nothing to do with her brother. We swapped rooms and scents until she showed little to no fear reactions. Slowly but surely, we are making SIGNIFICANT progress! Right now we are at the eat play love stage and yesterday they played in the same room and our resident cat playfully pounced on her brother! They even booped noses. This occurred after about a week of supervised, timed interactions. We still have a ways to go but our patience has seriously paid off even if it's been very stressful/difficult at times. I think the most important things I learned are: a) Train your kitten/new cat, not only your resident cat. Our little boy LOVES to pounce on his sister even though it results in her hissing/swatting/running away from him. One day I realized I need to do everything I can to divert him away from her and praise him when he makes a u-turn or goes around her. She doesn't deserve that annoyance just as much as he doesn't deserve to be disliked. That shifted everything. b) Reward, reward, reward. If your resident cat is highly food motivated, freely give treats when they are together in a room and no shenanigans happen (no hissing/chasing/growling). The goal to always have in mind is that you are trying to associate positive experiences with the other cat around. I recommend slightly reducing their calories to account for all the extra treats. c) Read your cats' energies (tail down? hiding?) and end play sessions and let them rest before trying again. The door feeding ritual has also helped our process. We are on the road towards a united, happy home. THANK YOU!
Just rescued a stray cat. There was 10 minutes of visual contact which could not be avoided. Now they each have their own space and going to follow his advice... Wish me luck
Worked for me!! It went from switching the soakers to letting them sniff through the door without actually seeing each other, there were a couple hisses at the time, and then they were looking through the door with no aggression and while they are hesitant to meet each other in person, they're already starting to play with each other! I gave it 3 days.
@@kishybee yep!! I just took it easy and when it looked like they were pretty much ready, We let them meet. For the next just day or 2 I had one cat sleep with me in my own room at night just so we could keep an eye on them. Now, they're happy with each other, groom, and play!
This method is truly good. Used it to introduce my two cats three years ago. They are absolutely best friends. I have never regreted the time we put on a thorough introduction😊
I did this four years ago following an earlier video, and they really became best friends! They slept together, played and went on walks together. It was heartwarming. Earlier this autumn one of them passed away, and now a new little kitten has come in to the household and we are back at it. I am hopeful that it will go just as good this time. Patience! Also, thank you Jackson - I recommend your videos to everyone who has questions. You are truly the cat daddy.
THANK YOU JACKSON GALAXY!!!! Your videos made a WORLD of a difference with introducing my kitten to my cat. Unfortunately, it worked so well that now I'm like "What about me???" They love each other SO MUCH. It was NOT love at first sight but over a few weeks, thanks to your advice, we got Baby out of base camp and now they are inseparable. THANK YOU!!!!
My cat has been separate from my roommate's cats for the entire 2+ years we've lived together. Working up the courage to introduce them by rewatching these introduction vids.
99% of what I know about cats, I learned from watching ur videos and ur show on animal planet "My Cats From Hell". And cuz of watching those my oldest cat is very close to being perfect (or as perfect as they can be) and he's teaching my younger cats how to act the same and I love all of them so much
We are hosting my son’s cat for a few months. His cat and our cat are both about 10 years old and have never lived with other cats. This tutorial was so helpful. The first few days were terrible and then my daughter sent me this video and we put the process in action. 3 1/2 weeks later it’s all great and they are both having fun. I would not have believed we would ever get here. Thanks so much!
Luckily all of my animals get along really well. But I remember when we got our kitten, we tried this method. But my older cat threw his weight at our kittens home base and burst through the door, sniffed our kitten, hissed and ran away. Method thrown out the door 😂. What ended up happening was my young dog took the new kitten and treated him like it was her puppy. Became a complete helicopter mom. Everytime she would sense tension between the cats, she would be there to break it off. Not the correct or recommend method, but somehow that worked 🤷♀️. I just kind of lucked out that I had a dog that socialized well with cats, and you can see the three of them hanging out.
Haha my dogs police everything for me and will not tolerate cat disputes and they will break them up as well. So funny. They are not particularly affectionate with the cats but... They do make sure law and order gets respected around the house.
I’ve had up to 5 cats, and noticed that introductions took the least amount of time were when the new cat was very young. Often, one of the older cats would attempt to initiate play by putting the paws under the door. Having lots of cat furniture and cat toys really helps. Usually, after one cat has made friends with the new cat, the others seem to accept his or her presence at the food and water areas. Oh, and always use high quality cat litter that’s easy to scoop! I love my cats!
This video literally made it possible for us to successfully adopt another cat...our older cat (14 years old) is totally unfriendly...we adopted a 9 week old kitten..took them 3 months to be able to occupy the same room without supervision,..but it only worked after we employed the strategy explained in the video step by step...one year later and we are one happy family with 2 relaxed cats ..thanks Jackson, you do know your field excellently...
Ugh I have a 13 yo cat and just adopted a 2 mo kitten... They hate eachother. The little one wants to play all the time and the older cat just wants to chill and do nothing. Any tips for introducing them? I'm asking you since your cats are almost the same ages and maybe there was something different you did or didn't do. Thanks!
@@isahawkins8605 i hope you have success. rescues/shelters need to explain to ppl that senior cats aren't the best match for young kittens. basically you're asking the equivalent of a 68-yr old person to have the same interest/energy as 3ish-yr old child. my tip, should you be able, is do adopt a younger friend for the kitten.
My older 9 month ragdoll absolutely hated the arrival of my 4 month old ragdoll (both are males and large kittens). He was hissing, growling, ears back, hair puffing up. I found this video and followed Jackson's advice to the letter and with a lot of patience. Two and a half weeks in, they are chasing, rolling, sometimes play biting ( I separate when it gets too rough). They eat alongside, sleep alongside, they nose greet, use the same litter boxes I would say they are now buddies but initially it looked as though this was not going to happen . Thank you Jackson for making and sharing this video, it has been invaluable to integrating my kittens into my home , making it a pleasure to have these fur babies.
Cats are like people. Some of them have great chemistry from the very beginning. I had a tom cat that was about 2 years old and we got a little tom-kitten. I tried to keep them separate but the 2 year old got in the kitten's room after less than two days, while I wasn't looking. Turned out fine though because he started to just immediatly play with the kitten and they were instant buddies afterwards.
TO EVERYONE WHO MESSED UP AT FIRST (like me) GOING BACK A FEW THE STEPS WORKS! I adopted a 4 year old cat from the shelter. Her name is Mokka. My resident cat's name is Striple. He's 1 year old. Both of them are neutered. When I got home from the shelter, I made the BIGGEST MISTAKE by putting her in the open space with my other cat. There was tention. But I thought I'd be able to manage it. WRONG! They fought, so I had to break it up, and locked Mokka in her (large, well provided) cat room. That's when I found this video. Sadly enought, I RUSHED the steps. WRONG! Another fight... So, I started over. Mokka has been living with us for a week now. And the hissing/growling stopped. I site swap them every day or so. And feed them a little wet food, twice a day, at the gate I put up with a blanket on it. (I still 'free feed' them, because I make long hours. And if anything ever happens, like a car accident, I wouldn't have to worry about them not having food.) Today, when I got home from work, I gave them both love, play, and attention. I fed them at the gate, and raised the blanket 20cm, with their food plates 30cm apart. No aggression. < Update? >
oh thank god, I messed up(day 4 they saw eachother) and new cat lunged aggressive to my new cat(pretty violently) - and now I am so worried. new cat is back to time-out basecamp. old cat is hiding under blankets
I'm going to be bringing two new kittens home soon and I currently have a 7 year-old cat. The kittens are littermates and I wanted to get a pair so they could have each other to play with because my older cat doesn't like to play a lot. I've been binging everything I can find on cat introductions because this will be my first time introducing new cats to each other and I want everyone to be safe and happy throughout the process.
Tell me how it goes! I just got a new kitten and things are very difficult. My cat is very shy and is more scared of the kitten than she is of him. It's intimidating trying to get them to get along 😭😭😭
Just brought a new kitten home to our 8-yr-old tortie. She wasn't violent, but she was not thrilled to meet the new guy. These tips are helping her warm up to him. Thanks!
I did all of these things when I first introduced my cats! I have a 7 year old male cat, Dusty, who is not really friendly towards people (he is social but will not let you touch him) and he is especially unfriendly towards cats. But we really felt that Dusty would have more fun with a sibling. So we adopted our female kitten, Nala. We did all these steps to introduce them and I was shocked how perfect it worked! You definitely have to be persistent and make sure there is not eye contact until the few weeks have gone by. It's been 2 years and my cats have a love/hate relationship (because Dusty is naturally grumpy and Nala is extremely playful). They play together so much and have their little fights (not physical or aggressive just a little chasing) very similar to a human sibling relationship haha. They are both very comfortable around each other which I never thought would be possible but it was :)
Hi Daniela, is there any way to contact you privately so you can give me some advice if possible regarding this? I'm in this process and I don't have any experience in this, thanks
We're (hopefully) adopting a cat today, and this is the first time I'm having two cats in the same house who weren't already a bonded pair upon adoption. So glad this video exists!
I've just adopted a 4 month kitten as a friend for my 6 month old as he seemed lonely and my company alone wasn't enough - I followed this method and after a week they finally met - it's scary stuff but it couldn't have gotten on better and now they're playing and running about together with no signs of aggression at all! Thanks Jackson, your advice is brilliant!!!
I know this video is old for most, but new to me!!! This really worked! We were able to calmly get two 7 yr old cats to tolerate each other in 10 days!!!! No eye contact, safe "scent" zone/room for new cat. Lots of smells and sounds while eating on opposite sides of the door. Thank you, thank you....THANK YOU!!
Day 644. Finally i’m on step 2 1st Update (2020) what a fkd up year huh? basically ever since then my cat fell in deep love they already have 2 month old lovely kittens and their living happy they don’t hiss at each other and we originally brought the female in for mating and then releasing her, but gosh we all just adore her so much that she’s as important as our male cat and they will hopefully stay with us forever
A sweet stray cat is in my laundry room (I grabbed him last week when I heard the weather would dip below zero degrees Fahrenheit outside). My 1 year old feral baby is not happy about it. After 1 week, the stray is finally relaxing and feeling at home. I think he may have been abused and abandoned. After vet check ups and shots, I plan to introduce him to the feline king of my domain. I was worried about fights but your video makes me feel much more confident that I can take in this cat successfully. I already feed them both at the same time! I will start shopping for a screen door that fits my laundry room door. This is brilliant! Thank you.
