Ok little backstory, I had cat, rescued another, the first has since passed but the second (Ripley) is still here. Another cat broke into our warehouse at work and someone needs to rescue it, and the duty has fallen on me. Ripley did OK as a kitten with my other cat, but since becoming an only-cat she has had scant interactions with strays coming up to my glass door, but she tries to fight them every time lol. I think she’ll come around though.

Here’s the plan, gonna clean out my “spare” room and make the new kitten a fort in there with a freshly washed blanket, get her some toys of her own, own box and food etc. I’m gonna keep em completely separated for a couple days, then swap them for a few hours to let them explore the other’s scent, then swap back, rinse and repeat for like a week?ish? Once they start sniffing under the door and stuff I’m going to try and let them see but not touch each other (and have no clue how I’ll achieve this, any ideas would be helpful!) and then after a few of those if no hissing occurs and they seem chill, let them meet finally.

Both cats female, current resident is about 2-3, new resident is less than 1yo. Will get all the shots and spay, of course. Shots ASAP for sure, spey idk if I should wait until they’re friends?

Any tips? Sounds pretty good? Typed a little rushed on break at work, sorry, just found out I’m taking the cat lol.

  • 👍Maximum Derek👍@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    4·
    2 days ago

    We’ve had an old lady cat (Pica) since she was two who, at best, tolerated our other cat (Bob)… for 15 years. But when Bob passed and the cat distribution system found us again a few months later, we took in Laszlo and kept him in a side room. Because we were afraid Pica would hate this new 4 year old male, we kept him in a spare room for 2 full weeks.

    The first week Pica would sit outside the spare room door, occasionally sniff under it, and then hiss. By the middle of the 2nd week the hissing had stopped and she wanted in the room. When he was finally let out, they were stand-offish for quite a while but we didn’t observe any swatting or big displays of territorial or angry behavior. Then Laszlo spent several weeks inching his sleeping spot closer to hers until they were sharing a bed on the couch.

    Now Pica slightly more than tolerates Laszlo. I wouldn’t call them friends but if Bob had tried this there would have been an ugly fight. I don’t know if the super slow introduction helped or if she’s more accepting with old age, but I’m glad.