Need your help, please!!!

Hello all,
Thank you for stopping by and offering your time and help to me. I need someone to tell me how to introduce two adult cats. Here is the situation:

Cat#1, MM, is a female, 2 years old. She was raised originally by my husband, and I have been living with that cat in the past 6 months. Cat#2, GG, is a male, 4 years old. He was raised by me when I was living with my parent.

In the past week, my husband and I went back to visit my family while MM was staying at the kennel. We got back on Saturday along with GG. Since the kennel was closed on weekends, we could not pick up MM from kennel until tomorrow, which will be Monday. Therefore, GG has gotten a chance to get to know the new enviornment.

Here are my problems:
1. Our "home" is actually a one-bedroom apartment. Therefore, how can I create a safe room for GG, the new cat, as suggested by all articles on how to introduce cats to each other?
2. Since GG is already at home, how can I make sure that MM won't feel intrude when coming home to see a strange cat at her house, especially after staying at the kennel for more than a week?
3. Both GG and MM are indoor cats. Neither of them have been in close contact with a cat. So, what are the chances of them getting into a fight and causing blood shed?

I know there are tons of articles written on how to bring a new cat home and introduce the new one to the old one. However, I just don't feel the information written in these articles applicable to my situation. Hence, thanks for your help!

Jean

You can keep one in the bedroom and one in the living area for a couple of days. I know it'll be tough, but it can be done.

With my parents, when I dropped off Toes and Tailer, we kept Toes and Tailer inside and Joy and Jeff were allowed to do as they wished. Tailer found herself a hiding place and Toes acted like he owned the place (until Joy taught him a lesson). All in all it was mostly a lot of hissing and that's it. Right now Toes and Tailer are still close but Tailer hands with Jeff and Toes hangs with Joy.

Hi Jean!

Are both of the cats spayed/neutered? This would make the situation a whole lot easier for all concerned!

Even in a one bedroom apartment, you could always keep one cat in one room (bedroom or bathroom, I am thinking)with the door closed and the other cat (the one whose home it has been all along) having the run of the rest of the place. Just make sure there is access to food, water and a litterbox for both of them.

And I cannot say enough good things about Feliway. I've only used the spray, but I have heard that the plug in is ever better.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

TTMom and Mom of 10 cats,

Thank you very much for the help, and that was very fast!!!
FYI, both GG and MM are spayed and neutered. Hopefully it will like what Mom of 10 cats said, easier than I thought.

I plan to keep GG in the bedroom when MM is brought home tomorrow morning. For sure I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Thank you once again, Jean

FYI--my parents have only had trouble with Joy and Tailer occasionally spatting (but they don't fight). The boys act like each other doesn't even exist.

For what it's worth, I have 13 cats and there are never, have never been, any serious fights. There has been what I refer to as "Kitty Karate" which is more a dominance posturing thing. And occasionally one of them will be in a foul mood and smack another who's just walking by. That usually leads to a game of "Chase"

But they get along very well indeed. Best of luck to you and the kitties!!!

We used to live in a one bedroom apartment when we introduced Esper to our resident cat Russell. And it has been successful. They get along famously, so much so they do at times get up to the same mischief together.

Though I did follow the tips available in the forums. It did make things go a lot more smoothly as I understood some of what was going on in my kitties's minds.

Here's a link that summarises things nicely.

Introducing cats written by hissy

I would resort to the vanilla extract trick. Take some vanilla extract- the pure not the imitation, and dab a little under each cat's chin, and on the base of their tail. Because cats are scent driven, this makes them smell the same and be less of a threat. When cats approach they smell either the face, or the rear, so that is where the scent needs to go. It should cut down any animosity between them.

I would also recommend the feliway comfort zone plug-in it works really well!