It's so interesting that the myth that cats are solitary has been pedaled for so long. Cats live in little families in the wild, but it's families of their own choosing. Which is why some cats randomly will click better with each other than others. Always grateful for the Cat Daddy for dispelling myths and offering valuable tools for cat owners!!!
This process took us 2 YEARS. But it really worked! Our 2 boy cats-litter mates-my wife & I had had for 4 years when we adopted a third older female cat. Initially she wanted nothing to do with them, and at best they regarded her as an intruder in their territory. But we kept at the strategy outlined in this video, and today all three of them sat for almost half an hour watching birds together, occasionally sniffing each other (with no bloodshed).
I know this video is old and you probably won’t see this, but thank you for making this and sharing. My cat grew up from a kitten in a house with two dogs and two other cats who all got along right away. We moved away, and he hasn’t been the same since; his appetite is almost nonexistent, we’ve been trying to get him to gain weight, he cries for us every time we leave and I think it’s because he thinks we won’t come back like the pets. After 3 years of this, we finally pulled the trigger on getting him a kitten, and the intro went so well, until baby climbed the cat tree and fell, which set our cat off and he’s been hissing at him since. We just brought him home today, and both of us have been crying all day, feeling like horrible pet parents, worried that they will hate each other forever, hurt each other, and we’d have to relinquish our new member of the pack, but this made me so hopeful. Thank you everyone in the comments for sharing your experiences in the comments, I have faith that we can do this thanks to you all!
Thank you for this video and your message in general. I was told not to try to get a partner for my senior cat. ( I adopted her, when she was 17,5.) I adopted a chill 12 year old cat 2 years later. Never any fights. It took a year though, but now they are sleeping together. And yes, the first one is 20,5 now 😊😊
Genius! This has worked in about 10 days with my 1 year old and kitten. Very happy. The only thing I wished I'd known is check your cats for fleas before you introduce them to each other's space. My little kitten came with fleas and has unfortunately now infected all areas of the house. Fixable though and I am overjoyed that the two get along 💙
The screen door method worked great! We just introduced our new 2 month old kitten to our 1 year old cat and after some treats and toys and a screen door barrier, they were very comfortable with each other. Now they can have supervised play and treat time in the same room (mostly just exploring the room and the kitten tags along) and they are already grooming echother, there was only 1 hiss from my older cat during the entire process. Thanks for the great video, we couldn't have done it without you!
Thanks Jackson. I adopted another cat recently after watching your videos. My first cat was furious. Took me 2 weeks plus and now they are happily playing.
I'm so glad for this video. I've had cats my whole life and I've always done abbreviated versions of the introduction process, and generally have had an easy time getting cats to know each other, but my most recent pair are making me go back to the basics. This is a great reminder but also reassures me that they can still get along just fine, I just need to take it slower.
I’ve learned to make sure that my kitties have their place to run and get away from each other. However, I have a blanket that I used during introduction. I used that blanket to rub it on each other because scent is so important to them. So I rubbed it on 1 cat and then rubbed it on the other. I’ve done this technique when introducing other cats to each other and I’ll do this for about a week or so and then introducing them with a barrier like one in a carrier and one on the outside. It’s worked every time
I just want to extend a huge thank you for this video. I used this method to introduce my cat Link to his new little sister Luna and I messed up once. But like you said “if you misstep, you can re-step” I did & the results are two happy kitties who are on their way to a strong bond. Thank you!!
Ooh good luck. How did it go? Siamese/special breeds are notorious to be very jealous of other cats, unless they were introduced at a very early stage..
Thank you for this video. My 3 yo. tuxedo took 3days to be best playmates with my 5m orange tabby. I did a slow introduction in my bklyn studio. I used baby gates and crate. It was stressful in the beginning but after 2 days I decided to stop watching cats fighting videos and focused on being calm and positive. It really helped. I also used Feliway. Highly recommend!
I am so grateful for these videos. I got a second kitty twice and watching these videos I know what I did wrong as I heartbreakingly cringed at how things went. I have a 2 yr old cat that wants to play non-stop and gets very bored with toys, then whines out of boredom. Getting a kitten in a week and going to follow this to the letter. Can't wait!
@@alyssa09485 Hi Alyssa, So happy to do so! I brought the kitten home and put him in the bathroom. My resident kitty of course was naturally curious and smelling under the bathroom door without any hissing immediately. The kitten was howling being left alone which broke my heart. Because there was no hissing I opened the door. They did fabulous. I was very careful to supervise their time together. When my resident cat looked angry at the kitten I would put his favorite treat on my finger and put it in front of his face between him and the new baby that he was giving the evil eye too. I could literally see in my resident cat face the adjustment he made as he ate the treat and relaxed immediately. Jackson's advice totally priceless in knowing what to do at those tense moments and also helping me realize that my resident cat wasn't being mean to the kitten when he looked ticked. He was just being a cat. This is the best thing I have done in a very long time. They play together, sleep curled around each other. They are best friends! I'm amazed every day! The only reason you know they are not litter mates is because they are different sizes. I wish I could tell Jackson how incredibly grateful I am. His advice for me has truly been an amazing gift!
Some of this was pretty helpful. I just recently adopted a 4 month old kitten and some of this stuff helped my 13 year old cat adjust. My cat is able to be in the same room without hissing and growling. He's even been starting to play with the new kitten.
Hi Jackson Galaxie. I've had dogs for 50 years and now am in an apartment with 2 cats. I never knew they were so much fun! I adopted the second kitten at a very young age (6-7 weeks). My older car spent 3 days hissing at her. I didn't know how to introduce them. I was amazed! By day 4, the kitten was suckling on the older one! I don't believe she was getting milk, but they were bonding and baby Cinder was getting comfort! Love your youtubes!
I'm adopting another kitten today! I've had my first for just about a month and a half and she is plaaaaayful and definitely needs a playmate! Hoping she and her new brother love each other. Thanks for the tips Jackson!
OMG I’m so nervous about introducing Panda to Angel, Jackson has definitely helped me have a strategy and contingency plan but wow I don’t want to fail. Angel is a 9 year old Bengal and she’s been with me from a kitten, a rescue as her mother died from cat flu when she was born and she had cat flu herself, was very unwell but we brought her on into the beautiful and endearing lady she is today. Panda is 1 and I’ve just gave her a home as she and the children in her previous home didn’t get on. She’s rather afraid but hiding behind her cat strength, bless her. Angel suffers from separation anxiety and has been marking a lot recently with her scent and twice with her urine. I’ve been working after lockdown and I think the change shocked her. Both beautiful girls, both didn’t have a smooth start. I hope I can successfully introduce them both and we can have a happy family life together.
I can't say how much this information helped me introduce our new cat to our existing resident girly. While I did of course do EVERYTHING wrong before watching this video, I went straight back to the drawing board followed every step and we are now tolerating, even slightly playing with each other 🥰. Best advice ever. Thank you very much!
so glad it worked for you! How long did it take you? Currently on day 4 and I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel…. My resident does not like her new little sister 😂😭
I just wanted to come in here and say thank you so much. We're first time cat owners who adopted a second cat to be a companion and this video made us feel confident in our decisions on introducing. On the 4th day these guys were rubbing on each other through the gate and we let them have no barrier. No hissing, growls, bites, or fighting. Lots of playing and sniffing. Thank you so much Jason!
When we got our new girl in 2017, she was ready (and I mean VERY ready) to leave her base camp in less than 20 minutes. She sat at the door in frustration and loudly (very, very loudly) demanded to be let out.... And our big guy heard her and spent the next 3 hours in complete shock.... Nothing went as planned 😅🤣🙈 But they became friends in the end 😉
He really is the cat master! Day 5 finally introduced my two kittens (5 months old) did the site swapping and treats and they play and like each other but it still is a gradual process! 😅
We got our second girl one week and 2 days ago. Used this method, and now they are cuddled up as I'm typing this. It really works! First couple of days are difficult, especially at the first face to face meetings with all the hissing and growling, but it gets better! So worth it! Now our two girls are almost inseparable. For reference, resident cat is 1 years old and baby is around 7 weeks ❤
I have followed all the steps, tried introducing my cats for close to a month, but my older female cat never quite accepted the younger male one.. they ain't killing each other, but they usually don't stay too close, and when he tries to get close, she gets all worked up and start hissing.
Hear ya - I tried everything with an older female (Princess Sparkles) and a young male kitten (Sir Griflet). 5 years on they aren't friends and the female tolerates the male (she never actually hurt him). It got to the point I actually considered giving one up (but I couldn't 'cause they have my heart) so I went crazy Cat Lady and got a new female kitten (Lady Niniane) a year after the male as recommended by several breeders - make or break time. Sir Griflet and Lady Niniane have an amazing bond. Sparx is more tolerant of Grif and she sometimes bonds with Nini. Not a solution I would recommend but worked for my critter community.
Don’t give up hope, I had the same happen with my Female queen of the house, although it has taken over a year to get better. It will get better and although they may never like each other, they will learn to tolerate each other and as time goes by, you will see a difference 💛
Carlos Lins Don’t give up. It’s taken me over two months to get my two together. It was very disheartening at first. We had to start over many times. I was ready to give up and bring the new kitty back to the spca, but every day I thought one more try...one more try...it wasn’t easy. This week, they’ve both finally relaxed with each other. It’s beautiful and so worth it. Hang in there. It’s on their time table, not ours
I’m in this situation but I also am struggling with staying on the plan. It never fails that a business trip pops up or family comes over for the weekend or something else that disrupts the schedule. My older female kitty still hates the younger male kitty.
We’ve been going through introductions for a month now and the two cats eat about 12 inches apart on either side of a gate. Original cat (Colossus) still hisses a lot and walks away after a few minutes. New cat (Tippy) is just super curious and walks up to the gate and watches him. Colossus has been on anxiety meds for about 5years and we wouldn’t have gotten a new cat but Tippy was my brother in laws cat and Brian passed away from lung cancer in March. We promised to take her or find a family member to take her so here we are. We’re trying to be patient and consistent but still not comfortable putting them in the same room together. One of the other problems is that Colossus won’t go into Tippy’s base camp anymore like he used to when we site swap. He stops at the threshold and sits there and hisses. This started once they started eating on either side of the gate. He’s got some issues and plan to see about upping his meds but looking for suggestions on the site swapping because he’ll no longer go in Tippy’s room. We’ve grown very attached to Tippy and of course love Colossus but we’re struggling because Tippy is confined to one room a lot. Help.
