Getting 2 cats at once with a resident cat?

[u/Jtg_Jew]

My Fiance and I are looking for some advice.

We have a 1.5 year old cat who’s recently started to grow kind of sad/agitated with how often he’s left alone while we are both at work, so we want to get him a buddy.

We originally wanted just 1 more cat but then ended up finding a pair that are both super sweet and good matches to his personality. Would it be a horrible idea to bring in 2 new cats who already have a relationship into a home with a solo cat?

They are both girls and are both around a year old, they’re not from the same littler and aren’t a “bonded pair” per say, but they come from the same cat cafe/adoption center and have known each other for about a month. According to the owners of the cafe (and what we saw on the 2 occasions we went to see them) they are good friends and enjoy playing with one another a lot.

We’ve already thought about the cost of going from 1 cat to 3 and that won’t be an issue. We’ve also considered space and will have enough room for 4 litter boxes and another cat tree or two. The only real concern at this point is how our resident cat will react.

Part of us thinks it would be beneficial to bring home 2 at once because they’ll have each other to feel more comfortable in the new environment, but there’s the flip side of that with our resident cat possibly feeling left out since these 2 already know each other.

Do you think this is a bad idea? Should we just try to get 1 cat instead of 2 at once? I want to ensure our resident cat isn’t overwhelmed and gets a friend like originally intended.

Thanks!

[u/Cat-lover21]

I don’t think it’s a bad idea at all. My parents did something similar and it went pretty well. The resident cat was older in their situation so never really was interested in becoming close friends but they were able to successfully introduce them all. I think the 2 already having a relationship helped some because there wasn’t as much pressure for introductions to go quickly. They were better able to keep entertained in a small room separated since they had each other.

I have had 3 cats growing up at same time most my childhood and they all have different relationships and still would all play together at times!

[u/Jtg_Jew → u/Cat-lover21]

Thanks for this, that’s a big help.

It will make us really sad to isolate them at first but I’m heading that’s the way to go. We’ll probably keep them in their own room for a day or two and so slow introductions. First let our resident cat and new cats eat together on either side of the door, then let them have supervised meetings and hopefully after a day or two they can all coexist.

[u/Cat-lover21 → u/Jtg_Jew]

It can take weeks or months for some cats so be prepared that it may take more time than you’re hoping. It depends on the cats but not rushing is the best way to do it!