New cat

[thatcrazyredhead]

Good morning and happy Friday! It looks like my fiancé and I will be gtting a new cat on Monday. A co-worker has one he's trying to find a loving home for by Tuesday. We already have one cat, Tessa, who is kinda spoiled and used to being the only pet. As much as I'd hate for the new cat to go to the humane society if we don't take her, I'm a little apprehensive of bringing her home. I hope they adjust to each other well, and I hope another cat doesn't make our already small apartment seem even smaller. The new cat also has claws, but Tessa does not. None of our furniture is all that nice, so if she claws a few things it's not the end of the world, but I really hope she's not agressive toward Tessa. Does anyone have any advice?

[Whiskey]

Introduce them gradually. Keep the new cat in a room separate for a few days and let them sniff each other through/under the door. Under supervision, introduce them. If they hiss and poof its just them setting ground rules. You only have to really worry if they get physical. Tessa will probably just ignore the new cat. Thats been a majority of my experiences when introducing cats.

Meet
Hiss
Poof Up
Ignore.

[thatcrazyredhead]

Thanks, Whiskey. I got an email from my co-worker with some more info, and I'm a lot more comfortable with the idea now. I'm sure they'll learn to love each other.

[Exaspera]

Tessa will want to show the lil newby who is boss, too.

[KiaKat]

Or they'll just be indifferent. Personality is a huge factor with cats. They establish pecking order, spend a few months being brats to each other, you, new people, the floor, the ceiling, the air, pretty much everything except their food. Then they settle, the Alpha is determined, and things carry on. I've only ever seen one or two incidences where the cats truly COULDN'T get along, and I think that's because they were both young males with Alpha tendencies.

Pecking order tends to be:

Unneutered male
Neutered male
Unspayed female
Spayed female

With claws or lack thereof not making much of a difference. I had a cat when I was a kid, she lived to be 14, even though she was a mostly-outdoors cat. Maybe because she'd had one litter, she was the Queen of the Neighbourhood. Never had a scratch on her, but other cats ran in fear. She'd been declawed as a kitten. Climbed trees like they were nothing, got out of trees as if she was jumping off a bed. 8lb cat, and she scared most dogs.

I miss my tough lil Puddytat.

[thatcrazyredhead]

In my experience with Tessa and other cats, she'll hide and hiss at everything that moves at first. Then she usually adjusts and will play after a day or two. I've only ever taken her to other people's houses, though. This will be our first experience bringing a foreign cat into *her* space. After talking more to my co-worker, I'm not so concerned about her being agressive toward Tessa. The new cat (Sabrina) is used to living with 3 dogs and another cat. Once she gets used to her new surroundings and the house rules, I'm sure she'll be fine. I'm getting really excited to bring her home!

[MaggieTheCat]

Of course, the pecking order can be completely reversed depending on the cats and their personalities. We have 3 cats now, the oldest being a male, the middle a female, and the youngest a 13 week old boy kitten. The older two are both fixed, and the kitten will be fixed in a couple of weeks. The female is by FAR the dominant one of the three and I think she will remain that way even as the kitten grows older. He's learned already to stay away from her when she doesn't want to be messed with. Kitten and bossy girl were the two who didn't get along at all when we got the kitten...our oldest boy loved him from the moment they met and those two have never had problems. So, yes, personality plays a huge role into how animals will get along with each other, and no two are alike!

[thatcrazyredhead]

Hiya, Bonn! Yeah, I'm here. I think Lynne told me about this place. I don't post much, but I read a lot.

[thatcrazyredhead]

Bwahahaha! Does this mean we're one step closer to taking over the world?