Introducing new and current cats - advice please x

[SensiblePeanut]

Hi all,

After losing one of my two fur babies in January, we've decided to adopt another rescue - it just doesn't feel right having only one.

Current cat is female, spayed, 10 months, has access to outside via cat flap. Comes and goes as she pleases but doesn't go far - only really in the garden. She toilets outside.

New cat is female, 6 months, recently spayed by the rescue. Rescue believes she will want outside access eventually, though obviously that's a way off yet. She's not with us yet as she's still recovering from surgery, so I am preparing.

I have been doing lots of reading up on introducing cats, all of which makes sense, but I am stuck on what to do about current girl (Enid) going out. I'm obviously worried about the cat flap being open and new girl finding it, but also concerned about keeping Enid in.

Any ideas? Is it just a case of Enid going back to the litter tray until new arrival is ready for the garden?

[Fluffycloudland77]

I would confine new cat to one room for a while with the tray, intros are painfully slow so hopefully by the time their friends she will be old enough to go out.

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

We lost one of our cats last August and got a new 4 month old in November, I set the cat flap so that fat cat could come in but neither him nor my new one could get out. That worked really well, Tatty is a real outdoor cat anyway so she is now comes and goes as she likes

[Toddlerteaplease]

I broke all the rules and plonked Cheddar down in her carrier In the hall. Her sister came and sniffed her and visibly relaxed. I let her out and they just got on with it. However they are both exceptionally placid cats and I knew they'd be ok. While in the rescue cheddar had lived in a house with about 15 cats and had come from a multi cat household prior to that.

[Toddlerteaplease]

This was only 10 days after Snorgs sister had died and she was quite unhappy on her own.

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

Oh yes, we just brought Tatty home and let her roam the house, Fat Cat was very lonely and they have an excellent relationship but I do realise we got lucky

[crimsonlake]

I introduced a kitten in to the life of my older cat as sadly another cat of mine had died of old age. I did this several months after the death of his companion as I too felt that he was lonely.
Despite a slow introduction he was not happy at all, infact he had an angry look on his face for a good few months. Considerig the amount of abuse he suffered from the kitten he has been very tolerant and the kitten has never come to any harm.
10 months later the kitten has calmed down hugely apart from a few daily lapses. I secretly think they will become buddy's.

[TuttiFrutti]

Can you set your cat flap to "in only"? If so, that's your problem sorted. Old cat can be let out through the front door at intervals, and is then free to come back in through the cat flap. You will need a litter tray obviously - most official advice is one per cat, but ours have managed to share from day one.

[SensiblePeanut]

Yes, setting flap to in only is a good idea, I actually hadn't thought of that!

[viccat]

A microchip catflap would be the best solution so you can set it to let Enid out and keep the new cat in. Although you should still be careful for the first 4-6 weeks at least to ensure the new cat doesn't manage to follow Enid out before she's fully settled in - tailgate, literally .

[SensiblePeanut]

Thanks everyone for your wisdom.

New cat is has come home - she's called Stevie (after the one and only Nicks), and she's super confident with humans, eating well, using the tray and generally being awesome.

Once she'd settled into the spare room, we did open the door to allow Stevie and Enid to meet, as Enid was going bananas throwing herself at the door most of the time. They now both have the run of the house (cat flap set to in only, and we're letting Enid out as she requests but she also has another tray set up).

Enid is actually being mega - very curious, but no aggression at all, cautiously approaching Stevie and staying a distance, but giving her lots of slow blinks. Not a peep from her, and she otherwise seems pretty chilled (still sleeping with us etc)

Stevie is bravely exploring the house, but hisses like mad when she comes across Enid.

We have feliway friends plugged in. I expect it to take a while, but keen to hear any tips on helping her feel OK in Enid's presence...