Introducing a new cat to the neighbourhood cats

[justfoundout2014]

I have decided to adopt a cat on our return from holiday and am very excited - as are the dc! My last cat died a couple of years ago, having been with us for 10 years (he was a rescue), and we have since moved house. Our last cat was an inner-city cat and the population was quite transient where we were, with lots of different cats around. I never worried about putting him out and we never had any problems.

We now live in a much quieter area and there only seem to be two cats on our street. They live in the house opposite us but are usually outside. If it is true that cats have territories, theirs seems to extend to our drive, as there is often one of them on the edge of it. They are pretty fierce and can often been seen in stand-offs with passing dogs . They live with a terrier who, the owner tells me, is terrified of them!

I love watching them, but, now I'm planning a cat, I'm worried that conflict will arise. They are based at the front of our house and I am planning a cat-flap at the back, but this won't stop a cat going to the front.

Any advice or shared experiences would be great .

In my own experience, it depends on the cats.

The Lodger (my most recent non-Siamese) is a natural born leader who just seemed to acquire cat wingmen - he brought himself up on the streets and has great cat manners so although he would never back down from a fight if he had no choice in the matter, he wouldn't go looking for one. He moved in here and on his first foray outside, he made firm friends with next door's young tom: they could frequently be seen hanging out together under a tree in the garden, just enjoying the sunshine.

The Siamese are/were a different matter altogether. They seem/seemed to regard their territory as anything they could even..... think about ..... rather than just what they could traverse or see. And they didn't much like other cats anywhere on it. (That's an understatement.)

Shall you be getting a cat from a rescue? If so, you can usually find out from the rescue staff what their characters might be like and whether they're peaceable and used to other cats - or not!