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As many of you know, we added to our family earlier this summer! We added an adorable, quirky, and quick kitten to our home, which as you can imagine, was quite the transition for our spoiled big boy, Joey 2 Chainz. He’s used to ruling his domain, so when our little baby North or “Nori” showed up, it was not a pretty sight! It was actually VERY stressful on not only Joey and North, but for me and Brett as well!

I scoured the internet before picking Nori up and bringing her home, and I was able to find some help on how to first introduce them, which is always helpful! The part I didn’t see much more about was how to continue to bond them and keep a happy, safe, and clean home after the two are past hissing at each other for hours on end. I’m excited to share my experience in making them “the best of friends” and how to get your home in order for the increase in feline smells as well.

How to Bring a New Kitten Home to Your Only Cat

Start Introductions SLOWLY

When I brought my kitten home, my big guy had HUGE issues adjusting. Out usually laid back cat was all of the sudden HISSING and growling, and we felt like there would be no relief! We quickly realized that utilizing a room in our house to keep the kitten and her things in separately would allow Joey to feel free to roam, but would give Nori enough space to settle in to her new surroundings.

Don’t Play Favorites

This one is hard for me, as Joey is my baby boy! I immediately wanted to shoo North away from him every time she mad him fuss, but I quickly learned not to take sides or make one cat feel unimportant. If I was playing with one, I would then equally play with the other. If one got a snack, so did the other. When one was fed, so was the other. I think it ultimately helped show them that they would both get what they wanted,  and it didn’t matter that the other cat was getting the same thing.

Let Them Fight Small Battles

When I say Joey was mad, this was no exaggeration! He didn’t take kindly to a spry, excited kitten chasing him and his tail around the house. I knew that we had to let them have little spats in order to develop roles in the home, so we slowly let Nori come out of her room for longer periods of time, and we even let her and Joey figure out fights for themselves! It was hard not to jump in, but eventually their spats have turned into playing!

Keep their Shared Spaces Tidy

This is a big one- possibly the biggest! The main shared spaces I’m referring to are the eating areas and litter box areas. BOTH of which can be a challenge. I like to make sure both of my babes have their own food and water bowls separated. At first, it was just to put their food next to each other so they could correlate each others’ scents with something they both love: FOOD. Now, they I still give them both a bowl of each, but they eat from each other’s- they don’t care! I like to be sure to clean up around the area as to not attract bugs and to make it comfortable and clean for them!

Speaking of clean, you know what’s coming next. The ever-dreaded LITTER BOX. Having one cat using litter can be bad enough, but put another one in the mix and it’s horrible! The scents mixing can be atrocious, so the only thing I have found to keep the house fresh is cleaning the litter often. This means completely changing the litter twice a week, but in the meantime, the saving grace we have is scooping and using our Litter Genie® Cat Litter Disposal System!

If you don’t know what a Litter Genie® pail is, can you even call yourself a cat person? We found ours at Target (which is where we find everything, am I right?) and our lives have never been the same. So now, when we pick up our favorite litter, we grab some of the refill packs and are all set to stay fresh for the next few months! The clumps stay sealed for about 2 weeks, which is an awesome feat in itself! You can use it in just 3 easy steps: 1.) Scoop 2.) Open Lid 3.) Pull Handle.

Now our cats are the best of friends! You wouldn’t have gotten that response if you had asked me during their first month together, but now I can say that they are much happier to chase each other around the house playfully than they were when they first met. I think all the tips above are important, but if you take one thing from this, even if you only have one cat, it’s to grab a Litter Genie® pail. They are pretty great!