HELP PLEASE: Getting 2 cats together in new house

Hi guys.

I need some help in getting 2 cats, hers and mine, together in 1 new house that the wife and I are moving into.

First some history on the cats.

Mine, named Miggie, is a 9 year old black and white female cat.
No specific breed.
She is very much an indoor cat since witnessing her sister get killed by neighbourhood dogs when she was very young. So she does go into the backyard to do her business and to chill in the sun in summer.
She is very protective over her food and to an extent me.
She has one or two spots she claims for herself.
She is spayed


The wife's, named Lila is a 2 year old black and white male cat. He's original home is the next door neighbours, however he left there and took over the wife's place.
No specific breed
He is a very submissive cat, and often lets others around him eat, before he does.
He is also very much over me
He does like to investigate the neighbourhood but not a lot like other cats.
He is spayed
Lila has had problems with other cats in the area attacking him and hurting him. He doesn't fight back, as he is very timid.


My concerns are
. Seeing that both cats are for me, I am concerned about fights.
. Lila was raised with dogs, and the new house has neighbours who have dogs. The concern is he will think they are friends and go visit them and get killed.
. How do I get Miggie and Lila to get on in the same house.
. I reckon I would have to feed them seperately.

How can I get these 2 cats together in 1 home. And the biggest concern is Lila going out to in the neighbourhood and getting hurt, if not killed?
We really want to take both cats, as they are our family.

My kitties are indoor cats so I don't speak from experience about the neighborhood dog question, but I have heard that 45degree angled fence extenders are good at keeping cats from climbing over the fence. If I'm understanding right, it sounds like you're planning to have both your cats have access to a fenced outdoor backyard area? If you think Lila would be content to just be in the backyard and not roam around the neighborhood, the angled fence may be a good investment. This would be an example: http://www.ehow.com/how_7575156_build-own-cat-fence.html

Maybe you could build a smaller fence with an angle extender and see if Lila will climb over it lol, just to test it out before you install it on your whole fencing.

There's a lot of links on this site around cat introductions that you could access. Basically, it's best if they happen very gradually and with positive associations. Assuming that they haven't met or interacted with each other yet, keep them separated in different areas of the house with the door closed, and first, do scent introductions (get items/cloth that have each cat's scent on it and put it in the same room/area as the other cat). If there's no hissing and growling when they happen upon the item with each other's scent, then start feeding them at the same time, several feet apart from each other with a closed door in between, so that they don't see each other (this would be possible to do if they have a scheduled meal time and are not solely free-fed). They'd be able to smell each other and know that another cat is close by, and the goal is to associate each other's scent with good things like food. Gradually, each day or at each meal time, if they eat their meals without hissing and growling or just running away, put their food bowls closer and closer to the closed door until they both eat together just a few feet away from each other.

Along with these meal times, you can also do some site-swapping where you place one cat in the other cat's "area" (make the swap without them seeing each other) for like an hour or more a day, or once or more a day, so that they can both explore each other's scents and living areas (and so they don't get too attached to their respective area as being their territory). Once they can tolerate eating fairly close to each other, do the same meal feeding routine but finally let them see each other by keeping the door open a crack (or by using a screen door and covering up most of it but the very bottom sliver). Then, let them see each other fully during meal times, and let them be in the same room together but one is in a carrier/crate and the other isn't (or both are in a carrier), and have supervised play times with two different toys/prey for the cats to focus on (the length of play time could be seconds or minutes depending on how the cats respond). The goal would be for the two cats to be focused on their toys and not on each other, and for the cats to eventually not be bothered at all by each other's presence while in the same room.

It may be that Lila, since he's a more timid kitty, could take a while to get his confidence up around Miggie. One cat may be ready to interact with the other before the other is ready; so, it may be good to match the introductions to the more timid cat's comfortability level/cues. Hope it all works out. Feliway diffusers have also been helpful for my kitties during their introductions to help them feel safer and less stressed.

Thanks for the patience and feedback, and sorry for the delayed response

Regards