I am at 8 months of only gate feedings. We can now hang out on either side of the gate for 5 minutes or longer. My sister is coming over today to help with the first in the same room introduction! After a couple scraps, behavioural vet consultations, months of consistent training, almost a year of being separate, the day has arrived! In the beginning I couldn’t even scent swap items, my resident cat would attack the blanket that smelled like my new adoptee. My cat lost his bonded best friend and hasn’t been the same since; my new cat was in the common room with all the other cats. So I thought they would get along no issue as all my other introductions have gone. But nope, these two have been an immense challenge! This advice has been so helpful as we have come a long way.
This is awesome! Makes me realize how lucky I was to raise two littermates from kittenhood, because they loved each other, cuddled with each other, slept by each other, groomed each other, ate out of the same dish very politely whilst taking turns (I’ve even seen them queue!). The reason I’m here is I had to put down one of the littermates recently (they were both quite old), and the survivor is clearly mourning the loss. So I was considering getting a new cat so she could have company, but now I’m thinking that might just cause her more stress. I feel so bad for her though! Anyway thanks for the video
Perfect timing, Mr Galaxy! Planning to adopt a shelter kitty in the next week. Needless to say, I don't want to traumatize the lovely creatures. Thanks for sharing your insight!!!
A BIG THANK YOU! I didn’t do this with my first two cats and it was so rough the first few months. But I just adopted two new kittens and followed your method and within 2 weeks every has adjusted and at least tolerate each other. Thank you so much for sharing this wisdom. Soooo helpful!
I did this and it saved everything. I had a beautiful cat and brought a new kitten home I didn’t do this and I thought it was ok because it was a kitten not an adult cat and it ruined everything for years. Then my first cat passed away and it broke my heart. When I got a second cat I did this and they love each other. It saved everything. My first cat, Nala, hated the second cat, Simba. Simba loved Nala and always tried to be friends with her but she just wouldn’t do it. And she totally drifted away from me and was very lonely and sad because i got a another cat. It was so sad because I had such a special relationship with her. I hurt her so much when I didn’t do this. It’s bringing tears to my eyes right now. I hurt her by not doing this. She was not the same cat anymore. You could absolutely see she was hurt by me. She secluded herself and ended up living on the kitchen table. She wasn’t scared or anything because she knew she was the Queen, it’s like she just gave up on love and didn’t care about anything anymore. Then few years after she passed away from FIP. It still makes me cry when I think about her. Like I said. I did this the second time and they love each other. You have to do this.
My cat hates me for bringing in another kitten 😭 he hissed at me and scratched me and he’s never been that way 🥺😭 thank you for this video! I need to be patient
Super duper thankful for this video, Jackson. After a month of stress (meaning resident cat vomiting, pee marking, howling, plucking his own fur, skipping meals and isolating) I finally have the answer- we were doing it all wrong. So we started from scratch again! We catified, we did base camp , site swapped, no visual eating together, and even added a slatted temporary door! We tried the first meal with visual contact today (after 25 days 😅) & sent you the video of them eating, the slatted door + draped blanket etc. your tips worked!!!!!! ❤ Thank you🙏🏻 Jackson. We are hopeful for better days to come!
I literally opened my new cats crate and they were best pals from the get go. I feel like I am extremely lucky after watching this video.
You are lol
Some cats don’t have problems with other cats pretty much at all, I’m very lucky that my grey male tabby has never ever hissed or scratched anyone or any cats ever. Every cat I introduce him to is effortless on my part, my black and white female tabby is a different story lol but she doesn’t freak out just avoids the other cats and will hiss when they are near, they still never fight.
@@cornpop2630 that’s funny because both of my cats are grey male tabby’s. Guess it makes since then
You are!! My older cat will NOT accept the baby kitty! It’s been 2 months! Driving us all crazy!
Then why are you watching this video?
I used most of these techniques seven years a ago before I saw this with an added element of taking a pair of socks, patting/petting each cat with one sock then placing each sock beside the other's food bowl to create the positive scent association at feeding time. It only took five days to get to a face to face meeting and six years later they get along really well.
Thanks for the sock idea. Love it!
I took 6 years for them to get along!!😳
-just kidding 😆
Great idea. I will try it . We have a new cat here that moved in with my nephew and I am looking for all ideas I can .
@@peggyreely8339 it really works! Everyone is getting along, mostly 😸
Love the sock idea!
Introduced my new cat the wrong way from the get go and she got chased around the house in a cat tornado. Followed this video and a week later they're cohabitating and I'd like to even say they're friends now. Perfect advise!
Okay, this makes me feel a bit better 😅😭 I had the new cat separated in the bathroom and it seemed like he was becoming ambitious and ready to explore outside the bathroom (even tho he was totally shy and timid this morning when I adopted him LOL) as a few hours passed. I didn’t calculate that he’d try running out every chance I opened the door 💀 finally I got a gate set up in the hallway after the door to prevent him from going into the whole apartment, and sure enough he ran out and was at the gate! There on the other side was my residential cat, and of course they had the forbidden stare down, and the new cat got all scared 🥲 so back to step one LOL he’s no longer ambitious but we’ll work on it 🤣
This is good to know. I also made the mistake of badly introducing. My cats were fine, the new guy was not happy. We are now going to follow these steps since it is only day 2.
@@thriftycharmscrochetcan you give us an update? :) I also badly introduced mine
How's it going now lol similar thing happened to me@@orpheusbreeze
@@thriftycharmscrochethows it going? I messrd up also and am restarting them.
My resident cat is 11 years old and we introduced him to a younger 2-3 year old cat who is very well socialized and forgiving. I followed everything Jackson said in the video at about 90% accuracy. My resident cat would hiss, growl and run away hiding from the new cat for the first week of the introduction. At the two weeks mark I noticed that my resident cat stopped rejecting the new cat. In fact, my new cat would follow my resident cat around because he loves him so much!
At 3 weeks, they began playing together and sitting on the same cat tree on different spots.
At 4 weeks, they could sit side by side and sleep together with some touching.
At 5 weeks, my new cat grooms my resident cat (resident cat does not groom back lol).
Some helpful tips I learned along the way:
1. immediate reward for good behaviour when two cats are together. Snack works best.
2. Play with both of them together at the same time or within the same area.
3. Spend a lot of time with your resident cat so they don't feel like you are moving your love to a new cat.
I really thought that this would never work but with a lot of hard work and barely any sleep in the first 2 weeks of introducing them, it worked wonders. Good luck everyone!
I sometimes feel like this is hopeless. Thank u for the message. It inspires me to keep going.
@@pepperface2 how are things going now?
Update: Been 6 months since I introduced my cats to each other and now they sleep together, eat and play every single day. I adopted my resident cat when he was 6 years old so I never got to know him as a kitten. Now, my resident cat will go around the apartment looking for his new friend so that they could play together. My resident cat has always had a weight problem since he only wants a lot of kibble and no wet food. Now that we feed on a timed schedule twice a day, with one bowl wet food one bowl kibble, my resident cat is now more receptive to the wet food! So good to see that my 11 year old boy is now more healthy, active and being a kitten all over again!
@@Cabbits not good.. my resident cat and my new cat fights. My resident cat won't eat if my new cat can see him even though the screen is between them... It's been a month
@@pepperface2eating meals together took my resident cat 5 months to do. I suggest using high reward treats/snacks to eat together. Something they will absolutely love and devour. You can start by putting the snacks 1-2 meter apart. Then, over time slowly close that gap until they are eating within 30 cm of each other.
My girlfriend and I followed this method to the point when introducing our new female kitten to our two adult male cats. it was amazing how well it worked! I reccomend this channel to every cat owner I meet.
Thank you!
Please make a video!!!! I just rescued a female orphan and I already have a male adult cat. I'm scared to introduce them.
I have 3 cats and need to introduce them to the new cat , its been 3/4 days and im just changing blankets still
@@morfigasoulslayer Having one boy cat makes all the difference
I watched this to introduce my female kitten to my adult male cat too, your comment gave me even greater confidence thank you!
@@DancingDevil89 don’t let the male cat Impregnate the kitten the female cat isn’t ready to have kittens until she becomes in heat
The fact that this is premiering 9 hours after we adopt our new cat has to be a sign
Katie Patrick yeah girl get another one!!!
I just got a new one yesterday and had also watched his old video on this topic last night
Good for you, cats are awesome and life enhancing.
MY room mate is bringing her cat to the apartment in January. Saving this video!!
Same!! I literally just got my second cat yesterday
My grandmother’s cat takes it one step further and vomits whenever he sees my sister’s cat. 🤦🏻♂️
😂
Wait whaaaa
So sad sorry to hear. Jackson will have the answer!
im sorry for laughing but this is too funny 😭😭 i hope theyre ok now tho
I shouldn’t laugh
I followed Jackson Galaxy's advice to introduce my new cat (7 mos, fixed male) to the existing cat.(3 years, fixed male) I couldn't do it exactly like he said because the separating door had glass panels (with a curtain over it) and they did see each other, when the newbie discovered he could peek around the curtain.
A week later, they were REALLY wanting to meet, chirping at each other, no fear or aggression. They had a great first meet, used a toy to distract from stare downs- then I heard a spit/hiss and they were put back in their own spots.
They got another meeting after a break, no problems there, good play, and then separated for the night.
Today is the first day with the door just open and they are buddies! Noseboops, tag, play boxing with no upset noises- thanks for the great advice!!
How are your boys doing now?
I'm on day three and terrified. I'm just so nervous thinking what if it doesn't work out. The resident cat was rescued from a crazy person keeping her in small cage for a really long time, she's very jumpy after a long time healing and getting back to normal the other one is a social chill cat who was at our office and had to be removed from the building for creating some problems so I adopted her. Now the first one wants to kill the new one and the new one acts like she doesn't care and it's all good. Don't know how to calm the first one down 😭
Hey there! Finding it hard to find the difference between the boop/tag/chase and actual fighting? how do you know if they’re getting on?
This method worked amazingly for introducing my new 2 year old cat to my resident 10 year old cat, who had been an only cat for 4+ years. There were some rocky moments and a few scuffles, but this morning they booped each other's noses as if to say "good morning" for the first time. It has taken us about 3 weeks to get to this point. If anyone is having a hard time, I would say to trust the process and be patient - it really does work! Thank you Jackson!
