Excited but Confused :(

Hey all

Glad to find this site and comes at a time I need it the most lol.

I am from India and have been a cat lover since a few months now. But I am kinda stuck in a situation.

My first cat was a stray cat (she has been through a lot of trauma in her life as she used to defend her kittens from aggresive male cats etc until I stepped in, I wasn't a big fan of cats and animals in general until I saw her struggles right in my own vicinity and somehow, ended up falling in love with her. I got all her kittens adopted into lovely homes and after getting her spayed, she totally became a house cat.). She has been with us since July 2013 and has been the darling of the family. However, since she was a stray earlier and also our first pet, I could never manage to carry her around or discipline her and basically we all pampered her to our hearts content. 

Enter the second cat - Shadow! Shadow is an abandoned male cat - his owners had him for two years and then all of a sudden, abandoned him. Thankfully, the organization I work for, took over and we kept him in a shelter where he was rather snappy. He is neutered and vaccinated too. But he was rather snappy when we moved him to a shelter (obviously, imagine 2 years in a home and then in a shelter). However, he eventually opened up to my colleagues and then me, which resulted in me adopting him.

However, now I am faced with a situation  i.e. helping these 2 cats get along in my house. I started off exactly as per what I had read - exchanged their towels, created a safe room for the new cat i.e. Shadow, used Feliway spray and Rescue Remedy, allowed them to see each other first through a cage door and then slowly without it). The 2 cats seem to hate each other - Shadow always meows at high pitch when he sees her and she is always hissing and growling. 

Today was particularly traumatic because they went for each other full on - claws et all.

How can I control this situation? Please do let me know since I am a bit worried.

Nish

P.S. - Love the site so far. Thanks a lot to the entire admin team and members for all the effort.

Hi and welcome!

I would seprate them, in their own rooms for a few days, then start the introduction process again.. but SLOWLY. Scent exchange, then swap their rooms and more scent exchange, then eventually, slowly, letting them see each other a little at a time.

Sounds like they cannot be rushed, considering their past history.

Hey Draco,

Thanks for the reply.

I am actually in a dilemma whether these two will EVER get along considering their past history  

Hoping I can do this successfully 

Nish

I agree.  I had to do this in the last few weeks with my new cat and the existing one as my first cat had not ever been around other cats and to him this was a Martian dropping in on him.  I always made sure that the first cat was fed first and the newcomer ate shortly after that.  Treats are given in the same order.  It took some doing but they live in the same room now without a full out fight and when they play they run and chase and jump but no claws or teeth.  

I don't have anything to add to the already given good advice, but just wanted to say Hi & welcome to TCS! 

Hi!  I have a 10.5 year old which I've had since 6 weeks old and now have a 3.5 month old brought home from a kill shelter.  When I brought home the new baby she came sick with bad upper respiratory infection which my older cat got.  I had two very sick kitties, one senior, one baby.   They are still on the mend but better every day.  Anyways, I live in a little senior 2.5 room apt. so separate this and that was too much of a challenge for me.    Well needless to say, the baby taunts and flaunts the senior and the senior I've never seen have so much energy as when she chases the heck out of the baby.   Drives me bananas but they don't really hurt one another.  Then there are times the baby can lie in pretty close proximity to the senior or walk by the senior or the senior will lie there and watch baby play.  It's a challenge and I'm always yelling at the two of them and feel like I've got a couple of kids here rather than kits.   It all takes so much patience and time but oh I love the heck out of the old lady and the baby girl............whatever