The Best Way To Introduce Your Two Cats

If you're bringing home a second cat or already have two cats that just don't get along, this advice from Jackson can help establish a peaceful existence in your home. Be sure to share it with any friends that may be thinking about getting a second cat - it could just help save a cat's life!

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[Seabacon]

This technique really does work. Took about a week for my cats to be able to tolerate each other. Three weeks later they were best buds

[BruisedASScheeks]

I don't know why I'm watching this, I'm not introducing two cats anytime soon.. but I will continue to watch, as I am stoned.. and VERY interested in this.

[werelemur]

My cats decided themselves that they wanted to hurry up the process; they started reaching through the gap under the door, and were playing together before they were even introduced!

[allisonmoffett]

When I started getting interested in getting a second cat, I told myself that my resident cat needed a "friend". The truth was, I wanted another cat. I was devastated the first day I brought the new cat home. My resident cat resented me and the new edition. I felt selfish for bringing the other cat in and felt the betrayal radiating from my resident cat. But after just a few days the hissing lessened until it completely went away and the two now share a window seat and watch cat TV together. My resident cat has benefited so much more than I have from having a second and I have seen such a positive change in her! She's become more social, more confident, and overall happier. Thank you, Jackson!

[animalist]

Cats are very territorial. Agreed that you can't just "let them work it out." 

[susansloan]

Jackson, you're the best. It works brilliantly! We have two 13-year old, male, Burmese cats who are very attached to us. We unexpectedly feel in love with a 1-year old female Tortie and decided to rescue her. We were very concerned about whether the 3 cats could live together peacefully. So we followed your expert guidance for cat-to-cat introductions and very patiently went through the very slow introduction process. And it worked beautifully. We are thrilled with the results! It's been less than a week since they've been integrated and today our young Tortie girl went over to one of the Burmese boys and licked his head - it melted my heart. Thank you!!

[msantos]

"It's on cat time, not human time" Thanks for that, I'm on day 3 and remembering this quote when I'm feeling frustrated and impatient.

[KarlyC]

Guess I got lucky. I did all these steps, but I did them in 3 days. My cat who is two did hiss at first, but by the 3rd day, they were playing (I'm still monitoring obviously)

[dash]

For anyone here in 2020- Here’s my story. I had gotten a beautiful and sweet mixed coat short hair tabby named Phoebe. About 3 years old, very playful, affectionate but alert.. We had her for 3 ish months, she still hadn’t ventured to our bedroom and was weary to explore all there is in our apartment. She came from a shelter with multiple other cats and had also been with other cats in her home before the shelter. She was getting restless at night and we wanted to get her a friend to play with and bring her out of her shell. When we brought Shia home (5 month old white and black kitten), she totally CHANGED. We had never seen her be aggressive or ever once hiss, but all of a sudden she had “the look” and it sure didn’t look like it was coming off any time soon. Any time Shia was around it was a quick hiss, maybe a swat and back under the couch all day. Let me tell you: we did NOT introduce them correctly! We kind of did just drop Shia in the picture hoping our cool cat would stay cool... Well, REINTRODUCTION IS POSSIBLE!!! I watched this video, followed the steps and got them on a meal feeding schedule. Literally it took about 3-4 days of this method and now they are BEST FRIENDS!! They actually beg for each other when separated, run around together all day, kiss on the nose... They are never more than a few feet from each other and Shia has totally brought Phoebe out of her shell- She’ll go anywhere in the house now, climb on things she’s never climbed before... THANK YOU!! They just popped in the room to wrestle and zoom out together while typing this😋❤️❤️

[brunam]

I'm coming back after one week and a half after getting a new cat to say all this stuff works.

My resident cat got aggressive, did all the hissing and mumbling thing when we brought the new kitten. We followed Jackson's advices (door, food, ending things on a high note, etc) and day by day we pushed things further as we saw progress (progress = a decrease in the mumbling and hissing)

On the 7th day he was tolerating her but would still get bothered if she approched him.
BUT! On DAY 8, they started playing, running after each other and at night they were sleeping together.

We're on day 12 and they are the best pals! Super proud of them! (Thank you Jackson!)

