New older cat coming into the house

Question

I have had my current cat for about 2 years now. She is a lovely Manx.

Three months ago we moved to my parents' house where there was a small foxy, whom she was fine with but never came closer than an arm's length away from. Sometimes she would hiss at him and try to claw him. But this was very rare.

Over the time I have had her I have only been scratched once, and that was surely by accident.

She is very playful but loves to sleep all day as cats do.

We have just moved into a new larger home than we have had before, and she seems to have been fitting in nicely with no other animals around.

However, we have adopted a new cat who is about a year + older then her, and is a male. He seems nice and friendly.

What I want to know is how they might get along, and do you have any tips on introducing them to each other?

Will they use the same cat litter? Will they eat the same dry food? - I am getting them two wet food bowls. But Marshmallow (current cat) tends to take a day or two to finish one bowl of food. She isn't really a big eater.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

There's a few things you can try to get the coexisting.

1) Put one in a carrier and let the other walk around it and sniff it, then switch who is in the carrier and who is walking around.

2) Take a blanket from each of them and put it in the same space as the opposing cat. This will get them a bit used to the smell of the other.

3) There's sprays that eliminate the territorial scents from the house. Use this in the area that you plan on having them meet, as well as their own areas. When they meet, they'll be on more even ground.

I strongly suggest having multiple litter boxes and multiple plates. Though after some time they may share anyways, they shouldn't feel forced. With litter, it's important to have a couple places or a larger box anyways, as you'll now have twice the amount using them and will need to have more clean litter as to not stress them out.

My parents and I each have a cat, and one of theirs tries to attack mine whenever she sees her (they're separated otherwise). To get them more used to each other, we held my parent's cat (to make sure she can't attack, but she still has her feet on the ground) and opened the door to my cat. She likes her space, so she wandered around us and my parents cat for a bit, while their cat hissed and tried to break free, then eventually laid down and just watched. It worked well, but that's dependent on one of the cats not having a problem with the other.

Good luck!