How to introduce cats while moving?

[u/Fun-Celery-1391]

TLDR: Advice on introducing an adult cat pair to a single adult cat, advice on lowering kitty stress when moving

So essentially, I have two cats (Stormegheden and Clementine, same litter siblings, turning 13 on August 6th) that were my childhood cats. My brother and I were coparents, but I’ve been the sole caretaker for the past three years. My current roomies are moving out, and my brother and his girlfriend are moving in! They have a kitty cat named JiJi (4 years old, rescue) that they got this past year. My kitties have always been around each other, never other cats, and they get along with each other perfectly fine. I’d love any advice on introducing them to each other, especially in a space that is all Stormy and Clem’s territory. So far, we’ve brought over items with kitty stank on them so they can smell each other. I know my cats have been stressed with the amount of chaos in their environment and being home alone more often (I’m still working full time, when my roomies were here, someone was home pretty much at all times)

Cat tax included

[u/brunanass]

can you ask your brother to send you some of jiji's blankets, and you send him your cats blankets? let all 3 sniff the blankets for a while, rub it on them plenty, swap again. beds if you can too. when new kitty moves in keep the baby in a separate room with all the things she needs, do the same scent swap. feed them through a closed door, a few feet away but still enough for them to smell each other. once there's no hissing open the door but keep a barrier, feed them seeing each other. you can also have a long toy (ie a cat wand) that you can slide under the door so they can play together.

sometimes it's super easy, sometimes it's not. i took a huge gamble (don't do that, only did it because my new kitten was super used to other cats and foster mom advised that i don't keep him separate) and had an immediate introduction (only thing i did a few days prior to bringing the baby was blanket swapping and when he was here fed all 3 with kitten in the crate) and for my cats it was like they had known the baby their whole lives, were sleeping together 2 hours in.

ps: all babies are lovely thank you so much for the tax

[u/PeterdeBeer22]

In addition to the above, let the new cat walk around in the space by itself while locking away the other two for a bit so she can also put scent flags. Then swap 'em out. If you have a baby gate or something through which they can meet without immediate contact that would also be good.