[lisalipkin]

I got a new cat in late April. My ragdoll was SOO lonely and sad. I couldn't leave the apartment for more than 6 hours without him being really sad for hours upon my return. I decided to try to get another cat and see if it got better. (had a two month return clause in the contract for the new cat if worse came to worse).  The new cat was already 1.5 years old, and my ragdoll about 1 year. 

I knew about all your tips and was prepared to follow them through however, the cats were not interested in following the plan. Not only was the feeding ritual not possible (the new cat was used to free-feeding of dry-food) but both cats were soooo curious about eachother. 

For the first day the new cat got to stay in the kitchen. Both cats hung arund the door being so curious! Then she got the 2nd night in most of the apartment with me and the first cat in my bedroom. Every time I went through the door that separated them they tried to sneek past and get to the new cat. But there was no agression what so ever. 

After having had them separated for 2 days and barely being able to move around the apartment I decided to let them meet. They went right up to eachother and smelled eachother and that was pretty much it. My first cat was like ' Hey! There's a buddy for me! We're gonna be ffs and love eachother New kitty was like ' Whatever, just don't go sniffing my but or I'll hiss at you and threaten to punch you'. Of course they had to adapt to eachothers personalities, but as they weren't mean to eachoter I saw no reason to keep them separated. 

For the first couple of weeks theye were not allowed to be alone together, but they made progress every day. I cried when they slept next to eachother at 3 weeks in. I still think they are adjusting to eachoter, I pretty much think 6-12 months is a valid time span for them to really become good friends, but they are getting there! I'm glad I did things the way I did. If it didn't work out I would have backed off and followed your guidlines more, but my kitties didn't want to stick to that plan :p 
I can also say that the ragdoll is much happier than he was before! Less dependent on me, but he plays more and he doesn't fall apart into a whining sad fluff of fur when I leave for a while <3 

[roehrc]

I introduced all my new cats very slowly, and it was worth the time and patience. I have 5 cats and they are all great buds.

[DelaliBeauty]

Hi Jackson, can you please do a video talking about introducing a kitten to a dog? PLEASE LIKE SO JACKSON CAN SEE! :(

[Akerfeldtfan]

This seems to be working with my two cats that started suddenly fighting. It's taken 1.5 months, but they are clearly improving, to the point that they can eat together before being separated. Be patient, be consistent. It will work.

[crx]

When I got my 2 year old female and introduced her to my 15 year old male, I let them sniff through a closed door.

Then I went out of the room but forgot to close the door, 10 minutes later both were sleeping on bed together 😅

[Rosk]

I got 5 cats that get along well. We just rescued a 6th cat from the streets. Thanks for this info, i will adjust the introduction procedure...

[secretstudios]

Thank you so much for having made this video! I recently got a kitten to keep my cat company for when we go to college in a year. My older cat was originally raised by six dogs and has had no contact with other animals (including the dogs that raised her) in the last three years. She's been the center of attention and I feared that she would not want a new cat and would have to live with separation anxiety when I became a college student. I introduced my older cat and the new kitten incorrectly at first and it did NOT go well. After watching your video and following your instructions, they now act like the sisters I hoped they would become. They sleep by each other, share their food (both were known for food aggression previously), play, and bathe each other. Thank you so much for your outstanding advice!

[hellolala]

aw I remember when I had my late cat, he had a skin infection for awhile and was advised to stay in a cage, and my older cat started visiting him, and she'd stretch her paw into his cage and into his bowl to get at his food, and he'd push some food out of the cage, to share with her. it was so cute!

#RIPlittlebuddy (tribute video on my channel)

[SharonBakar]

Brilliant advice and a very clear presentation. I'm passing this on to friends with cat problems. I already solved mine thanks to Jackson (took 6 months but cats are fine now).

[bigdog]

I actually just moved into the basement of a house. The basement has four rooms, and they share a kitchen and bathroom. One of the other tenants has a cat too, so for the first few days we kept them separate then once my cat knew there was a cat in one of the rooms she would sit outside the door. I think we were really lucky that these two get along so well.