I needed this comment! My partner and I are moving in together soon, he has a 3 year old cat and I have a 13 year old cat who started out as living with 3 cats, but has been an only cat for 5 years now. We've tried some introductions with them before and there was never close to a fight, but my cat would growl and hiss. His cat just slow blinks at her lol this gives me hope that she can one day tolerate him
I have to say that I didn't do a good job introducing my cats. I separated them by a door for about two hours, not two weeks. It took Baby Kitten six months to stop hissing at Babiest Kitten. But they are fine with each other now and I live in a peaceful household
I’m back to smelling through the door phase after 2 months.. Our resident male cat is NOT being friendly even through the door.. Our new female cat has the “ I couldn’t care less” attitude cause she’s had 2 litters and many cats around her all her life.. I am concerned mainly about male resident cat beating up new female cat..
We started the steps all over, hopefully they will be better at their next introduction..
@@americanwoman9342 How are things going now? I've just started the process and I feel so guilty for my cat who's upset by this
@@jessmolloy6070 My male resident cat is use to her smell now but when he sees her through a glass door, he goes back to hissing, growling and slapping the glass like he’s going for a kill.. Our male indoors resident cat had never seen another cat unless at the vet’s office.. He has been the only cat for 4 years, so we are proceeding slowly still..
1:14 1 get on schedule
1:45 2 basecamp
3:51 3 catification
4:51 part 2 introduction:
4:58 1 other side of the door
6:39 2 visual access
7:56 3 eat play love
10:00 last note
Thank you so much!!!
Took this guy's advice on scent sharing in different rooms to introduce our new kitten to an older cat and less than a week later, they are best of friends! was stressful at first but really worth it, thank you!
How many times did you do this? Is once okay?
more advice pls
How many times?
How ??? This shit feels impossible and you did it in a week
It's easier with kittens lol. The only time I've seen the "just drop them in the main room" approach work is with kittens, older cats seem to be more tolerant of babies than a new fully grown cat.
For those of you in the first week or two of cat introductions and feeling discouraged - this can take a long time. We've been following these steps and they definitely work. We are in week 6 and doing the Eat Play Love step. The cats can generally play together for 5-15 minutes twice a day before they start to get a bit combative. A huge part of this process is learning how each cat communicates with you and then respecting what they are telling you.
our resident kitty is 7 and was a stray who lived in a colony. We thought that since she has lived with cats before, this transition would be easy. That was not the case. We brought home a 4 month old kitten about 6 weeks ago and it has been a test of everyone's patience. This is how our journey has gone so far:
Week 1: lots of curiosity from the resident cat. Meowing at the door, playing patty cake, and lots of hissing and growling through the door. The kitten was unfazed.
Week 2: we attempted our first visual contact but we pushed it too far too fast. Resident kitty stopped eating and the hissing got worse. We went back to closed door meal times.
Weeks 3-5: slowly building the visual contact. Started as far apart as physically possible and slowly moved the kitties closer. The hissing and growling continued, but only when the kitten would approach the gate and stare at the resident kitty, so we did our best to distract the kitten when she started to lose interest in her food. Resident kitty also started swatting through the baby gate, but that was easy to correct by keeping the kitten away from the gate.
Week 6, current: we are now doing direct contact. Some days are better than others, but each contact is better and challenges both kitties. We are hopeful that this phase will move relatively quickly so we can be one happy family soon.
Stay the course! It can be really frustrating and hard. It's emotional for everyone involved. But hopefully it results in a happy home.
Any updates?
@@usedevilthing We are 6 months in and the cats are still separated, actually. We ended up consulting with a behaviorist because we couldn't get past the 3-5 minute mark of direct contact. The cats are now at a point where they can both be downstairs together as long as they are supervised, but we don't trust them out together without us there.
Part of this process taking so long was my sensitivity to their communication. I'd separate them at any hiss or swat, but the behaviorist said that they need to set boundaries with each other and benign hissing and/or swatting is normal while they learn to live with each other.
It's been a rough few months and we've considered rehoming the kitten countless times. However, once we met with the behaviorist it was like night and day. Being able to have them both out while supervised has been a huge stress relief and it feels like we are over the hump!
Would it work if the cats have live together for a period of time? Like reintroducing them again using this method, cause I was afraid it won’t work cause they know other cat’s scent already.
Thanks for encouragement. I'm on day 2 of week 2 since bringing in new kitten, Boo. Day 2 of site swapping. He's been in a great basecamp for 7 days. Today's site swap was great for Boo kitten bc my husband played with him for 2 hours, with light and toys, while I rotated the resident cats in and out of base camp. Also had my small dog on leash, treat rewarding him for not reacting to kitten, and looking back at me. 30 times. After 2 hours of kitten exploring big space, time to go back to basecamp but old cat (17) won't come out. He is in deep hiding, and won't come out of kitten's room. I finally put kitten back in basecamp for litter box, food and sleep, with old guy still hiding. Peaceful for 3 hours but don't know how to nudge older cat out.
@@kylie8321How is it going now? Are they able to get along unsupervised?
Currently in the middle of a difficult introduction, nice to see a refresher. A nice reminder to stay on the horse even when it's difficult.
[cue lots of cat herding jokes]
The rescue told me my first cat needed to be the only animal in the house; I said hold my coffee.
Adopted a buddy for her, took a SOLID two weeks with them separated physically and with baby gates, followed EVERY step laid out by Jackson and now... they are best friends.
Be patient, you'll get there 👍🏻
Did it work out? I've got a phyco it turns out, and it's only getting worse. He now running drop kicks the door of the base camp trying to get at the little kitten. 😤 He's also taken up attacking my feet when he realises he can't get her. Exhausting!
@@lynchio6719 huh?? Oh no! How is everything now, do they get along now??? Is it two males or two females.
@@anonanon9245 Male & female. No sadly still not a happy house. What made things even worse was the door to base camp didn't shut properly, so the first we knew of this was when we heard cats growling and fighting. He had her trapped and pinned in a corner and was a full fight. No real damage luckily, but all progress made so was lost. Actually it's now worse than ever as now the little girl also hates him. She growls at him through the door at feeding times, hisses, tries to stalk him all of a sudden which is weird. He doesn't seem as bothered as he was, he doesn't jump at the door anymore and can be distracted from her with food. Overall it's an absolute nightmare, had cats over the last 20 years, never had such major issues. We've basically got a divided household right now, being extremely careful not to let the cats into the same areas. Still exhausting!
This worked like a charm. Our traumatized cat was cuddling the new kitten within days after first contact. Awesome, thanks for this elaborate and great content.
I want to send this link to every adopter who comes into the shelter I work in.
Do it! Print little cards that you give to them with the name of the channel and a screenshot of the title and thumbnail or something.
you can make a qr barcode and put that on little cards, then they can scan that and it's like a link to the video except you don't have to send it.
@@pottedficus oh good idea
Do you recommend getting a kitten with a senior 17 year old cat?
Please do. I’m a new cat mom and honestly I didn’t know this and I’m glad I actually went to search for this. I have an indoor cat that gets along with dogs but doesn’t get along with the other cat.
9:30 I love this part about getting back on the horse. When I first got my new cat, the resident cat was scared and defensive for a while. I was worried it wasn’t going to work out even when following this advice. But I stuck with it. Now the resident cat is obsessed with his adopted sister and I’m glad neither one has to be alone whenever I’m not home. Thanks for this video!!
Thanks for your help.
After 4 days of side swapping twice a day I removed the curtains and allowed to new cat and resident cat to see each other for the first time through glass windows. They both seemed very interested in each other by getting close to the glass window that separated them. New cat is confident and mellow. Resident cat is nervous and shy. I just felt that it was time to let them get together. I about did a back flip when they touched noses and just walked away together like pals. No fighting. They just started hanging out together. Since day 5 both cats have been sleeping in bed with me at night.
Aww that's so cute!!!
These are great steps, but some of these steps require a lot of space and two people. I live alone in a small 2 room apartment. They can reach the door anytime and can smell eachother anytime. and i have to go back and forth to give them equal amount of attention. can we have an introduction guide for people that live in small appartements and/or studio appartements?
I'm in the same boat! My first cat can hear the new cat and gets upset just at the sound. Its odd though bc the smell of him doesn't seem to upset her any more, just when she hears him meowing, but especially when my parrot is around AND the kitten is meowing or making noise from the other room. Also, my first cat is NOT food motivated at all... she eats but ONLY when she wants to (she will go 24hrs or more without eating if she doesn't want to eat when I feed her or if she doesn't want the food I give her, but she's totally healthy and weighs a healthy amount).
@jacksongalaxy do you have any recommendations for these situations?
@@Shamrock04 thank you for sharing. My kittens are fine together now. it took nine days. Around 4 accidental meetings as i went from one room to the other. they sleep together and play together, share food bowls. @jacksongalaxy I still wonder how to introduce cats/kittens in A studio apparemment when you have a small bathroom where you cant really leave an animal?
@@inesnathaliengoua if you think about it a cat could live in a small bathroom. When theyre in an overcrowded shelter theyre in much smaller spaces than that. Plus new cats might feel more comfy in a smaller space at first
JenNichole04 I’m on the boat too! And my 1st cat is same as yours with food...I waste so much money on food too cos I give it to her and she won’t eat it! And now I got a new kitten and I’m in phase 1 with base camp and she’s not eating at all
We have a 13 year old cat and brought a binded pair of 1 year old cats to the household. We followed Jackson's process of introducing them to the letter and it worked!! It took 6 weeks of very slow and repetitive steps of introduction, but it was worth every minute. Thank you, Jackson!!
Thank you! Thanks for giving me hope! ❤️ I'm in the same situation as Im about to move in with my elderly Aunt who has a senior cat. Mine are 1½ (brother/sister.)
I have an elderly cat 14 years old who has been a house cat his whole life. I need to introduce and bring into the house another Elderly female cat of 13 years old again who has been a house cat and never lived or had any interaction with another cat. Is this even possible and would it could too much stress to both of the cats? Any help and advice would be hugely appreciated. I would be so grateful if someone can please give me any tips around this. 🙏
My first cat is a boy and now 5 months and recently we just got a bonded pair of boy cats that are a year old. They dint seem to mind him at first but now they run after him everytime. My first cat hates them. I don’t know what to do and I don’t want to get rid of them.
