Question:
I know that you are supposed to seperate the cats. Right now I have my oldest cat in the guest room(he loves the guest room) and I'm allowing my new kitty to explore the house. I feel so mean about leaving my oldest kitty in the room. Can anyone else share their stories on how they introduced their cats? I know my oldest cat is dominant, any suggestions will greatly be appreciated! Thanks!
Answer:
peppersmom wrote: I know that you are supposed to seperate the cats. Right now I have my oldest cat in the guest room(he loves the guest room) and I'm allowing my new kitty to explore the house. I feel so mean about leaving my oldest kitty in the room. Can anyone else share their stories on how they introduced their cats? I know my oldest cat is dominant, any suggestions will greatly be appreciated! Thanks! That's good. However, you should then set up the kitty in its own room and let the oldest have the run of the house again. Let the kitty feel protected. Don't let the oldest feel punished in any way.
They set the pace of introductions. Slowly let the kitty out to where the oldest is and see how they respond. You will soon know at what pace to extend the time and when the kitty can be let out to roam with the oldest. Sometimes it is quick, sometimes takes a while. With us, we brought the kitty home on a Saturday. Let her free on Thursday evening.
Initially the youngest would walk around exploring and the oldest about 3-4 feet behind growling. If the oldest got too close, the youngest would turn around and hiss. They would have no contact. Slowly the growling and hissing went away. We knew it was time when they were on either side of the door of the bedroom in which we were keeping the youngest, both wanting the door opened. We had already let them have longer periods together. So, on Thursday evening we opened the door. Friday they were left to roam the house together. When we got home there was no blood, no fur, no injuries. All was well. Now, they are the perfect sisters, except they play and wrestle rougher than we like.
Answer:
Ok, thank you! What little time that the 2 were together, the oldest(Pepper) followed my new kitty around very closely, and batted at him once. They both hiss. Pepper is mean! After that I put Pepper in the guest room, and I'm letting the little one explore. I haven't come up with a name for him yet...the girl that had him before named him Cuddles, but I'm not sure if I like it. He doesn't answer to it, so he isn't used to it yet. But my kitten just loves me to pieces, he follows me around, and curls up on me, he's on my lap right now! He's just too cute! I just got done spending some time with Pepper, but he just wants to sleep! I'm just scared Pepper will beat him up!
Thanks again!
Answer:
copied my post from another thread:
Study up on new cat introductions. Google on "introducing new cat" and "new cat introduction". There's a bunch of good articles available. Also try searching the forum. I think "introduction" will get the most hits (along with a bunch of irrelevant stuff, but it's worth sifting through, this topic comes up quite a bit )

Answer:
You guys are great by seperating your cats! I never did. I only seperated them the first night, I kept her in the bathroom where the litter box was so she knows where it is. By the third day when i came home from work, they were touching noses and playing with each other and the hissing and growling went down a great amount! By the end of the week they were sitting next to each other by the sliding door, and laying down within a foot of each other and rubbing each other. Both sitting by the door anxiously when I come home.
I sometimes regret not doing that because they fight a lot, but I did more research and observed them more. I understand why they are and i just have to be patient with them and work with them.
Answer:
Well, they were pawing at each other through the door all night that night. So I was home, I let Pepper out with Bandit, they just batted at each other for about a day, no hissing, a little growling every now and then, but now they are fine. I caught them sleeping with each other today! So they are fine. I'm so glad! They even have their own food bowls, and they share out of both, I tried to seperate them, but they seem to like to eat together. They show no signs of distress, anger, nothing. They eat right next to each other. It's great!