Concatenation Conundrum

[robotech_master]

Any cat people here? (Looking at you, lil_shepherd, inamac :) I need some advice, and I need it bad.

Over in this discussion thread I have been talking about my plan to introduce two new cats into a currently cat-free apartment at the same time. One of them is that Bengal I mentioned, Benjamin, who the shelter operator has said gets along well with other cats. They're both very young adults—Benji's 1 1/2, and the vet estimates Diva's age at "about 2" from the condition of her teeth.

The thing is, I'm getting some conflicting advice. Some people advise the whole "segregate them into different rooms and introduce them by degrees" thing. But one of the posters, cshenk, points out that this advice is meant for introducing a new cat into a home that another cat or cats consider their territory, and that this separation in the event of two new cats can lead to both cats staking out their own mini-territories rather than getting integrated as a household. He cites (what he claims to be) considerable experience in the matter.

One of the other posters, who disagrees with him, advised me to "consider the sources" of the advice. The problem is, I don't know either of them from Adam so as far as I'm concerned their credibility is about the same. (Well, cshenk's credibility may be slightly higher—but if I'm honest with myself, I'm not sure whether that is because he writes convincingly with well-justified arguments or because I'd rather not have to mess with the whole segregation business.)

I really don't want to make the wrong decision here and ruin my cats' chances of getting along with each other. And this is something that can only be done once.

Comments

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

I must admit that I have no experience at all in introducing two cats to the same household at the same time. I do think that just sticking them in front of each other and expecting no trouble would be very dangerous - it might work, but if they did go for each other you would have difficulty correcting the problem.

However, there is sense in the "don't let either of them think the house is their territory immediately" idea. If they were mine, I'd use the run or a cages to introduce them, but you almost certainly don't have my equipment and you are living in an apartment.

They must have somewhere to retreat if they are frightened and you might try their first meeting by lodging their cat carriers next to each other for a couple of hours, so they can hear and smell each other. It might also be an idea to exchange their bedding so, again, they can get used to each other's smell. Once they stop hissing and snarling, you could open the carriers and see what happens.

From a cat psychology point of view I think cshenk may be right to think that, as neither cat will see the apartment as their territory or you as their person, you can't use the usual methods, and keeping them separate for any length of time would be a bad idea. However, if there is a bad fight, separate them and start the two rooms thing.

However,I will put your query out on my LJ and see if we can get someone with some experience over here!