@@wonderingtraveller4786 I'm in a similar situation! Trying to introduce two cats that are old and do not play with toys anymore. I see your comment was 7 mos ago. I'm curious how it went? Do they get along well now?🤞
@@eiddam39 Hey, unfortunately it didn't go ahead I was worried my maincoone wouldn't get one with another cat because he's been alone indoors cat. The other cat is my brothers cat in another country so I didn't bring him over. How are you getting on? x
During my childhood, I was raised with two alpha female cats who did not get along with each other. They were not introduced properly, because we did not have any Jackson Galaxy cat videos during the 1960s.
Calico TC was the senior cat, who just showed up as a gentle, friendly stray, house-trained, spayed, and was a skilled predator. She owned our yard, and could be seen hunting throughout my neighborhood.
Siamese Lucy was adopted when my father's friend's Siamese Queen had a litter of pure Siamese kittens.
The day my father brought her home, I remember her walking around the kitchen, filling the house with her distinctive Siamese voice. Having seen the movie "That Darned Cat" Lucy did not seem to be strange.
The first time they saw each other, it was a war between two Alpha Females, who instantly disliked each other. They hissed, howled, and swatted at each other for the next 15 years.
Eventually they divided the house between each other, with certain rooms belonging to one or the other. They divided the Living Room and Kitchen by sides of the room.
The TV belonged to Siamese Lucy, because the vacuum tubes kept it warm. One day one of my brother's friends saw Lucy in her Sphinx pose, and remarked "I swear I saw your statue move!"
Feeding time always was challenging. We would have to feed Lucy first, before feeding TC. Then Lucy would leave her food, and nudge TC away from TC's food.
TC would just walk to the door, as if to say "I can catch better stuff than that!" Within a half hour, TC could be seen chowing down on some unfortunate rodent or bird.
One day TC was absolutely insistent demanding to go outside, despite the rain. So I opened the front door to show TC that it was pouring rain.
This angered TC, she pulled her ears back, and turned away from the door. At that moment, Lucy came bopping into the room, happy with her tail straight up. TC hissed and attacked poor Lucy, who had an expression like "What did I do?!?"
Those incidents went on for 15 years, until TC died. Lucy walked the house for days, calling mournfully and searching for her rival housemate. Lucy adjusted to being an only cat for the next two years.
Decades later, I still miss those two stepsisters.
hope you guys are enjoying? REMEMBER I want to see topics for new videos from you guys - check out other vids!
Ok. Ever since my other kitty died, whenever I sit down, my 10 year old male thinks it's time to be an attention seeker. I can lay him down next to me and pet him, but the second I stop, he's literally in my face bugging me for more. It's the same when I go to bed. I've got to pull the covers over my head to get him to leave me alone to sleep. He's not at all interested in interactive toys, even if I give him catnip before I play with him. There aren't enough hours in the day to get my things done, give him all the attention he wants and sleep too, it seems. I'm pretty sure he looked at the other kitty as his toy.
Talk about black kitties! >.
What about an introduction to dogs
I'd love to hear more about your experience evacuating with your furry family. I also live in a fire-prone area of California.
Hello! I would appreciate a topic about what cats feel when they are alone or when someone else comes to feed them. I'm the kind of people never going on vacation because of guilt of leaving my pets! And there is a lot like me.
Thank you for not having any hissing sound effects! I’m sitting right here with my new kitty, and I’m finding lots of cat videos have hissing noises that make my kitties nervous. So I’m thankful that I don’t have to use headphones on this video!
Hello Savanna how’s the weather over there
Hi Savanna, just letting you know I reported this guy. It looks like the same generated comments on different videos. Not a real person...
This method definitely worked for us. My resident cat, who is almost 11 was very stressed at first he even got bladder cystitis and I felt so so guilty about trying to introduce a companion. But we took it super slow - one full month of scent swap, site swap, shared mealtimes, interactions through barriers etc. Then when they were in the same room together it was only for 15-20 minutes at a time, first once, then twice then three times a day slowly increasing the duration of the visits. Now it's been two months and they're able to be around each other 24/7 without supervision. They are definitely still feeling each other out, establishing routines and getting to know one another, but I was meticulous about the steps when my friends and family thought I was insane... and I'm a believer. Even if they never become best friends they can totally function together safely already. If you have an older cat that's been an "only child" for most of it's life, I would suggest ensuring you can commit the time, logistical requirements and patience to this process. Lots of people seem to get lucky but I'm pretty certain we wouldn't be in good shape if I hadn't followed this process.
Amazon sells screen doors now that you can mount on your door frame with a sticky tape and velcro! It is made of a foldable material. You enter the room via a zipper. Brand is SHRRL. It sounds strange, I know. But it really works and cats can't destroy it with scratching. It is great for the first eye contact and smelling each other. Have used it on two introductions. The original door stays in place of course. So you can always decide how much of the screendoor you want to reveal.
That's my plan, because I'm so nervous with this introduction that will happen soon. I saw one of those screen door things and I knew it'd be a massive help.
Thanks for sharing! I was about to purchase 3 pet gates and stack them on top of each other lol (otherwise the cats could easily jump over).
It took me a couple weeks for two of my cats to befriend each other but the best thing that I used was a collapsible hamper. not right away but about 2 weeks in to them sniffing each other under the door. Our adult cat laid inside the hamper and watched the kitten play for an hour every night for about 4 nights. I would just manually keep the kitten from going into the hamper or too close. On the fourth night of intense observation, our adult cat started reaching out to interact with the kitten. Now they chase each other through the house having a wonderful time.
We went through a similar process when I started letting my first foster kitten explore the whole house. My adult cat sat on her perch every evening for several days just watching the kitten. Then she started creeping closer and eventually chose to interact.
@@tracydodge1126 awww : ) yeah it seems like they just need to have a safe zone where they can watch the kitten and realize that it's not a threat.
i think i will do the same because my resident cat is not interested in playing when the kitten is near. he just watches him and is still scared of him (hisses when he comes to near). and the kitten is too interested in the resident one to just play with the toy when my resident one is also on the floor, so he can get to him. hope this will work. im 16 days in :P
@@sSf4deSs can u update me, did it work?
@@raqueltwod yes i can 😁 just needs time. I can let them walk in the house when I’m at home. Feed them together etc. 2 more weeks till my new kitten gets neutered. Hope he gets a little calmer then. At the moment he climbs the older cat ( think it’s a sexual behavior) and is very dominant. When hes calm the lay together on the couch with like 50cm between them and sleep. The older one even lick the little ones head sometimes till the little play bites the older cat after it 😂 2 months ago I couldn’t even feed them with seeing eachother 😁 so I’m confident that they will get good friends when the little one is neutered and more time passes by.
It took my cats less than a day. Only because my existing cat wasn't an alpha but he also couldn't be bullied. He really wanted a friend and he let the new cat his and explore without interfering .
Honestly it is only because you have a boy cat. Boy cat introductions are effortless. Two female cats is violent and traumatic and never works.
@@dartarro21 my female cats are very territorial. My male cats are so friendly.
@@dartarro21 my two female cats were together after 2 days and sleeping together after 4 days. It can work. Everything is cat dependent, not just gender.
@@dartarro21 what if you’re introducing a male 1 year cat to two old ladies?
@@saraharmstrong9190 that makes me feel better! I feel like people are always saying that two female cats will never get along, but it mainly has to do with temperament.
Going to rescue a cat today i hope all goes well with my other cat!
Update: all went well!
Good to hear
I am SO SO SO elated to finally be able to come here to share the story of my two kitties getting along!
My first cat (1y/o, Spayed Female) is a “diagnosed fearful cat” as the shelter described her. We adopted her about 9 months ago. She was a happy yet reserved kitty at first, but at some point she started exhibiting signs of pretty severe separation anxiety. My husband and I decided to adopt another kitten so that she could have a companion.
We chose to go the foster route first (with the intention of foster failing if things worked out) and fostered our second kitten (3 m/o, spayed female) for a week. They got through scent and site swapping like a breeze!
Because my resident didn’t react adversely, we ended up adopting the new kitten two weeks ago. Followed Jackson’s steps to the T! There were hiccups.. swatting, hissing, a little bit of growling, staring, stalking - you name it! And she did this not only at the new baby, but even at us! We had to learn to give her lots of space to cope with this change. Its easy to lose hope when this happens. But i kept coming back to this video to read people’s success stories and they helped me to keep going!
And today, a little over two weeks since we adopted the little one, the two of them are playing together as i type this comment!! I was easily expecting at least another week of Eat Play Love. But something just clicked today and they’re actually behaving like friends! Thank you, Jackson!! And thank you, all the other commenters who also gave out some pretty great advice!
If you’re going through this process and feeling deflated, please know that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and this will work out!! Remember, small progress may make it tempting for you to skip some steps. I’d suggest following them religiously as they indeed are fool proof.
We tried a lot of these methods, and although we were able to get them ok with each other for a little bit, they would always wind up fighting. We ended up moving to a new house, and retried introducing them, and now they’re cool. Not bestest buds, but they play, bathe each other, and are generally ok with each other. I think having a territory that was neutral (didn’t feel like one cat was invading the other’s space) was hugely helpful
Some of these tips on that topic are on another level. MOVE TO A NEW HOUSE? Some people can't even afford a flat big enough for base camp seperation
We just moved and are wondering how to merge cat families. When you took them into the new house did you let one cat settle first or did you move them in at roughly the same time and give them both base camps and then swap as suggested? I'm worried that if we move one in first we're going to have a problem with the second cat feeling at a disadvantage.
What more could you want but for them to play together and bathe each other? That sounds like they get along great.
Two months ago we rescued a two year old cat from a kill shelter who was less than 30 days away from being destroyed. We had a resident cat that has been with us for eight years. Fortunately our 24 year old daughter told us about Jackson Galaxy and this method. We followed this method to a t, and today they are best friends and inseparable. It took some time (about three weeks) before all the hissing ceased. But it worked like a charm.
This helped me soooo much. I had gotten the advice to just “let them work it out” and that, of course, went terribly. So I watched this video, followed the instructions and about a month later they’re hanging out and becoming good friends. Thank you so much!!!
this gives me hope because i did the same. retrying the introduction now...
