The Ice Cat Melteth -- Missy Joins our Group

If you’re a regular Mews & Views reader, you’ve already figured out that we question a lot of conventional cat wisdom. For example: Cats living outdoors meet the definition of feral … People don’t fix their cats because they’re “irresponsible” … Only “adoptable” cats should be saved by shelters – the rest are better off dead. Trap-Neuter-Return is bad for the birds. And …cats are solitary animals – they don’t want to live with other cats. All of these maxims crumble under close scrutiny, yet our accepting them at face value shapes how we treat cats – often to their demise.

The solitary animal theory has its roots in the way cats hunt. Unlike pack animals that work as a team, cats rely on stealth attacks selecting small rodents for their victims. They neither need nor benefit from having other cats around when they stalk and pounce on an unwitting mouse or mole. Yet often after they catch the prey, they bring it back to their colony – as any caregiver who’s had their cat drop a dead mouse in front of them can confirm. Just because cats hunt alone doesn’t mean that they want to live alone. Think of it -- if they preferred living alone, why would they form colonies?

Because so many people – including vets, animal shelter staff, cat guardians alike – believe the solitary cat myth , you’ll often hear comments like – “LuLu is a great cat but she needs to be in a one-cat home– she doesn’t get along with other cats.” Or, “I would keep this stray cat myself – he’s so nice – but my cat Tinker has always lived alone and it wouldn’t be fair to her to bring in a new cat.”

Even those that are brave enough to adopt a second cat often give up after only a few weeks or months -- citing the new cat terrorizes their original cat – or she won’t come out to visit –just hides under the bed all day. These behaviors reinforce the solitary cat myth. But, what they really tie back to is the cat’s territorial nature.

Territory – to a cat – is paramount. When you introduce a new cat into your home with existing cats, it creates two major problems: The new cat loses her old territory entirely and your resident cats have an interloper in theirs. If they were outdoors, this situation would resolve quickly – the new cat --finding existing cats already on the land -- would either move on voluntarily or be run off by them. Or – sometimes – the new cat would be accepted by the colony and join it. Indoors, the new cat can’t run away and – except in those situations where the cats immediately like each other – this results in chaos. You can prevent chaos by setting up a cage for the new cat – with food, water, litter and a nice bed -- and setting it in the area where your other cats hang out. Let the cats get to know each other without being able to chase or attack – this is critical as once they start fighting the introduction problems escalate.

The cage gives the new cat a territory all her own – she can relax and be comfortable in. And, her being in a cage keeps the original territory for the resident cats. Once the new cat has time to calm down, let her out when you’re there to supervise and see what happens. If the cats chase each other, hiss or growl, or hide underneath something, simply put the new cat back in her cage and try again the next day. Once the new cat can come out without any hissing, growling or hiding, the cat has been accepted in the group.

Depending on the cats, this transition to a shared territory can take hours, weeks, months – or in the case of our Missy – years! In fairness to Missy, we received her back from a foster home when we had 20 cats living in three basic groups. She’s a shy kitty and would get stressed out preferring her condo to the open room areas. After a few months of living in a cage, she slowly moved herself to my upstairs office which only a few other cats would frequent. We made sure she had food, water and litter and let her stay there – the door open and other cats visiting – but out of the areas that had the highest levels of cat activity.

We noticed this August that she would sit on the stairs looking into the living room and finally – a few weeks ago – decided it was time to join the group. She still spends most of her time in the office, but a few hours each day she’s out and about – and looking about as happy as a calico cat can. We knew she’d like the other cats if we let her move in on her own timetable.

Fortunately for cat lovers, Missy is an extreme case of slow acceptance. We’ve used caged introductions for over 70 adult cats that previously lived as single pets – introducing them into a group of 10-15 other similar cats. With few exceptions they settled in within 3-4 months of when they arrived. And, over the years, some very close friendships have formed. If you asked these cats if they'd like to go back to being an only cat, i think they'd tell you no -- they'd miss their friends too much!