We are down to the last post in our Life With a Coon series. In this series, we talked about integrating your Maine Coon cat to your home situation or helping your Maine Coon cat adapt to your life changes.
In the first post of the series, we talked about how to introduce a Maine Coon cat to your household with a baby. Introducing your new baby to your resident Maine Coon is the topic of post #2. How to introduce a Maine Coon cat to your resident pets is the focus of the third post in the series. For our last topic, we will talk about how to introduce a new pet, either a dog or another cat to your resident Maine Coon cat.
Cats are territorial
In the previous posts, we have touched on cats being territorial. Once a cat has settled in your home, it establishes its territory. Everything becomes part of its routine. Your cat would know every sound, every scent. Your home, your cat’s territory, becomes its safe place. It is where your cat can sleep soundly belly up; very open because it knows that it is certainly safe.
How should I introduce a new pet to my Maine Coon cat?
Maine Coon cats are a very friendly breed of cats. They don’t mind company at all. They enjoy being playful with humans as well as other pets. Having said that, of course, there will still be a period of adjustment for Maine Coon when you try to introduce a new pet. Preparing your Maine Coon cat for the arrival of your new pet will help in making it as secure as possible.
Changes
Bringing home a new pet will bring about changes to your home. For your Maine Coon cat, these changes are an unfamiliar scent, sound and maybe unfamiliar stuff as you bring in your new pet’s needs. Try to help your Maine Coon adjust by making the change gradual and not too abrupt. There is no need to introduce your new pet to your Maine Coon cat face to face right away.
A common technique is keeping your new pet confined in just one room of the house only. As mentioned in the previous post, a good way to introduce their scents to each other is to feed at the same at opposite sides of the door. This way, your Maine Coon cat can get familiar with the scent of the new pet at a comfortable distance. Also, feeding will ensure that your Maine Coon will associate the new pet’s smell with something pleasant. You can then gradually put their dishes closer and closer until they can feed next to each other without any issues.
Meeting face to face
When they are ready to meet face to face, allow them time to familiarize themselves with each other’s scents. You may observe, especially if your new pet is also a cat, that they would be cautiously sniffing each other. This might take just a few minutes; then your Maine Coon cat might just go back to what it was doing before like grooming or napping. It might still take several days for them to be fully confident with each other. But in time, your Maine Coon cat will start feeling secure again.
Just make sure that you give your Maine Coon cat and your new pet each their own bonding time. It will make them both feel connected to you. In time, your Maine Coon cat will see your new pet as a regular member of the family. Definitely, your gentle giant will start working its charms on your new pet too!
Jenny is an ESL teacher and freelance writer. She is a work-at-home mom of two boys and a girl. She loves watching cat videos when she is on break from teaching, writing, and homeschooling her two older kids.