Did you close the door after every meal with the screen door because my screen door is attached to the other side of my door so I can close my normal door… I am not sure… I close it after every meal because my cat hisses to my new cat if it get to close to the screen door… 🥺 I don’t want to give my resident cat negativ association
Yeah geez and my boomer parents do not help
We are on day 3 of introducing our two cats and I must admit: it is HARD not to rush things and be patient. But I know that rushing would only prolong the process, so we are staying on the patient path. Luckily our new cat is an absolute sweetheart, I have no idea how we would be able to manage otherwise… I can’t wait for me to be able to post an update on how great they are getting along 😅
Now I can actually post an update. A couple of days ago, we started feeding them on both sides of an OPEN door (we have used a glass door to separate them for the past two weeks or so) and things are going great. There still is some occasional hissing, but they mostly just look at each/ignore each other through the glass door, while we aren't doing the feeding exercises.
I must admit that we didn't stick 100% to the introduction plan (our resident cat is the fussiest eater and we still free feed her, because she does go up to 24 hours without food when she doesn't get things her way), but we have made SO MUCH progress these past three weeks.
So, to anyone feeling as frustrated, desperate and impatient as I was the first few days: hang in there, it really gets much better!! In my opinion, those first few days were the absolute worst, now I see steady progress and I simply give them all the time they need. Am I still super scared that they might kill each other the first time I will let me meet without us being right next to them? Sure, but for now, I'm focusing on all the excellent progress we've all made.
I thought I should post another update, since it was so very frustrating to me to not see any to some of the other posts. We‘re now entering week 5 and we are still in a bit of an introductory phase. Last week, there has been a bit of a setback, as our new cat entered the room the resident cat was in at nighttime, in the dark and we had some chasing around the house for a minute that seemed to never end. We thought we would have to completely start over, right as they were starting to get along, but the chase didn’t mess up all that much with the introduction. They still aren’t best friends, but there is sone progress on a daily basis, so that’s encouraging..
Thank you for your updates, I also introduced mine completely wrong and have had to start at square one. It’s now been 5 days and like you I’m feeling a little frustrated but can see some very small improvements in my resident cat. Still hissing if he catches the smallest sight of the little one so we still have a long way to go
We are on month 4 of our introduction and honestly y'all, patience is KEY. I lost sleep thinking we might have to rehome one because the hissing and growling and stalking was seemingly endless but yesterday they both eventually fell asleep on separate chairs in the same room! The older cat still freaks out if the young one approaches her but we're continuing to stay the course and have faith they'll be fully integrated in another few weeks. Taking it slow DOES PAY OFF!!
Patience IS key. I was getting SOOOO frustrated with the "Eat Love Play" stage not going well and having to put Baby back in base camp. Now she is out and my resident cat is grooming her. I could not be more impressed and pleased with the results of the VERY SHOW but EFFICIENT introduction process
I want to thank Jackson for his amazing cat introduction process. In April, we adopted a 4 month old male kitten who ended up being a very hyper and somewhat reckless boy (adorable). We adopted our 3 year old resident female cat right before the pandemic, so she is pretty unsocialized and nervous/jumpy in general. She likes to play/run but is also happy to observe and relax. We followed Jackson's steps verbatim, not rushing them at all for the past 2 months (and reverted back a step if either cat showed signs of stress/fear). From the jump, our resident cat hissed/swatted/growled and wanted nothing to do with her brother. We swapped rooms and scents until she showed little to no fear reactions. Slowly but surely, we are making SIGNIFICANT progress! Right now we are at the eat play love stage and yesterday they played in the same room and our resident cat playfully pounced on her brother! They even booped noses. This occurred after about a week of supervised, timed interactions. We still have a ways to go but our patience has seriously paid off even if it's been very stressful/difficult at times. I think the most important things I learned are: a) Train your kitten/new cat, not only your resident cat. Our little boy LOVES to pounce on his sister even though it results in her hissing/swatting/running away from him. One day I realized I need to do everything I can to divert him away from her and praise him when he makes a u-turn or goes around her. She doesn't deserve that annoyance just as much as he doesn't deserve to be disliked. That shifted everything. b) Reward, reward, reward. If your resident cat is highly food motivated, freely give treats when they are together in a room and no shenanigans happen (no hissing/chasing/growling). The goal to always have in mind is that you are trying to associate positive experiences with the other cat around. I recommend slightly reducing their calories to account for all the extra treats. c) Read your cats' energies (tail down? hiding?) and end play sessions and let them rest before trying again. The door feeding ritual has also helped our process. We are on the road towards a united, happy home. THANK YOU!
WoW!
Just rescued a stray cat. There was 10 minutes of visual contact which could not be avoided. Now they each have their own space and going to follow his advice... Wish me luck
Good luck! How is it going?
Yeah, how did it go?
can we get an update? just adopted a rescue whilst i have a cat already
They are now pretty much like brother and sister. They don't cuddle but you can often find them together on the couch
THIS IS LITTERELY HARDER THAN INTRODUCING DOGS TO EACH OTHER
NO WAY- REALLY??? 🙀🙀🙀🙀
You spelled literally wrong. So, ...basically, ....you sound like an idiot and you type like an idiot. Well done !
@Bruce Banner who hurt you bb?
@@brucebanner6127 It's a pun, Bruce
Bruce Banner you good bro?
Worked for me!! It went from switching the soakers to letting them sniff through the door without actually seeing each other, there were a couple hisses at the time, and then they were looking through the door with no aggression and while they are hesitant to meet each other in person, they're already starting to play with each other! I gave it 3 days.
Three days in total?
@@kishybee yep!! I just took it easy and when it looked like they were pretty much ready, We let them meet. For the next just day or 2 I had one cat sleep with me in my own room at night just so we could keep an eye on them. Now, they're happy with each other, groom, and play!
This method is truly good. Used it to introduce my two cats three years ago. They are absolutely best friends. I have never regreted the time we put on a thorough introduction😊
Louni37 this gives me so much hope
Great ...what age are they please?
I did this four years ago following an earlier video, and they really became best friends! They slept together, played and went on walks together. It was heartwarming. Earlier this autumn one of them passed away, and now a new little kitten has come in to the household and we are back at it. I am hopeful that it will go just as good this time. Patience! Also, thank you Jackson - I recommend your videos to everyone who has questions. You are truly the cat daddy.
this worked out for you?
@@Gambit891 Yep! They are the best of friends now. It took about 2 weeks of sight introducing and another month of really settling in.
@Moon B what have you done? im having the same situation..
@Moon B alright! thank youuu
THANK YOU JACKSON GALAXY!!!! Your videos made a WORLD of a difference with introducing my kitten to my cat. Unfortunately, it worked so well that now I'm like "What about me???" They love each other SO MUCH. It was NOT love at first sight but over a few weeks, thanks to your advice, we got Baby out of base camp and now they are inseparable. THANK YOU!!!!
My cat has been separate from my roommate's cats for the entire 2+ years we've lived together. Working up the courage to introduce them by rewatching these introduction vids.
Hoping they’re friends now 🥹
Thats kind of crazy lol
99% of what I know about cats, I learned from watching ur videos and ur show on animal planet "My Cats From Hell". And cuz of watching those my oldest cat is very close to being perfect (or as perfect as they can be) and he's teaching my younger cats how to act the same and I love all of them so much
Do you think this could work on cats that have already met each other but may not get along so well? Maybe re-introduce them the right way?
Yes! It definitely works for reastablishing a better relationship between them if they don't get along well.
Yep my friend did this with her new cat a second time and everything was fine after that.
Ooh good question, I was also wondering 😻
Khristian Simone yes I just did the re-introduction.. it works.
Yes, he has done it on his show before and it works!
Would be very helpful to see a video about helping blind/ deaf cats to adapt in a new home, and about living with them.
We are hosting my son’s cat for a few months. His cat and our cat are both about 10 years old and have never lived with other cats. This tutorial was so helpful. The first few days were terrible and then my daughter sent me this video and we put the process in action. 3 1/2 weeks later it’s all great and they are both having fun. I would not have believed we would ever get here. Thanks so much!
Luckily all of my animals get along really well. But I remember when we got our kitten, we tried this method. But my older cat threw his weight at our kittens home base and burst through the door, sniffed our kitten, hissed and ran away. Method thrown out the door 😂. What ended up happening was my young dog took the new kitten and treated him like it was her puppy. Became a complete helicopter mom. Everytime she would sense tension between the cats, she would be there to break it off. Not the correct or recommend method, but somehow that worked 🤷♀️. I just kind of lucked out that I had a dog that socialized well with cats, and you can see the three of them hanging out.
That is lucky, i wish i had your dog
That's adorable
That’s amazing. My cat is NOT afraid of my dog so even though my dog tries to stop the tension, it doesn’t work.
Lucky!
Haha my dogs police everything for me and will not tolerate cat disputes and they will break them up as well. So funny. They are not particularly affectionate with the cats but... They do make sure law and order gets respected around the house.
I’ve had up to 5 cats, and noticed that introductions took the least amount of time were when the new cat was very young. Often, one of the older cats would attempt to initiate play by putting the paws under the door. Having lots of cat furniture and cat toys really helps. Usually, after one cat has made friends with the new cat, the others seem to accept his or her presence at the food and water areas. Oh, and always use high quality cat litter that’s easy to scoop! I love my cats!
This video literally made it possible for us to successfully adopt another cat...our older cat (14 years old) is totally unfriendly...we adopted a 9 week old kitten..took them 3 months to be able to occupy the same room without supervision,..but it only worked after we employed the strategy explained in the video step by step...one year later and we are one happy family with 2 relaxed cats ..thanks Jackson, you do know your field excellently...
Ugh I have a 13 yo cat and just adopted a 2 mo kitten... They hate eachother. The little one wants to play all the time and the older cat just wants to chill and do nothing. Any tips for introducing them? I'm asking you since your cats are almost the same ages and maybe there was something different you did or didn't do. Thanks!
@@isahawkins8605 i hope you have success. rescues/shelters need to explain to ppl that senior cats aren't the best match for young kittens. basically you're asking the equivalent of a 68-yr old person to have the same interest/energy as 3ish-yr old child. my tip, should you be able, is do adopt a younger friend for the kitten.
My older 9 month ragdoll absolutely hated the arrival of my 4 month old ragdoll (both are males and large kittens). He was hissing, growling, ears back, hair puffing up. I found this video and followed Jackson's advice to the letter and with a lot of patience. Two and a half weeks in, they are chasing, rolling, sometimes play biting ( I separate when it gets too rough). They eat alongside, sleep alongside, they nose greet, use the same litter boxes I would say they are now buddies but initially it looked as though this was not going to happen . Thank you Jackson for making and sharing this video, it has been invaluable to integrating my kittens into my home , making it a pleasure to have these fur babies.
