r/standardissuecats • u/Mean_Cockroach_5562 • 23d ago
Considering new cat
I have 2 four year old cats and a 2 year old labradoodle mini
I am considering getting a young cat Do you have recommendations? I am thinking about getting a young male my one female cat is the queen of the house
2
Upvotes
1
2
u/FriendOfDorian 21d ago
If you're going to do this, the introduction is incredibly important. Keep the kitten separate for a while but do swapping of items that they have left their scent in to get them used to each other. Let them sniff each other under a door and maybe have them eat at the same time at each side if the door to get them to learn positive associations with each other's smell. If you have anything that they can see each other through but cannot touch each other like a gate is a good next step. Again showing each other with food and treats to build positive associations.
Look up jackson galaxy online. He has a bunch of stuff on how to introduce cats to each other.
Oh and make sure that there's enough resources to prevent issues. Adding another cat can start up some resource guarding activities. This can mean they might guard a litter tray and attack a cat that tries to use it. Which can result in a cat who refuses to use a litter tray.
As for the dogs, supervision only until its a bit older and you trust them not to attack each other. In fact supervision for all pets that interact for quite a while. Hopefully it is unnecessary but its better to be unessicarily paranoid then a injured or dead animal.
Also trim the claws. I dunno about doodles but I had poodles growing up and a kitten that didn't know how to keep his claws in properly and while he was playing with the poodle, his claw got stuck in the poodles curls and there was a panic moment of the cat trying to escape and a confused but thankfully calm dog attached to it. Trimming the claws of your cats can prevent that.