Help! New small cat, Old fat cat!

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum, but already I've read so much helpful information. Here's my problem: My BF and I adopted Mr. Bean from the humane society about 2 years ago. He is very docile, loving and calm cat. Recently both of us have been working crazy hours and have little time to spend with the beanster so it's understandable that he's a little lonley. Yesterday I decided to go out and adopt another cat, hopefully as a companion for him. She's an orange and white tabby, unspayed-not for long, and is about a year old. She's also very loving and affectionate, but skittish as well. I've kept them in seperate rooms and didn't worry too much about Mr. Bean, because he is not at all agressive. The kitty however is the one that's hissing and growling. I'm not sure what to do and how long I'm suppose to keep her in isolation for. I don't know why she's the one hissing when she's the newcomer. Help please.

If you do a search (and I think there is even a thread stuck at the top of this page) for introducing a new cat there are tons of threads here.

I would start by slowly swapping their scents with a towel or old shirt. Let the new cat out for just like 10 min at a time and use vanilla extract on their chins, base of the tail and in between their shoulder blades when they meet so they smell the same.

I agree its strange that the new cat is hissing Usually its the other way around.

Thanks Sicycat,

I've read a lot about introducing cats, recently Mr. Bean had a kitty companion and there was never any hissing between the two. a week later the kitty ran away! I know the problem is the new kitty, since she is the one hissing. I'm just a little insecure, and worried that the baby wouldn't take to our resident cat. She is confined now, and I let her out for 5 minutes every couple of hours. Mr. Bean is just curious and I think she takes it as a threat. I think this might just take longer than i realized considering their reactions to each other!

A successful introduction of a new cat to an old cat typically takes a long time --- much much longer than a day.

Please click here to read a thread on how to do a successful introduction that almost guarantees that there will be little to no aggression between the cats.

The main message is to go slow and have lots of patience!

I agree with the time, I know that it's going to take a while to get these two acquainted. The only thing I'm worried about is the new cat hissing. Mr. Bean was fine with the first kitty that ran away, they tolerated each other, I just don't know why the baby is growling at Mr. Bean, the resident cat.

The new cat is probably still scared by her new surroundings. Who knows what cards life has dealt her thus far! Until she learns to trust her new surroundings, she is going to react for a while. I agree with lotsocats about reviewing that thread and having loads of patience for a while.

You are an for taking this new baby into your life! Keep us posted on how things are going.

well my boyfriend believed that they've accepted each others scent and are ready to be introduced and left to their own demise. We left them alone for an hour and no damage done. There are spats everyonce in a while, where the resident can't just wants to play. Mr. Bean is on my lap and ToTo is on his lap. I don't know what to make of it, wondering if I should leave them to their own demise tonight. ToTo is not shy at all and is having a great time exploring the house, I feel too bad keeping her isolated.

they're eating together in the same kitchen, so I take it as a good sign, not to mention taking turns eating out of each other's bowls Fingers Crossed.

Wish they would be friends! My two babies are on again off again fighting/playing. Who knows anymore. I think LuLu is too playful and energetic for Mr. Bean. At least they're tolerating each other, until one of them chases a tail, and out comes the hissing and growling. Not sure if I should take this as a good sign.......? *sigh*

I'm confused, is the new kitty named LuLu or ToTo Mr. Bean is your resident cat?

My cats play fight all the time. They will go from sleeping curled up together one minute, to chasing each other around the house and wrestling the next. It's perfectly normal, unless the cats are REALLY growling, hissing, spitting and/or blood. Zoey hissed a lot at first (resident cat) when I brought Saki home. She still growles when Saki plays with her tail. Its just going to take time!

Oops, her name was toto first, but it didn't suit her quite well, so LuLu it is. I figure, if they can sleep on the same couch, opposites sides, at least they can tolerate each other. They're always going after each others tails though and that's when the baby starts hissing and growling. She has a little bit of an agreesive issue, but i think it's because she's still a kitten (1 year) Hopefully she'll calm down, otherwise she's the sweetest baby girl. She growls whenever her belly is touched, i'm assuming this is normal behaviour for females. correct me if i'm wrong.

Zoey bites me and rabbit kicks if I touch her belly She's a girl.. other than that she's the sweetest cat.. very affectionate.

Another chapter to this soap opera.............well here goes, when I came home today I saw the two, Beany and LuLu sleeping together on the couch. I was soooo happy to see that, and my fears were calmed. Tonight however, I heard them playing in the hall as usual the hissing and tumbling and I never paid any mind to it. Then Beany came out and sat on the sofa with me and I noticed he was wincing/winking. I kept an eye on him and realized the little kitty had bit him on the eye. There was no cut thankfully, but now I'm soo afraid Mr. Bean has been hurt. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if the swelling is going down, not sure what to do. I just hope she doesn't keep playing like this, I love the beanster too much!

Yeah my two get rough too. Watch that eye closely.. if he's still winking tomorrow, I'd take him to the vet. He could have his cornea scratched and that's not good.

Mr. Bean is on his way to the vet right now. My fingers are crossed, I hope his cornea didn't get scratched. My poor baby beany, he's acting normal, but so many tears are coming out. My heart is going out to him. I locked lulu up last night to keep them seperated, I don't know anymore.............

Don't panic! If they were sleeping together after living together for only a few days, then they will be fine! The little one simply needs to learn the rules of how to behave with another cat. Mr. Bean will be able to teach the little one as time goes by.

It has been only a few days since they were introduced and the eye-event was clearly an accident, so I wouldn't worry. Just give them more time and give them lots of attention and rewards whenever they spend peaceful time together. Everything will be okay. I promise!

Thanks for your words of encouragement Sicy and Lotso, I really appreciate it. I brought back Beany from the vet, and indeed his cornea has been scratched. The cut is only got through the second layer so thank heavens for now. I have to bring him back on Saturday. They say there's a chance it can worsen, but for now they gave me eyedrops. As for LuLu, she's got reign of the house now that Beanster's gone in hiding in my bedroom. This is too traumatic for me, can you imagine the cat?!

I'm going through the same thing. I have a new 1 year old female (Lindy) 6.5lbs. Bella my resident cat 1 year old and 9lbs plays extremely ruff with Lindy. Its been about 6 weeks. They never play with toys only play fight and usually escalates to chasing and Lindy disappearing somewhere. Bella won't lay next to Lindy either. I've seen Lindy try to lick Bella but Bella wants no part of it. They don't hiss. Have they warmed up as much as there going to warm up to each other or will this take more time? How do I know if Bella's picking on Lindy too much. She seems a little down lately compared to when she came. I do have a vet appointment Saturday for a microchip and will have her checked out then. But will Bella's behavior ever get better?

Dont give up!! It's very hard at first to deal with this but as the little one gets older things will settle down.

Keep us updated on Mr. Bean's condition.

Things are all quiet at the front. Mr. Bean is resting in our bedroom now, very lethargic, which is understandable given the amount of pain hes in. The little one misses him very much, LOL, she was so excited to see him today, (i seperated them the whole day just to make sure his eye doesn't get worse.) I have to take him to the vet on the weekend, but by the looks of it, the swelling hasn't gone down, and he still hs that eye closed. Very worried, Beany Boy doesn't handle trauma too well, we've kept him very sheltered from the outside world. It's soo hard to stay mad at LuLu, she's sooo sweet and all she wants to do is cuddle, funny how quickly she could turn into a demon, ahhhhhhhh the joys of kittenhood.