Cats are like people. Some of them have great chemistry from the very beginning. I had a tom cat that was about 2 years old and we got a little tom-kitten. I tried to keep them separate but the 2 year old got in the kitten's room after less than two days, while I wasn't looking. Turned out fine though because he started to just immediatly play with the kitten and they were instant buddies afterwards.
TO EVERYONE WHO MESSED UP AT FIRST (like me) GOING BACK A FEW THE STEPS WORKS!
I adopted a 4 year old cat from the shelter. Her name is Mokka. My resident cat's name is Striple. He's 1 year old. Both of them are neutered.
When I got home from the shelter, I made the BIGGEST MISTAKE by putting her in the open space with my other cat. There was tention. But I thought I'd be able to manage it. WRONG! They fought, so I had to break it up, and locked Mokka in her (large, well provided) cat room. That's when I found this video.
Sadly enought, I RUSHED the steps. WRONG! Another fight... So, I started over.
Mokka has been living with us for a week now. And the hissing/growling stopped. I site swap them every day or so. And feed them a little wet food, twice a day, at the gate I put up with a blanket on it. (I still 'free feed' them, because I make long hours. And if anything ever happens, like a car accident, I wouldn't have to worry about them not having food.)
Today, when I got home from work, I gave them both love, play, and attention. I fed them at the gate, and raised the blanket 20cm, with their food plates 30cm apart. No aggression.
< Update? >
How are the kitties now?
oh thank god, I messed up(day 4 they saw eachother) and new cat lunged aggressive to my new cat(pretty violently) - and now I am so worried. new cat is back to time-out basecamp. old cat is hiding under blankets
Thank you for this comment I felt like an absolute failure of a cat mommy terrorizing them both with this introduction
@@TwixlerDev how did it work out for you? have they become friends??
unfortunately they never did become friends :(( I tried my hardest. New kitty found another home as a single kitty.
I'm going to be bringing two new kittens home soon and I currently have a 7 year-old cat. The kittens are littermates and I wanted to get a pair so they could have each other to play with because my older cat doesn't like to play a lot. I've been binging everything I can find on cat introductions because this will be my first time introducing new cats to each other and I want everyone to be safe and happy throughout the process.
Tell me how it goes! I just got a new kitten and things are very difficult. My cat is very shy and is more scared of the kitten than she is of him. It's intimidating trying to get them to get along 😭😭😭
Just brought a new kitten home to our 8-yr-old tortie. She wasn't violent, but she was not thrilled to meet the new guy. These tips are helping her warm up to him. Thanks!
I did all of these things when I first introduced my cats! I have a 7 year old male cat, Dusty, who is not really friendly towards people (he is social but will not let you touch him) and he is especially unfriendly towards cats. But we really felt that Dusty would have more fun with a sibling. So we adopted our female kitten, Nala. We did all these steps to introduce them and I was shocked how perfect it worked! You definitely have to be persistent and make sure there is not eye contact until the few weeks have gone by. It's been 2 years and my cats have a love/hate relationship (because Dusty is naturally grumpy and Nala is extremely playful). They play together so much and have their little fights (not physical or aggressive just a little chasing) very similar to a human sibling relationship haha. They are both very comfortable around each other which I never thought would be possible but it was :)
Hi Daniela, is there any way to contact you privately so you can give me some advice if possible regarding this? I'm in this process and I don't have any experience in this, thanks
We're (hopefully) adopting a cat today, and this is the first time I'm having two cats in the same house who weren't already a bonded pair upon adoption. So glad this video exists!
it’s been a year, how’d it go!?
I've just adopted a 4 month kitten as a friend for my 6 month old as he seemed lonely and my company alone wasn't enough - I followed this method and after a week they finally met - it's scary stuff but it couldn't have gotten on better and now they're playing and running about together with no signs of aggression at all! Thanks Jackson, your advice is brilliant!!!
i really hope this is what happens when i bring home my new baby!!
I know this video is old for most, but new to me!!!
This really worked! We were able to calmly get two 7 yr old cats to tolerate each other in 10 days!!!!
No eye contact, safe "scent" zone/room for new cat. Lots of smells and sounds while eating on opposite sides of the door.
Thank you, thank you....THANK YOU!!
Cats are so complicated, but so fun at the same time.
What beautiful timing. I recently adopted a 15 year old cat and am having trouble introducing her to my two cats
Did you try this and how are they getting along?
@@nataliedrake-brockman2733 I did this and my old cat murder my new cat
@@footballyzvid2780 omg they killed it ?
Day 644. Finally i’m on step 2
1st Update (2020) what a fkd up year huh? basically ever since then my cat fell in deep love they already have 2 month old lovely kittens and their living happy they don’t hiss at each other and we originally brought the female in for mating and then releasing her, but gosh we all just adore her so much that she’s as important as our male cat and they will hopefully stay with us forever
Ugh same. Cat indroduction has been a strugggleeee for me😭
Same (T_T)
DeathBbyPancakes same im currently struggling
hi
ok
A sweet stray cat is in my laundry room (I grabbed him last week when I heard the weather would dip below zero degrees Fahrenheit outside). My 1 year old feral baby is not happy about it. After 1 week, the stray is finally relaxing and feeling at home. I think he may have been abused and abandoned. After vet check ups and shots, I plan to introduce him to the feline king of my domain.
I was worried about fights but your video makes me feel much more confident that I can take in this cat successfully. I already feed them both at the same time! I will start shopping for a screen door that fits my laundry room door. This is brilliant! Thank you.
It's so interesting that the myth that cats are solitary has been pedaled for so long. Cats live in little families in the wild, but it's families of their own choosing. Which is why some cats randomly will click better with each other than others. Always grateful for the Cat Daddy for dispelling myths and offering valuable tools for cat owners!!!
This process took us 2 YEARS. But it really worked! Our 2 boy cats-litter mates-my wife & I had had for 4 years when we adopted a third older female cat. Initially she wanted nothing to do with them, and at best they regarded her as an intruder in their territory. But we kept at the strategy outlined in this video, and today all three of them sat for almost half an hour watching birds together, occasionally sniffing each other (with no bloodshed).
Excellent video! I followed all the ideas and after 13 days, my kitten was successfully interacting with my two 8 year old cats. 💜🐈🐈🐈💜
I know this video is old and you probably won’t see this, but thank you for making this and sharing. My cat grew up from a kitten in a house with two dogs and two other cats who all got along right away. We moved away, and he hasn’t been the same since; his appetite is almost nonexistent, we’ve been trying to get him to gain weight, he cries for us every time we leave and I think it’s because he thinks we won’t come back like the pets. After 3 years of this, we finally pulled the trigger on getting him a kitten, and the intro went so well, until baby climbed the cat tree and fell, which set our cat off and he’s been hissing at him since. We just brought him home today, and both of us have been crying all day, feeling like horrible pet parents, worried that they will hate each other forever, hurt each other, and we’d have to relinquish our new member of the pack, but this made me so hopeful. Thank you everyone in the comments for sharing your experiences in the comments, I have faith that we can do this thanks to you all!
Thank you for this video and your message in general. I was told not to try to get a partner for my senior cat. ( I adopted her, when she was 17,5.) I adopted a chill 12 year old cat 2 years later. Never any fights. It took a year though, but now they are sleeping together.
And yes, the first one is 20,5 now 😊😊
I followed your tips and now my cats are best of friends after just 1 week of introduction.
I'm introducing two cats right now and have so many questions. Wish I could tap Jackson's brain for a day.
Genius! This has worked in about 10 days with my 1 year old and kitten. Very happy.
The only thing I wished I'd known is check your cats for fleas before you introduce them to each other's space. My little kitten came with fleas and has unfortunately now infected all areas of the house. Fixable though and I am overjoyed that the two get along 💙
The screen door method worked great! We just introduced our new 2 month old kitten to our 1 year old cat and after some treats and toys and a screen door barrier, they were very comfortable with each other. Now they can have supervised play and treat time in the same room (mostly just exploring the room and the kitten tags along) and they are already grooming echother, there was only 1 hiss from my older cat during the entire process. Thanks for the great video, we couldn't have done it without you!
Thanks Jackson. I adopted another cat recently after watching your videos. My first cat was furious. Took me 2 weeks plus and now they are happily playing.
I'm so glad for this video. I've had cats my whole life and I've always done abbreviated versions of the introduction process, and generally have had an easy time getting cats to know each other, but my most recent pair are making me go back to the basics. This is a great reminder but also reassures me that they can still get along just fine, I just need to take it slower.
I’ve learned to make sure that my kitties have their place to run and get away from each other. However, I have a blanket that I used during introduction. I used that blanket to rub it on each other because scent is so important to them. So I rubbed it on 1 cat and then rubbed it on the other. I’ve done this technique when introducing other cats to each other and I’ll do this for about a week or so and then introducing them with a barrier like one in a carrier and one on the outside. It’s worked every time
I just want to extend a huge thank you for this video. I used this method to introduce my cat Link to his new little sister Luna and I messed up once. But like you said “if you misstep, you can re-step” I did & the results are two happy kitties who are on their way to a strong bond. Thank you!!
My grandma just passed, and I’m adopting her lovely Siamese. Thank you for this!
Hopefully you have a successful life with your new acquisition.
Belated but my condolences. I also hope you and lil siamese are doing ok, I hope nothing but the best!
Ooh good luck. How did it go? Siamese/special breeds are notorious to be very jealous of other cats, unless they were introduced at a very early stage..
I could listen to this guy for hours, talking about life and everything^^
Thank you for this video. My 3 yo. tuxedo took 3days to be best playmates with my 5m orange tabby. I did a slow introduction in my bklyn studio. I used baby gates and crate. It was stressful in the beginning but after 2 days I decided to stop watching cats fighting videos and focused on being calm and positive. It really helped. I also used Feliway. Highly recommend!
I am so grateful for these videos. I got a second kitty twice and watching these videos I know what I did wrong as I heartbreakingly cringed at how things went. I have a 2 yr old cat that wants to play non-stop and gets very bored with toys, then whines out of boredom. Getting a kitten in a week and going to follow this to the letter. Can't wait!
