New Cat in the House?

Hello Everyone!

I have one cat- a big 3 year old tabby male- who has been an 'only child' since we bought him when he was seven weeks old. We are thinking of adopting a female cat of about the same age from a local barn. She has lived with another cat her whole life, and currently lives in a horse barn, with no house access. She has recently decided she wants to be a house cat (she loves to cuddle and tries to get into the neighbours houses, scaring their cats ) and is looking for a new home.

I'm wondering if they could get along, and if the move is even worth considering. I'd love to adopt her because she may end up in a shelter if she cannot find a new home.

Both cats are fixed, but have fairly opposite personalities. My tabby had a very intense relationship with our neighbours little girl-cat before she was fixed (he mounted her many times, even though he been fixed for about a year) and has many other cat friends so he seems get along well with cats... (although he did have a series of fights with an intact tom in the area over his girl-cat friend, and won) but he doesn't like strange people...

Any suggestions or info would be a great help, i've been reading lots of threads about introducing new cats but I'm still unsure...

Thanks!

Your boy is dominant so he will probably be the one to decide whether she is okay or not. But she also sounds like she can take care of herself. I think with the proper introduction, they will be buddies.

As long as both are fixed, it wont' be too much of a problem. Males tend to accept newcomers a lot easier and faster then if the resident cat was a female.

Personally I like the males better and would adopt another younger male, but the female should work out. Just do the normal slow introductions - confine the female to her own room (bathroom/bedroom) with litter pan, food, water for a week or so.

You know to have her completely checked out by a vet before you do ANY introductions

After a few days, put her in a carrier and let them check each other out. Expect hissing and growling for awhile. When they seems calmer you go to the next step.

Put him in the room she was in and let her run around the rest of the house for an hour or two.

If everything seems ok, then let them both out together. Again, expect hissing/growling and some chasing. Don't interfer unless one is really being hurt - its mostly mouth.

Clip ALL nails before they meet face to face. And you can also do one of these when face to face.

1. Sprinkle cornstarch baby powder on both and rub in.

2. Put a dab of vanilla extract on their noses and butts.

3. Wash both in the same shampoo.

Good luck

Have you checked out the stickys in this behaviour section? Go to the one 'have a behavior problem- look here 1st.' re: Introducing new cat to old. The post is by hissy & link to Ann Miller.
Good luck, I hope they become best buddies.

Thanks for the feedback!

Well, Boots moved in tonight! She has been through a few homes so she has allready made herself at home. Tigger (our resident cat) hasn't met her yet but i can tell he's suspicious!

BTW, how does one post pictures in a thread reply? are there any tutorial type things i should read? I'm new to this site...

Thanks!

Welcome to TCS! Hope the new kitty intro goes well. Something else you can do try is swapping scents. Take several clean rags or towels, and rub the female all over. Put one of the rags under the food dish your male eats out of. Put treats out for him on another rag that smells like the female. And do the reverse for the female with the male's scent. Do the "treats out" both morning and evening for a couple of weeks. I'm sure they'll be "meeting" each other before that time is up - but it helps the kitties come to associate each other with good things.

Just make sure you give your resident kitty lots of love and extra play time during this intro process - and when they do first meet, praise them both to high heaven whenever there's no negative interaction - it'll help them understand what you want (not that they care!)

Just remember - when you do first allow them to interact, some hissing and growling is going to occur. It's normal. Just watch for the warning signs that it could get bad - tail down and very agitated, ears back and/or ridged back. The ears back is not a good thing. Keep an empty can with coins in it handy - if someone attacks, rattle it loudly - it'll startle them out of it.

And..... as to posting pictures. Most of us use an online service - I use photobucket (http://www.photobucket.com) . It's free. I upload my pics to an album there. Once they're uploaded, there are different links they provide for each picture. One is called the IMG Code - when you click on this one and copy it into a post you're writing here at TCS, the "image tags" around the link to the picture location make the picture show up in the thread once it's posted.

Hope that wasn't too complicated!

Laurie