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HELP! Moving 2 Older Cats in Together...

becauseyourock May 03, 2004 07:17 AM

Hello, I'm hoping someone here can give me some advice. I've always had a cat (only one) at different points in my life, and sometimes they lived with dogs, but I've never had two cats living together.

My problem lies herein: I have a rescue kitty who I adopted about 1.5 yrs ago. She is 2.5 yrs old, and very very playful, as if she is still a kitten. She is also incredibly loveable and needy, and wants to be pet/cuddled ALL the time. She is very much an indoor cat and has never even laid eyes on another cat before (as long as I've had her). She has however, lived with 2 small dogs who used to try to attack her, but she was good at either running away or fighting back. I refuse to pass her along again, but I'm moving in with a roomate who has another cat.
This other cat is on the opposite side of the spectrum. She is 8 years old, is not very friendly, hisses at people a lot, and is very much an outdoor cat. She fights neighborhood cats all the time, and comes home with battle wounds. She isn't very nice to people, let alone other cats.
Is there ANY way to make this work? I am so scared for my poor kitty getting hurt and being too stressed out to handle it. Please please please if you have any advice for how to make them tolerate each other (they haven't met yet, and we aren't moving for a couple of months) let me know. Should we introduce them now? Also, we are all moving into a brand new home, so neither cat will feel that it is already their home. I don't know if this helps or hurts the situtation.

HELP!
Thanks,
Jen

Replies (1)

PHMadameAlto May 03, 2004 05:03 PM

Because the other cat is an outdoor cat, rather than having them ever meet (the outdoor one will bring in all sorts of diseases to your cat), can you think of a way to keep your cat confined to one portion of the house? This would truly be for the best.

If not, then you'll at least have to confine her to separate them for at least a month or two. Meanwhile get some Comfort Zone plug-ins with Feliway. This may help calm the situation and defuse some problems before they start.

At this point, start exchanging towels that have been rubbed on the cats so they can get used to each other's smell. Don't introduce them beforehand, but do have one cat go through the house alone, then the other. Probably let your cat "mark" the house first by sniffing around and rubbing places.

Good luck!
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

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