Two or more cats in one flat
Cats are not naturally group animals the way dogs are. Multi-cat households work when there is enough of everything to go round — and "enough" means more than you think.
How many litter boxes
The widely used guideline is one box per cat, plus one. Two cats, three boxes.
The reason is not volume — it is access. A cat that gets ambushed on the way to the only box will find somewhere else to go. Which is why the second half of the rule matters more than the first:
- Put them in different places. Three boxes in a row is one box as far as the cats are concerned.
- Different rooms, or at least opposite ends, so no cat can guard them all at once.
- Avoid dead ends. A box in a narrow alcove is a trap.
The same logic applies to food bowls, water and beds. Duplicate everything and spread it out.
Introducing a new cat
This takes two to four weeks done properly, and the time spent is what prevents a relationship that never recovers. The order matters; do not skip ahead because it seems to be going well.
- Days 1–3: separate rooms, no contact. The new cat gets one room with everything it needs. They hear and smell each other, and nothing else.
- Days 3–5: swap scents. Swap bedding between rooms. Then swap the cats themselves — let the new cat explore the flat while the resident is in the closed room, then reverse. Neither sees the other.
- Days 5–10: feed either side of a closed door. Start with bowls far from the door and move them closer each day. You are building "the other cat means good things". If either stops eating, move the bowls back.
- Days 10+: visual contact only. Door cracked with a wedge, or a stacked baby gate. Short sessions, end them while both are still calm.
- Then: supervised together. Start with five minutes during a feed or a play session, and increase from there.
Hissing at stage 4 is normal. Sustained growling, stalking, or one cat refusing to eat means go back a stage.
When one cat bullies the other
Look for the resource being controlled — usually the litter box, a doorway, a high perch, or the food.
- Add and spread. More boxes, more bowls, more high places, more routes between rooms. Most bullying is a competition problem, and competition disappears when there is surplus.
- Break the choke points. Narrow corridors and doorways are where ambushes happen. A shelf or a cat tree gives the other cat an escape upward.
- Feed apart, in different rooms, at the same time.
- Play with the aggressor, daily, to a proper finish — a wand toy, ending with a "catch" and a meal. Redirected energy has to go somewhere.
- Never let a fight run its course to see who wins. Interrupt with a noise or a cushion between them — never your hands — and separate.
Signs it is going well
Not grooming each other — that is a high bar many cats never reach. The realistic good outcome is mutual indifference: sleeping in the same room at a distance, passing each other without tension, eating at the same time. That is success.
Covers: how many litter boxes for 2 cats, introducing new cat to resident cat, slow introduction cats separate rooms, cat aggression toward other cat