Living with more than one cat

Cats can live well together, but they do not always make friends easily. Most cats are happiest when each has its own food, water, bed, hiding place and litter box, and when a new cat arrives slowly. Plan the introduction over days or weeks, not hours, and give every cat more than one of everything.

Why cats find sharing hard

Cats are solitary hunters by nature. They do not need a group to feed or defend a territory, so they have no built-in need to be friends. Cats that grew up together, or that met when young, often bond. Adult cats who meet for the first time may tolerate each other, ignore each other or fight. Any of these is normal.

A multi-cat household works when the cats can avoid conflict. They need space to keep their distance, and they need enough resources that no cat has to guard a bowl, bed or box.

Introducing a new cat

A fast introduction is the most common cause of trouble. Take it in stages. Move to the next stage only when both cats look relaxed at the current one.

1. Prepare a separate room. Put the new cat in a room the resident cat does not use much. Include food, water, a litter box, a bed and a hiding place. Expect the new cat to spend several days there at least.
2. Swap scent. Rub a soft cloth on one cat's cheeks and give it to the other cat. Swap bedding. Watch the reaction. Sniffing is good. Hissing or avoidance means slow down. Cats read each other's smell as much as they read sight. See scent marking.
3. Swap places. Once both cats are calm, let the resident explore the new cat's room while the new cat explores the rest of the home. Then switch back.
4. Meet through a barrier. Use a baby gate, a mesh screen or a door cracked open with a stopper. Feed both cats on either side, a few steps away at first, then closer. Food builds a happy link with the other cat's presence.
5. Short, supervised meetings. Keep early face-to-face time brief, often only a few minutes, and end on a good note. Offer play or food. Make sure each cat can retreat.
6. Lengthen the time. Over days and weeks, extend the visits and give the cats more of the home. Leave the new cat's room available as a safe base.

If a fight breaks out, do not use your hands to separate cats. Make a loud noise from a distance, drop a cushion or board between them, and let them calm in separate rooms. Then go back a step. A restart is called a reintroduction, and it is normal.

Expect the whole process to take anywhere from a few days to a few months. Some pairs never become close but share a home peacefully.

Setting up the home for several cats

Spread resources out so one cat cannot control them all.

• Litter boxes. A common rule is one box per cat plus one extra, in different places. Boxes lined up side by side count as one to the cats. See the litter box checklist for placement ideas and see litter box for basics.
• Food and water. Use several feeding spots and keep bowls apart, so cats do not have to eat in sight of each other. Cats that gulp or steal food may need to be fed in separate rooms.
• Resting places. Offer beds at different heights and in different rooms. Shelves, cat trees and window perches create vertical space that lets cats share a room without meeting.
• Hiding places. Boxes, tunnels and covered beds give a nervous cat somewhere safe.
• Scratching posts and toys. Place posts in several rooms. Each cat should have its own toys and some shared ones.
• Pheromone diffusers. Some owners use a pheromone diffuser to help a new cat settle. It is an extra, not a fix for a poor introduction.

Reading the signs

Learn to read body language. Relaxed cats have soft eyes, upright or loose tails and slow blinks. Warning signs include staring, a puffed tail, flattened ears, growling, hissing and stalking. One cat blocking another from a doorway, food bowl or litter box is a quiet form of bullying. It is easy to miss.

A cat that is being bullied may hide, stop using the litter box, eat less, over-groom or start spraying. A bully may seem fine and rarely shows any sign. Check how the cats behave when you are not watching, and keep notes.

Common mistakes

• Putting the cats together on the first day "to get it over with".
• Leaving them alone before they have shown they can share space.
• Too few litter boxes, or boxes in one corner.
• Letting a fight run its course.
• Treating hissing as a failure. Hissing is communication. Punishing a hiss makes a cat less likely to warn.
• Reuniting cats too fast after one has been to the vet. A cat that smells of the clinic may be treated as a stranger. Keep them apart for a short time and swap scent again.
• Overlooking pain. A cat that suddenly picks fights may be unwell.

When to call a vet or get help

Take your cat to the vet if it stops eating, starts straining in the litter box, hides for a day or more, or has wounds from a fight. A deep bite can lead to an abscess within days, so ask your vet to look at any wound.

A male cat that goes back and forth to the litter box and produces little or no urine needs help at once. Stress in a multi-cat home is a known trigger for urinary problems. Go to a vet or emergency clinic without delay.

Ask your vet for a referral to a qualified cat behaviorist if the cats are fighting regularly, if one cat is cornered or hiding all the time, or if spraying or house soiling begins.

Summary

• Introduce a new cat slowly, with a separate room, scent swaps and short meetings.
• Give each cat its own food, water, bed, hiding place and box, and add one more box than you have cats.
• Learn the early signs of tension.
• Treat fighting by going back a step, not by forcing contact.
• See a vet for wounds, litter box changes and loss of appetite.