Introducing your new pet to your pets at home

Successful cat introductions take time!

Introducing cats too quickly can damage their relationship permanently and lead to all sorts of problems including aggression, fear, anger, and litterbox issues for one or both cats. Patience is the key to a successful integration of cats into the household.

These are only approximate timelines, every cat and household dynamic are different. Some integrations can proceed faster or slower depending on the cat’s personalities, comfortability with other cats, ages, history and other factors. For example, if you are bringing a shy cat into your household the resident cat can help the new cat gain confidence and they can be integrated much more quickly most of the time.  

1. Cat smells cat

When you bring your new cat home place them in the prepared, secured room. Let the cats smell each other through the closed door. After a few days, start to exchange bedding between the cats daily so they can get used to each other’s scents. Began letting the new cat explore outside of their room for a couple hours by placing the resident cat in a secure room. You could do this several times for the 2-4 day acclimation period.  

2. Cat sees cat

Place your new cat in a carrier outside of the secured room and let your resident cat check out the new arrival. Look out for signs of aggression or discomfort and keep the visit short. Repeat this as many times as needed and you can switch cats, so the resident cat is in the carrier. Once the cats appear to be more comfortable with each other or are ignoring each other you can move on to face to face interactions. 

3. Cat meets cat

Let the cats meet each other at their own pace. Leave the door to the secure room open a bit so that the new cat can explore at their own pace. Supervise any interactions at this stage and be prepared to intervene if you see serious aggression or threats from either party. Keep these visits short too and slowly lengthen if everything is going well.

If things aren’t going well, slow down the progression. Go back to the previous step with them seeing each other with a barrier. A screen door also works well as a barrier. You can also feed, give positive attention or give treats while they are on each side of the barrier so that they associate the other cat with positive things. Feliway may also be helpful for integration.

Even after the cats have been integrated for months there could be the occasional swatting, hissing and general grouchy behavior. Cats’ hierarchical social structure is constantly being tested and these spats are considered normal for cat siblings.   

Some cat relationships tend to be easier than others and you can take that into account when considering a new cat family member.

General Cat intro tips

• Generally the easiest intros are between cats of the opposite sex and the hardest is between 2 female cats because of their natural hierarchical inclinations.

• Introducing a young cat or kitten to an established resident adult can be easier than introducing another adult because the resident cat will be naturally dominant and often times take on a nurturing relationship.

• However, use caution when introducing a new kitten to a senior or grumpy cat because the mismatch of energy levels can lead to a poor relationship between them.   

• When bringing home a kitten consider bringing home two! They can do really well in pairs for many reasons such as keeping each other company and tiring each other out while playing. 

• Some integrations may proceed faster or slower based on the personalities of the cats involved.

• If you adopted a shy cat or kitten to provide companionship for your resident cat, a quicker integration may be best. Shy cats are often used to and welcome other feline companionship. They will be very lonely on their own, so we recommend that they integration take place very quickly (1-3 days) unless there are significant problems.

1. Find a neutral spot for introduction.

This should NOT be in your home. Ideally, it would be in an outdoor, fully fenced space that neither dog has claimed. If that is not available a large garage or basement would be an alternative as long as it is a neutral space. Make sure to put away items that a dog may be protective of, such as toys, bones, beds, and food bowls.

2. Watch for positive body language.

Start with the dogs on leash. Do not let them interact yet. This will require two people. Watch for wagging tails and friendly body language. If one of the dogs is performing a hard stare, or freezes in place, has their tail tucked, or has a tense body posture, or the dog is clearly stressed and runs to you, take a break from the interaction. If you are not comfortable with how the dogs are interacting, reach out to a professional trainer for help.

3. Go for a parallel walk.

Take the dogs for walk moving in the same direction where they are aware of each other, but not close enough they fixate or can reach each other. After a while, turn around and switch sides coming back. This gives the dogs time to sniff the potty spots to learn more information about the other dog. As the dogs are looking relaxed, gradually decrease the distance between the two. Do not have them meet face to face as this can be stressful. 

4. First off-leash interaction. 

Once you are comfortable with the interactions of the parallel walk, return to the neutral, enclosed space. Drop the leashes, while leaving them attached and let the dogs interact. Praise them for calm, friendly interactions. As they continue to sniff and get to know each other, they may start to play. Make sure the play is respectful and not too pushy. 

5. Enter the home.

Once you are comfortable with their interactions, you can bring your new dog into the home. Have the resident dog separated from the new dog and allow the new dog to investigate. Once the new dog has thoroughly investigated, you may bring out the resident dog. Make sure to pick up all of the toys, treats, beds, food bowls, prized possessions before bringing the resident dog inside as well.

