introducing 2 adult cats

Hi everyone,
I'm new here and I've been reading the forums a bit to get acquainted. One of the reasons I joined here (and read the forums) was because I recently got a second cat and am doing cat-to-cat introductions for the first time ever. I've been reading a lot about introductions, but I've found relatively little information that focuses on introducing 2 adult cats. Anyway let me explain my situation--maybe you can tell me how this is going...

My resident cat (Honzo) is a 6-year old neutered male who has lived with us as a solo cat ever since he was a kitten. Our new cat (Tomoe) is a 4-year old spayed female who we believe was abandoned. She lived with an unofficial foster mom for about a month before we adopted her. Tomoe has been with us only for about a week and a half.

We began by giving Tomoe her own bedroom as a safe room, with litter box, food, water, toys, bedding, etc. We kept her isolated in there for about a week. My husband and I would spend 1-2 hours per day quietly sitting in the room and reading until she became more comfortable being around us. After a week, I planned to begin a slow introduction process, but our resident cat (Honzo) wouldn't be part of it. He wouldn't eat anywhere near Tomoe's room, and when we attempted to swap spaces so that Tomoe could explore, he wailed because he hates being cooped up (always has). I probably should have continued trying, but instead I decided to go for supervised face-to-face time. We left the door to Tomoe's room open and allowed her to explore and to encounter Honzo naturally.

So far, after about 3 days of supervised time, they are still sleeping, eating, and using the litter box normally. However, when they encounter each other, they will usually sit and stare for a long time (although if Tomoe feels threatened she will jump at him to scare him off). They have hissed, and Honzo has growled, but they have not fought. Neither cat has touched the other, and I'm fairly confident that they are not aggressive towards each other, just uncomfortable. Tomoe is comfortable enough to eat around Honzo, but Honzo will not. For the record, Tomoe remains closed in her safe room whenever we are sleeping or out of the house.

What do you all think? Does this seem normal for 2 adult cats? I'm trying to convince myself that things are progressing OK, but my husband freaks me out sometimes because he thinks they aren't getting along well enough.

Thanks for bearing with me, as a total newbie to this whole multiple-cat thing!

For 2 adult cats it's going to take longer than a week and a half. Keep doing what you are doing, spend lots of time with your first cat so he doesn't feel neglected. Try some Feliway spray or defuser. Expensive, but worth it. It may take weeks or months for them to be comfortable around each other. Just let them go at their own pace and don't try to force them to be friends right away.

You sound lucky! If all they're doing is staring, you're way ahead of the game. The future may be very different, but for right now it's fine. Either of them may hiss, swat, etc., but as long as you're around for any 'mutual' time (when they're not in their own spaces) it should be fine. Just keep up whatever you're doing!

Right--I definitely don't expect a week and a half to be enough time, I just wanted to make sure everything seems OK to those who know! I will certainly be watching them to see how things progress. I've been telling my husband it could take a very long time for things to settle down, but when he worries about it, so do I.

Is there anything I should be watching out for? I'm trying to make sure they both keep eating and using the litter box normally, that they don't hurt each other or corner each other, and for my resident cat, watching to see if his personality changes. So far so good...but I get paranoid sometimes that I've messed everything up!

http://www.thecatsite.com/Behavior/4...cing-Cats.html
Here is a link that is very helpful that is off of TCS!!!!

So, since I last posted, things are pretty much the same. The two kitties have only been exposed to each other since Sunday. However, they have gotten into 2 fights, both (most likely) initiated by the new cat. I realize that because those fights happen, I was clearly not supervising them closely enough. So I've been keeping a closer eye on them both now, and moving in to defuse any potential situations before fights can occur. And Tomoe is still completely separated from Honzo whenever my husband and I aren't home or when we're sleeping.

I also talked to the foster mom of my new cat and found that apparently Tomoe had been aggressive around her cats. I believe that is the dynamic that's occurring here--Tomoe is initiating the fights with Honzo. He's nervous around her, even though he's easily 10 pounds bigger. I know it's still early in the introduction process, but do you have any suggestions for dealing with aggression? I'm going to buy some Feliway and see if that helps, but any other ideas or things I can do during this process?

Good Luck with all of that I hope everything works out well! Did you read the link I posted for you? That is how I introduced my cats. When I first brought Nollee home Tiger was pissed... Hissing, Growling, and Swatting... Now they are best friends! Granted that is not the case in everyone's situation but the article is worth reading! Actually the site itself has great pointers!

I did read the article, and a few others I found on this site as well! Thanks for pointing me to it. Still, any real-life experiences of dealing with aggressive cats would be appreciated. Although I've only experienced 2 fights between Tomoe and Honzo so far, I don't want to experience any more and would like to do whatever I can to help.

I've never introduced 2 cats together only dogs. But what I've heard & read it needs to be extremely slow over a period of months. Using the blanket method, keeping them separate for weeks, slowly introduce them in the same room with one cat at each end of the room, perhaps with a clear barrier, so they can only see each other. Do this for a week approx., until eventually they get closer to each other, watching their reactions before they are allowed to have contact with each other. Good luck & welcome to the forum.