Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HI, folks,

I need your advice...

Luna needs a friend. Once I get over the hurdle of convincing my landlord that I should have two cats, I have to figure out how to introduce them in my very small apartment. I have only one bathroom, tiny, where Luna's litterbox and food-water bowls and the only door in the entire apartment is between the bathroom and the bedroom, where Luna sleeps with me. If I put the new cat in the bathroom, Luna's most personal needs will be interrupted; if I put the new cat in the bedroom, Luna will not have access to me. She would never put up with that!

Any ideas on alternatives to isolating in a separate room? I know that is the preferred way.

I think I can figure out where to put another litterbox and set of food bowls once they are introduced.

Thanks

You may have to move your resident kitty's litterbox and dishes out of the bathroom for a while and let the newcomer have that as his/her place. Hopefully it will only be temporary!
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

Thanks for the confirmation. I was thinking that might be the way to do it but thought it might be too disruptive. Should I move Luna's box and bowls a few inches at a time until they are in their new spot? (I have lots of time. If I get the new cat it won't be until after Thanksgiving.) I figure it might be best if Luna's stuff eventually lands in my bedroom, that way, as the resident cat, she will still feel she is in my presence while the newbie gets adjusted.

Do I really need *three* litter boxes? All the books say that you should have one extra litter box per cat. Heck, I do not even have room for the second litterbox; I will be putting in a chair mat over the rug in my bedroom, as it is. I have friends who only have ONE litterbox for two cats - but that seems like an invitation to soiling outside the box - EW!

Lisa

I live in a tiny studio apartment .... when I adopted Justin (an adult male fixed cat), he showed that he was a bit of a bully. Before Cathy could truly assert her TUDE, I did not realize that you should not put both LBs close enough that the more aggressive cat could close off both of them at once.
Now it is possible that Cathy would have had a bad stones episode anyway ... she had had cystitis before Justin, and her family tree included a male littermate who developed struvite crystals that caused him to be blocked (he was successfully treated for that). But I mistakenly put the two LBs close to each other at first, only to have her develop a very bad stones episode that ended up needing surgery. I do believe that Justin harassed Cathy enough that she held off using the LB and precipitated stones as a result (Cats were also eating dry fud at that time; have been converted to eating canned fud since her surgery last summer).
So now I have the two LBs at opposite ends of the apartment ... even though one of them is in the main room next to the HSCB. OK, that's my experience, FWIW. Faye