I've been housing my daughter's cat, Jack, for some time, and likely to be doing so for some time to come, but I've now been persuaded to provide a home for one of her friend's cats. Misty is 7 years old and has always lived in the same house with his brother and another cat. However, it turns out he doesn't like children, and now that the new baby has become an active toddler it became obvious that he'd have to go.

So, I now have a new cat who has taken refuge under the sofa; the catflap is taped up both sides so that he doesn't do a runner; the litter tray has been liberated from the cupboard under the stairs, and Jack seems to be hovering somewhere between curiosity and resentment.

I'll post a photo of Misty, who's a very handsome chap, when he's more than a pair of eyes shining in the darkness.

I hope Misty settles in. I like the description of Jack hovering between curiosity and resentment, I'm sure he doesn't like the cat flap being taped up, though if Misty is that nervous he probably wouldn't go near the cat flap anyway.

When I adopted my 2 young cats my elder cat was very accommodating but I made sure nothing affected his own routine. Neither of the 2 new cats knew how to use a cat flap anyway so I didn't need to lock it.

Hopefully, your two will soon be the best of friends.

First of all good for you for taking in both Misty and Jack Love the image I get in my mind from the pair of eyes shining in the darkness,lol. I'm sure he'll soon be out and about causing the usual catworld mayhem in you life and he and Jack will become the best of friends

Well, it's been just over a week since Misty joined us, and for the first three days I didn't think it was going to work out at all. He wouldn't come out from under the sofa except to make a dash across the room and hide between the back of the TV cabinet and the wall. Any attempt to pick him up, or even touch him, was met with a lot of hissing and growling. He wouldn't touch food, even some fish pushed under the sofa with him.

Anyway, I think worn down by lack of food, I managed to pick him up and plonked him on my lap. I held him there for a few minutes and he didn't struggle, but as soon as I took my hands away he went back under the furniture. I did this a couple of more times and he began to come out of his own accord and had soon found the courage to climb to the top of the stairs and peer into the bedrooms. As nothing awful happened he stopped hiding. I let him into the garden on Friday to have a look at the snow and he was quite happy to come in again after about 10 minutes. Even my daughter and her boyfriend arriving for the weekend didn't bother him, so a untaped the catflap on Saturday afternoon and he's coming and going as though he's always lived here.

At first Jack was quite happy for him to be here. After all, he stayed under the sofa and didn't eat anything. But Misty now growls at him if he gets too close, so Jack's had to be reassured and made an extra fuss of so that he doesn't get too jealous.

I love watching cat pecking orders. I know they're not strictly pack animals, but there always seems to be a "boss cat", and the others leave it alone. Our oldest cat is boss, no-one else can eat until he's had as much as he wants, although he's actually the smallest of the three.