How to Introduce Cats

One of the most popular topics I talk about over the years - and topics I get asked about the most - is how to introduce cats to cats. Well…here it is!

0:00 Intro
0:41 Preparation
4:53 Introducing Cats

However…this is, by no means, an exhaustive overview on the subject. I wanted to give you guys a detailed glance into how I see bringing cats together - from their vantage point. If you want the real blow-by-blow, broken down into actual bite-sized pieces, there is a full chapter on introductions in my book, Total Cat Mojo. For the first time, in the many years that I've been teaching and, to the best of my abilities, perfecting this technique, I feel like I’ve gotten it down on paper the way I would want to see it if I wanted to learn everything about introductions. So, that said, I hope you guys pick up the book!

Also...Another thing makes this technique great is that you can use it to re-introduce cats as well. Sometimes, when a major fight or other trauma between cats happens, it’s best to take it back to square one, treat them as if they’d never met before, and re-build a trusting relationship the same way you would build it if they were strangers.

FINALLY - please remember one thing… even though I put together a step-by-step, very cautious program for introducing cats, please don’t interpret that as trying to force something - meaning that you would take this as saying cats are better off alone. Not true! I firmly believe that by and large, cats are happier in the company of other cats. They are very social animals, just like the rest of us animals. They’ve just gotten a bad rap over time as being solitary, when that’s not how they function in the wild, or in domestic settings.

You only get one chance to make a good first impression! Adopt a cat today, use this approach, and congrats on your new, larger family!

Related Videos

When Cat Introductions Get UGLY

How To Introduce Your Cat to a New KITTEN!

Related Products

Catify To Satisfy: Simple Solutions for Creating a Cat-Friendly Home

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#JacksonGalaxy #Cat #Advice

[jordan]

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.

[bassmandan]

My grandmother’s cat takes it one step further and vomits whenever he sees my sister’s cat. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[lilyt]

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.

[yucrysoez]

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!

[Cabbits]

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!

[ThatxCanadianxGuy]

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!

[jlscotty]

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!

[LilyISay]

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!!

[jiffyb]

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.

[Jipowagon]

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!

[NabberDog]

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!!

[frankgoren]

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.

[inesnathaliengoua]

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?

[katiepatrick]

The fact that this is premiering 9 hours after we adopt our new cat has to be a sign

[kylie]

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.

[LetsNotThinkAboutIt]

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 😅

[CP-nluo]

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

[JacksonGalaxy]

hope you guys are enjoying? REMEMBER I want to see topics for new videos from you guys - check out other vids!

[jamespirko]

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.

[mihikasajip]

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.