Our new addition!

[Melon2312]

We picked up our new rescue cat Ella yesterday! She’s 2 years old but tiny as she had kittens when she was very young which caused her growth to be stunted 😢.

She’s a super friendly girl and has settled in with ease, but she’s confined to the spare room at the moment as we have to slowly introduce her to our other cat Jasmine, who is 12. So far Jasmine has hissed and growled a little through the door when she realised someone was in there, but I gave her plenty of affection and treats and she’s not done it again since. Will probably let them see each other through a mesh stair gate tomorrow, fingers crossed all goes well but I’ll keep you posted as I know some of you were interested in the knowing how it went.

Pics of Ella (ginger) and Jasmine (brown)

Oh, what a little cutie 😍Jasmine looks lovely too. Hope they get on.

Two gorgeous kitties 😻 😻!
Everything crossed for some bonding in the near future!

Gorgeous! Good luck. My new arrival has also arrived today. He's met the other cat briefly.

Lovely kitties, and how special to have a ginger girl.

Hope the introductions work out.

Just did first intro through the stair gate, new cat Ella was absolutely fine, old cat Jasmine hissing and growling, but didn’t super puff herself up, and was giving her treats which she was also happily accepting so I’m taking it as a good start! Only let them see each other for a couple of minutes, taking it super slow. Fingers crossed next time she’ll be a bit calmer.

So cute 😻

Second intro though mesh gate today, more hissing and growling from resident cat. Should I keep trying through the gate until she stops hissing before letting them actually be face to face?

Yes I would.

Personally I would take a massive step back and stop letting them see each other.

Go back to the new cat on her own in a room and let them sniff each other through the door for a good week or more - until your resident girl can reliably eat there without feeling stressed and getting hissy.

Only when that happens would I let them see each other.

Resident cat seems to be ok now when the door is closed, she only hisses now when actually seeing new cat.

I feel so bad for poor new kitty being stuck in one room, she’s clearly desperate to get out, but i know it’s for the best and good for her in the long run, so not going to rush it, doesn’t stop me feeling bad though!

Stop feeling bad! If she was still in a cat rescue she would be in a single room or pen for possibly months.

And mother cats with kittens tend to be in one room for 8 weeks or so.

She'll cope just fine.

New cat will be fine 🥰

I would keep them where they can't see each other for a few days more at least - it's very early days and your new cat must be so confused. Once you've had a solid amount of time with no reaction I would start to scent swap, then build up to sight and then eventually removing the barrier altogether.

So it’s been a week now since we brought new cat home. Took a step back from meetings through the mesh for a couple of days as advised, tried again and resident cat still hissing. Starting to feel a bit disheartened and worried that she’ll never accept new cat, but do I need to give me head a wobble and just be patient?

Just be patient. Put Jasmine in a room and let Ella out for a roam.
Feed them on either side of the door to Ella’s room, and give Jasmine treats there. Try the mesh after a week.

@learieonthewildmoor do you think it might also help if I put Ella in another room temporarily and let Jasmine have a good sniff around her room?

Yes, but Jasmine may be very reluctant to go in Ella’s room. Ideally she’ll go in and have a good sniff around. I read some advice which said swap the cats’ rooms. That was not good advice for me. Cats One and Two hated being in Cat Three’s room.

It took a couple of months for Primo and Secunda to get used to Why-Is-He-here. It only took 4 days when we brought home Secunda as a kitten, but Primo was only 3.

Personally, I wouldn't get them to swap rooms - I would just scent swap with things like blankets - give them each a clean blanket to sleep on, or wipe over them, and then swap the blankets over.

Jasmine is obviously still really unsure so you need to go very slowly - it could take months for them to come to terms with each other.

Thought I’d give a little update for anyone who’s interested. So over the last couple of days we’ve started to let Ella out of her room for short periods at a time. Jasmine has hissed, growled and lashed out a bit when she gets too close for comfort, but no major incidents and Ella is being just brilliant, she seems to be trying to communicate to jasmine that she’s not a threat by sitting quietly and slow blinking at her. She only really reacted when jasmine took a swat at her.

So we’re not there yet but feeling quietly hopeful.

You can’t blame her cats are so terrotorial but she’s not moved out to the neighbours or stopped talking to you.

Hopefully she’ll accept the kitten soon.

@Melon2312 this thread is really reassuring! I was questioning whether Paddington is the right car for Penelope. But in the last grew days he's settled down a bit. She's refusing to leave her windowsill. And growls at him if he comes to close. He sat next to her last night, but although she growled at him, there was no other aggression.

I’m taking the fact that Jasmine is sitting in quite a relaxed position as a good sign, at least she’s not in ready to pounce mode, even if she is still hissing a bit

That is really good! Jasmine is reluctantly falling prey to Ella’s many charms.
What good girls.

Ella really is trying her best to charm her, she so desperately wants to be friends bless her 🥰

Aww I think they will be fine. If not bestie at least they will get along. Gorgeous girls!