I believe we have a number of cat-knowledgeable people on these boards, so in your opinions, what is the best way to introduce two cats to each other? My fiance has a 4 year old spayed female, and I have a 3 year old spayed female, and when we get married next August, they’re going to have to get used to each other. Would it be better for us to introduce them for a couple of days at a time throughout the next year to get them used to eac other, or just throw them in together when we get married? (Both cats are pretty easygoing.)
Shoot one.
Had this problem when my sister decided she wanted a new kitty. Although one was spayed and one wasn’t. Original kitty (who we will call O from now on) was used to being queen around the place. Well new kitty (who we will call N) comes in and disturbs O’s vibes. From the beginning O would just whack the holy snot out of N whenever she came close. Eventually it was just growling kinda noise. Soon she just kinda looked at her and was like “what? you expect me to do something?”. Finally they just got along and were cool with each other. That was until N had her kittens and O took off like a bat outta hell (haven’t seen N for about 2 months now). Although you won’t have that problem.
So yeah I guess the best way to go about it would be to bring them in the same house. That way they can get used to each others smell, but keep them in different rooms. Eventually open up the doors to those rooms so they can mingle at their own pace. Eventually they’ll get to where being around each other isn’t a problem. Hope it works for you!
Introduce them to each other while you observe them for a while. If all they do is hide from each other and they don’t try to attack each other, just give them separate litter pans and food/water bowls at opposite ends of the house so they can avoid each other until they’re used to each other.
Cats are loners by nature and don’t take well to being thrown in with others all at once. They’ll get acquainted at their own pace if you don’t try to force the issue.
I recommend that you set them at opposite sides of the table while serving tea and scones. Make sure to have plenty of milk handy, and be prepared to broker conversation while helping them sniff each other’s asses.
Sigh.
It’s politics. They’ll work it out.
It is supposed to help to pet cat A and then cat B then A again to get them used to the other guy’s scent.
Make one the main course, and the other a delightfully whimsical side dish.
Man, I wish I knew who some of these people were!
It’s been two years since my wife brought home a kitten for our daughter, and our older cat still hisses and growls at the younger whenever the two come within 5 feet of one another. Which actually happens quite often, as the younger cat seems to have made it her life’s work (well, after destroying all of the furniture in the house) to annoy the older one. The older one has a nervous habit (supposedly formed long ago during a short period in a flea infested house) of pulling hair out of her body in all of the areas she can reach. So she has a big mane of fur around her neck and shoulders, and very short hair that you can see through on the rest of her body (yes, she looks like a male lion). Because of that, or whatever other bizarre cat reason, she coughs up hairballs all over the place on a very regular basis. Oh, and the younger one has recently taken to pissing on the doorstep, which is great. Man I love cats.
“Mitzi, this is Twizzle.” you say to the first cat.
“Twizzle, this is Mitzi.” you say to the second cat.
“Now! Into the burlap bag! Whoever gets the bacon first, wins!”
-Rue.
I should imagine that when you finally get around to allowing them to meet directly it might be helpful if they were absolutely stuffed full of food and half dozy, maybe if its very warm too.
Do make sure that there is a defensible place for at least one to run off to.
Thanks for the input (except yours, Ginger - bad Ginger! {hey, that’s like a Far Side cartoon}). I feel more confident about bringing them together for visits now. Like carnivorousplant said, they’ll have to work it out.
(Rue DeDay, your solution would certainly get it out of their systems quickly, but I don’t think we can afford the vet bills for that. HockeyBum, I don’t have a gun, so I guess I’m stuck with having two cats. Manservant, by brokering conversation, do you mean shouting “Quit that! Max, quit trying to kill Feather. Feather, get off those drapes!” That kind of thing?)
When I was young, we had a cat, and got another one. My Dad thought it would be a good idea to give them something more stressful than jealousy to think about, so we threw them both in the lake. The idea was, while they were freaking about being wet, they’d get used to one another’s presence, and not fight. (Do you think Dad was happy about having the cats?)
Don’t try this.
Add a Great Dane puppy to the equation. The cats will bond famously. 
Put them in Thunderdome.
“Two cat enter, one cat leave! Two cat enter, one cat leave!”
That’s a myth. There are many instances of feral cats living in large, well structured social groups. Semi-wild barn cats often hang out together. Sorry, no cite. (Bad poster! No catnip for you!) A group of domestic cats is called a clowder.
Bwahahahaha!!!
I have five cats. My grand method of introduction? I dump the new cat on the floor. It’s always worked for me.
While I dearly wish I was in the same league with some of the responders to this thread, who have helpfully cleared my lungs for me, I am afraid I am not- just plain old person with a sizable clowder and side with cyndar- they will hiss, spit, fight, get along, whatever they will do, and no amount of introducing will change that-
But- over time, if they at first have problems with each other, they will lessen- animosity will die down, might take a while.
Also, i have never, ever had any cat kill any other- not even fight hard- any fighting is very quick and over fast, unless a bigger lesson is being taught- but if they both get lots of attention, plenty of food and a nice home, the fighting is minimized to almost nothing, relatively.
And the attention- It helps to lessen the breaking in period if you give both attention, loves, scratches, rubs, etc, at the same time- they see you giving this to both of their respective persons and it makes each more acceptable to the other, and they also know they aren’t being robbed of anything in the way of security- they do put it together lots faster if you do this- doesn’t mean they’ll ever be bosom buddies though, but probably they will get to be some kind of buddies over time.