Introducing a third cat into a two cat household

Question

Last year, I adopted two Tabby sisters. They were seven months old at the time. They have settled in nicely, and play peacefully together. I have been approved for a third cat, which we have plenty of room for, and need some input about the breaking in period.

My two Tabby cats are now going on two years old, and rather shy. The new cat is seven months old, and very Alpha. When I got my two Tabby cats, I kept them in my home office for the first week or so, and that worked out fine because they had each other.

With this new cat, a Torty, I don't want to leave her alone in a room by herself all night. I think, from her personality that she will meow and carry on. If I make the bedroom her space at first, this will mean kicking the other two out for about a week. They do have plenty of other places to sleep in the rest of the house, but they always end up on my bed towards morning.

Should I just leave her alone in my office, with food, water, litter box, scratching post and heated bed by herself, even if it's all night, or let her get acclimated in my bedroom and exclude the other two from the bedroom until she gets settled?

Answer 1

First of all, you must be aware that the introduction period might be just one or two weeks, but it might also drag along for much longer, depending on the personalities of your cats. So you need a solution that can be applied for that long.

Every cat establishes her own territory, even if it's just the side arm of a sofa. You should not lock your other cats out of the room where their food bowls and scratching post(s) usually are, because that is usually the center of their territory. The new cat will automatically be perceived as an intruder.

Personally I would not keep the new cat in my bedroom because that invites the yowling of the older cats. On the other hand, the new cat will probably yowl at night for a few days because she's missing her old family. There's no one perfect solution here... you all (your cats included) will need to adapt to the new situation. More important than "Who sleeps where?" is the question of "Am I willing to keep this arrangement for potentially a long time?"

In my personal opinion, both rooms are equally suited to confine a new cat, because you (usually) spend a lot of time in your home office at days and in your bedroom at night.

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Next, you should be aware that there should always be at least as many litter boxes as cats in a household, better even one more.
In a multiple cat home, how many litter boxes should you have?
Why should there be one more litter box than the total number of cats?

Please read these tips for introducing new cats to a household:

• Recommendations for introducing kittens to adult cats
• Recommendations for introducing adult cats to newly adopted adult cats
• How to get cats to coexist in peace?

Each mistake you make, especially an untimely introduction that ends in a territorial fight, sets you back in your progress and prolongs the time of confinement for the new cat.