Adopting a rescue: tips for intro to existing cat!

[BotBotticelli]

Very sadly recently my little boy cat Joe died of a heart condition age 18 months. He left behind his brother from the same litter, Marmalade, that we love very much.

We always wanted 2 cats though and the house feels incomplete somehow with just one now!

I have seen this lovey lady at the local rescue centre - aged two, has had one litter of kittens but now been neutered. Met her tonight at her foster home. She is lovely and friendly and playful and if I didn’t already have a cat I would snap her up.

I am just worried about the practicalities of introducing her to Marmalade...any tips? How doable is it? Please can I have your success stories of adding to your brood of cats!

Photo for attention. She’s currently called Rogue which I don’t think is pretty enough for her st all. So name ideas appreciated too...(I like Rose but DH says we can’t as our neighbour is called Rosie and I can’t be shouting ROOOSIEEE doen the garden - fair point I guess).

I just plonked my new cat down in her carrier and the existing cat Magic, came to sniff her and I saw her visibly relax. And that was that. They get on much better than she ever did with her own sister. And Magic is extremely protective of Cheddar.
However I'd had other Persians in the house before while being short term fostered and knew she'd be ok. (One of the fosterers didn't want to stay in the spare room and there was no problem)

She's gorgeous but yes Rogue is not her name!

I have done this twice.

Start by preparing a room for New Cat to settle into, ideally a room that Existing Cat doesn't often use. Initially, you should keep them separated for the first few days, but keep swapping their bedding about so they will start to learn each other's scent.

Plug a Feliway adaptor into the area they will both be using.

Start with brief, supervised introductions where you simply let them see each other - intervene and separate at any sign of hostility.

Then, gradually make the periods where they can mingle longer, again standing by if it looks like a fight will break out. You keep extending these periods until they seem fine together in the longer term - you might want to keep them separated when you're not around until you're certain they will be OK.

Some little spats are normal, but what you need to avoid is a full-on fight in the early stages, which will put them off each other completely.

If you like flower names, how about Poppy?

Posie?

She's gorgeous! Surely named after Rogue from the X-Men with that white streak?