Melly Boy is an only child and as much as I would love to
have lots of cats, I understand his needs and I just don’t think he would cope
with a feline friend. He is king of the
castle and I know he would not welcome a newcomer trying to take attention away
from him.
Another one of our volunteers has 6 cats who all cohabit the
same house quite peacefully.
At Cats Protection, we are often asked to help rehome cats
when a new cat is introduced to a household and it doesn’t work out.
There are hints to why this can be a problem, when you look
at our cats ancestry. Our domestic cats
share ancestry with African Wildcats, which can still be found in North Africa
today, and these wild cats are solitary.
African Wildcats are very territorial and protect their area to ensure
that they have enough food and resources.
So, our domestic moggies can have similar behaviour,
however, in some cases they can live very well together. These cases tend to be where the cats perceive
themselves to be in the same social group, and where there are sufficient
resources to avoid competition.
So, if you have a cat or cats, and want to introduce a new
cat to the family – what do you do?
Firstly, I would think long and hard about this. Just because cats have lived together before,
doesn’t mean that they will do it again but it can work and handling the introduction of a new
cat in a managed way can mean the difference between success and failure. Cats Protection have
produced an Essential
Guide which will help talk you through the process of introduction as well
as give you some great advice on how to spot trouble, and deal with it quickly
and efficiently.
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| King of the Castle AKA Melly Boy |
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