How to introduce a new cat to a existing pet

by mark nelson
(franklin, tn)

My wife and I moved into a new home 2 months ago. Upon moving in we both noticed an older brown tabby who looked very neglected and in bad health. This brown tabby seemed to "hang out" with a grey colored short hair cat who looks to be a female and maybe a year old at best.

Recently I have not even seen the older brown tabby, I think the worst may have happened, possible untimely death due to neglect? At any rate the short grey haired cat is now coming to our porch and front door and crying and meowing, it will spend the night on our porch and then greet us. I have a hard time saying no as 3 years ago I met a cat who lived outdoors and slept under cars. We ended up asking our neighbor before we moved if we could adopt him, the neighbor said yes so we have had out male brown tabby for a few years now, we love him dearly. Our cat is also king of the house, and a very vocal cat to boot. When we interact with the gray cat on our porch our male cat gets upset and walks away and will occassionaly hiss at the other cat through the glass and swat at the window where the other cat is.

My question, is there any way to curb our cats aggression and being territorial? I want to ask our neighbor if we can adopt this cat. I dont want to ask to adopt then not be able to manage two cats in our home. Oue home has plenty of space to accomidate two cats, I am just leary of our 16lb (not fat) alpha male and the dainty grey cat?


Could you provide me some guidance with my dilemma?

Thank you so much!


Mark

Answer by mark
There is no way you can change the natural instincts and behavior of your cat but what you can do is introduce the cats to each other very slowly and over a period of weeks so that they gradually get used to the idea of the other cat being around. Please read my page about how to introduce cats to each other here is the page.

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