Be aware for signs of tension, such as low growls, hard stares, and body blocking. If these occur, give the dogs a 20–30-minute break from each by separating them and directing their attention elsewhere.

Other tips: 

• DO NOT leave the dogs out together if you are not able to supervise them. 

• ALWAYS separate at mealtime. You can do this by feeding them in separate rooms or using a baby gate. If one dog finishes first, do not allow them to hover as the other eats. Make sure to pick up the bowls after they are done eating as some dogs are protective over food or food bowls.

• Introduce toys slowly and supervise the dogs’ interactions. Some dogs may resource guard their toys, which could lead to fights if you are not careful.

1. Slow and steady desensitization 

The goal with desensitization is to get the dog accustomed to and lose interest in the cat. It can take days, weeks, or even months 

• Similar to the cat-to-cat introduction section, the first step is to let the animals smell each other, but not see each other. Confine the resident animal to a separate area and allow the new animal to explore your home and get used to the scent of your resident animal(s).

• After a little while, switch spots – confine the new animal to a separate area and allow the resident animal to get used to the scent of the new animal.

• Let them briefly see each other by placing one in a crate or using a baby gate that the dog cannot get over. Make sure you have toys and treats ready. Praises and reward the dog for focusing on something other than the cat. Keep this brief and repeat throughout the day. 

  • • If seeing the cat is too exciting for the dog, you can begin feeding the animals on separate sides of a door. This allows each animal to associate the other's smell with food and make their smell a positive experience. This will help them get used to each other's scent without overstimulating them.

• Keep the dog on a leash and allow the cat to roam loose. Make sure to have dog treats and toys ready. You want the dog to stay focused on you. If the dog tries to move towards the cat, give a slight leash correction. If the dog is not responding to your commands or the cat’s stress level is elevated, take a break and remove the dog from the room. Repeat this process until the dog is calm, responding to you, and ignoring and accepting the cat(s). This process helps to teach the dog that the cat is not prey, toy, or a threat.

Look at that Game 

• If the dog is not becoming desensitized, you may need to do some structured training using the "Look at That" game. The goal of this game is to get your dog to not fixate on the cat by teaching them if they look at the cat and then look back at you, they will be rewarded. Each dog has its own threshold. One dog may only be able to focus on you if the cat is 30 feet away, while another can handle 5 feet. If the dog barks, lunges, or fixates by staring and has stiff body posture, they are above threshold. You need to move further away from the cat. You are at threshold when your dog will respond to you calling their name. If they are not responding to you calling their name, you need to move even further away. 

• Once you determine what threshold your dog can handle, you can start to work on creating a conditioned response. You're going to need very high value treats. A clicker may be helpful as well. To shape the conditioned response, you are going to click (or praise) and reward your dog every time they look at the cat. You might have to put the treat in front of your dog's nose the first few times you click or praise. The dog will start to understand that a click or praise means a treat is coming. 

• After they understand a click or praise means they get a treat, you are going to only reward if they look at the cat and then back look at you. 

• If they remain calm and relaxed while looking at the cat and is reliably looking at the cat and then back to you, you can slowly start to move closer to the cat. If the dog becomes fixated when moving closer, you need to move back until they are under threshold again.  

• The more often you work on this training, the more the dog's threshold will decrease and the closer they will be able to be to the cat without fixating on it. You are going to want to continue practicing the Look at That game frequently until they can be right next to the cat without any issues. 

• Other factors that will also effect the speed of this conditioned response are how much you practice, the types of treats you use, your dog, and your cat's comfort level. 

Other tips

• NEVER leave the dog(s) and cat(s) unsupervised until you are certain they have a mutual, respectful relationship.

• Make sure the cat(s) have a place to get away from the dog(s). You can do this by placing a baby gate across a doorway to a room the cat likes to hang out in. Another option is a tall cat tower.

• The length of time required to successfully integrate cats with dogs varies depending on previous experiences of the animals involved. For example, your dog may have had prior experience with a cat, or the cat may have had prior experience with a dog. Often, when the cats and dogs are used to being around the other species, integration can be quicker. It is also possible that your dog might not ever be able to safely share space with a cat due to their natural prey drive. 

ALWAYS supervise interactions between the dog and children.

Have the dog leashed and sitting before introducing them.

Teach your child how to be gentle and respectful of the dog. Monitor the dog’s body language and make sure they are comfortable with the interaction. A lot of times on the internet you see "cute" videos of young children crawling all over a dog and the dog is clearly stressed. DO NOT ALLOW YOUR CHILD TO DO THIS. This can easily lead to your child getting bit. 

Remove items the dog may be possessive over.