Please tell us how it went!! We also have a very playful 1 year old cat who'll literally play until he can't breathe anymore 😂
@@alyssa09485 Hi Alyssa,
So happy to do so! I brought the kitten home and put him in the bathroom. My resident kitty of course was naturally curious and smelling under the bathroom door without any hissing immediately. The kitten was howling being left alone which broke my heart. Because there was no hissing I opened the door. They did fabulous. I was very careful to supervise their time together.
When my resident cat looked angry at the kitten I would put his favorite treat on my finger and put it in front of his face between him and the new baby that he was giving the evil eye too. I could literally see in my resident cat face the adjustment he made as he ate the treat and relaxed immediately. Jackson's advice totally priceless in knowing what to do at those tense moments and also helping me realize that my resident cat wasn't being mean to the kitten when he looked ticked. He was just being a cat. This is the best thing I have done in a very long time. They play together, sleep curled around each other. They are best friends! I'm amazed every day! The only reason you know they are not litter mates is because they are different sizes. I wish I could tell Jackson how incredibly grateful I am. His advice for me has truly been an amazing gift!
Some of this was pretty helpful. I just recently adopted a 4 month old kitten and some of this stuff helped my 13 year old cat adjust. My cat is able to be in the same room without hissing and growling. He's even been starting to play with the new kitten.
Thanks. I used your method 3 years ago and it worked. I’m now introducing another new cat to the family and will use the same process 👏👏👏
Hi Jackson Galaxie. I've had dogs for 50 years and now am in an apartment with 2 cats. I never knew they were so much fun! I adopted the second kitten at a very young age (6-7 weeks). My older car spent 3 days hissing at her. I didn't know how to introduce them. I was amazed! By day 4, the kitten was suckling on the older one! I don't believe she was getting milk, but they were bonding and baby Cinder was getting comfort! Love your youtubes!
I'm adopting another kitten today! I've had my first for just about a month and a half and she is plaaaaayful and definitely needs a playmate! Hoping she and her new brother love each other. Thanks for the tips Jackson!
OMG I’m so nervous about introducing Panda to Angel, Jackson has definitely helped me have a strategy and contingency plan but wow I don’t want to fail. Angel is a 9 year old Bengal and she’s been with me from a kitten, a rescue as her mother died from cat flu when she was born and she had cat flu herself, was very unwell but we brought her on into the beautiful and endearing lady she is today. Panda is 1 and I’ve just gave her a home as she and the children in her previous home didn’t get on. She’s rather afraid but hiding behind her cat strength, bless her. Angel suffers from separation anxiety and has been marking a lot recently with her scent and twice with her urine. I’ve been working after lockdown and I think the change shocked her. Both beautiful girls, both didn’t have a smooth start. I hope I can successfully introduce them both and we can have a happy family life together.
I can't say how much this information helped me introduce our new cat to our existing resident girly. While I did of course do EVERYTHING wrong before watching this video, I went straight back to the drawing board followed every step and we are now tolerating, even slightly playing with each other 🥰. Best advice ever. Thank you very much!
Glad to know I can do it all wrong and then fix things!!! Starting from square one tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
so glad it worked for you! How long did it take you? Currently on day 4 and I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel…. My resident does not like her new little sister 😂😭
I just wanted to come in here and say thank you so much. We're first time cat owners who adopted a second cat to be a companion and this video made us feel confident in our decisions on introducing.
On the 4th day these guys were rubbing on each other through the gate and we let them have no barrier. No hissing, growls, bites, or fighting. Lots of playing and sniffing. Thank you so much Jason!
The screen door we put in has been invaluable! We took your advice and are slowly introducing a new cat to our existing two cats. Thank you Jackson!!!
When we got our new girl in 2017, she was ready (and I mean VERY ready) to leave her base camp in less than 20 minutes. She sat at the door in frustration and loudly (very, very loudly) demanded to be let out....
And our big guy heard her and spent the next 3 hours in complete shock....
Nothing went as planned 😅🤣🙈
But they became friends in the end 😉
He really is the cat master! Day 5 finally introduced my two kittens (5 months old) did the site swapping and treats and they play and like each other but it still is a gradual process! 😅
We got our second girl one week and 2 days ago. Used this method, and now they are cuddled up as I'm typing this. It really works! First couple of days are difficult, especially at the first face to face meetings with all the hissing and growling, but it gets better! So worth it! Now our two girls are almost inseparable. For reference, resident cat is 1 years old and baby is around 7 weeks ❤
I did everything as it's shown and they are inseparable! Unbelievable! Thank you, Jackson!
I have followed all the steps, tried introducing my cats for close to a month, but my older female cat never quite accepted the younger male one.. they ain't killing each other, but they usually don't stay too close, and when he tries to get close, she gets all worked up and start hissing.
Hear ya - I tried everything with an older female (Princess Sparkles) and a young male kitten (Sir Griflet). 5 years on they aren't friends and the female tolerates the male (she never actually hurt him). It got to the point I actually considered giving one up (but I couldn't 'cause they have my heart) so I went crazy Cat Lady and got a new female kitten (Lady Niniane) a year after the male as recommended by several breeders - make or break time. Sir Griflet and Lady Niniane have an amazing bond. Sparx is more tolerant of Grif and she sometimes bonds with Nini. Not a solution I would recommend but worked for my critter community.
Don’t give up hope, I had the same happen with my Female queen of the house, although it has taken over a year to get better. It will get better and although they may never like each other, they will learn to tolerate each other and as time goes by, you will see a difference 💛
Carlos Lins
Don’t give up. It’s taken me over two months to get my two together. It was very disheartening at first. We had to start over many times. I was ready to give up and bring the new kitty back to the spca, but every day I thought one more try...one more try...it wasn’t easy. This week, they’ve both finally relaxed with each other. It’s beautiful and so worth it. Hang in there. It’s on their time table, not ours
I'm in the same boat...
I’m in this situation but I also am struggling with staying on the plan. It never fails that a business trip pops up or family comes over for the weekend or something else that disrupts the schedule. My older female kitty still hates the younger male kitty.
We’ve been going through introductions for a month now and the two cats eat about 12 inches apart on either side of a gate. Original cat (Colossus) still hisses a lot and walks away after a few minutes. New cat (Tippy) is just super curious and walks up to the gate and watches him. Colossus has been on anxiety meds for about 5years and we wouldn’t have gotten a new cat but Tippy was my brother in laws cat and Brian passed away from lung cancer in March. We promised to take her or find a family member to take her so here we are. We’re trying to be patient and consistent but still not comfortable putting them in the same room together. One of the other problems is that Colossus won’t go into Tippy’s base camp anymore like he used to when we site swap. He stops at the threshold and sits there and hisses. This started once they started eating on either side of the gate. He’s got some issues and plan to see about upping his meds but looking for suggestions on the site swapping because he’ll no longer go in Tippy’s room. We’ve grown very attached to Tippy and of course love Colossus but we’re struggling because Tippy is confined to one room a lot. Help.
It's been a year. how are they doing?
I am at 8 months of only gate feedings. We can now hang out on either side of the gate for 5 minutes or longer. My sister is coming over today to help with the first in the same room introduction! After a couple scraps, behavioural vet consultations, months of consistent training, almost a year of being separate, the day has arrived! In the beginning I couldn’t even scent swap items, my resident cat would attack the blanket that smelled like my new adoptee. My cat lost his bonded best friend and hasn’t been the same since; my new cat was in the common room with all the other cats. So I thought they would get along no issue as all my other introductions have gone. But nope, these two have been an immense challenge! This advice has been so helpful as we have come a long way.
As always Jackson really knows his stuff about cats! We love you Jackson ❤
This is awesome! Makes me realize how lucky I was to raise two littermates from kittenhood, because they loved each other, cuddled with each other, slept by each other, groomed each other, ate out of the same dish very politely whilst taking turns (I’ve even seen them queue!). The reason I’m here is I had to put down one of the littermates recently (they were both quite old), and the survivor is clearly mourning the loss. So I was considering getting a new cat so she could have company, but now I’m thinking that might just cause her more stress. I feel so bad for her though! Anyway thanks for the video
Perfect timing, Mr Galaxy! Planning to adopt a shelter kitty in the next week. Needless to say, I don't want to traumatize the lovely creatures. Thanks for sharing your insight!!!
A BIG THANK YOU! I didn’t do this with my first two cats and it was so rough the first few months. But I just adopted two new kittens and followed your method and within 2 weeks every has adjusted and at least tolerate each other. Thank you so much for sharing this wisdom. Soooo helpful!
I did this and it saved everything. I had a beautiful cat and brought a new kitten home I didn’t do this and I thought it was ok because it was a kitten not an adult cat and it ruined everything for years. Then my first cat passed away and it broke my heart. When I got a second cat I did this and they love each other. It saved everything. My first cat, Nala, hated the second cat, Simba. Simba loved Nala and always tried to be friends with her but she just wouldn’t do it. And she totally drifted away from me and was very lonely and sad because i got a another cat. It was so sad because I had such a special relationship with her. I hurt her so much when I didn’t do this. It’s bringing tears to my eyes right now. I hurt her by not doing this. She was not the same cat anymore. You could absolutely see she was hurt by me. She secluded herself and ended up living on the kitchen table. She wasn’t scared or anything because she knew she was the Queen, it’s like she just gave up on love and didn’t care about anything anymore. Then few years after she passed away from FIP. It still makes me cry when I think about her. Like I said. I did this the second time and they love each other. You have to do this.
Aaw Huni this story made me cry for you.🥺
Extremely grateful for your content. It's been a long journey but 9 months later my two elder cats get along with minimal issues.
My cat hates me for bringing in another kitten 😭 he hissed at me and scratched me and he’s never been that way 🥺😭 thank you for this video! I need to be patient
How is it going now? Is he happier? I'm feeling so guilty!
@@jessmolloy6070 oh I have the same guilt and I was feeling crazy!
Super duper thankful for this video, Jackson. After a month of stress (meaning resident cat vomiting, pee marking, howling, plucking his own fur, skipping meals and isolating) I finally have the answer- we were doing it all wrong.
So we started from scratch again!
We catified, we did base camp , site swapped, no visual eating together, and even added a slatted temporary door!
We tried the first meal with visual contact today (after 25 days 😅) & sent you the video of them eating, the slatted door + draped blanket etc. your tips worked!!!!!! ❤ Thank you🙏🏻 Jackson. We are hopeful for better days to come!