Hi everyone,

I have a cat who is 6 years old, and he has lived alone with us for 5 years. We are considering adopting another rescue cat but I am a bit concerned about how current cat will react. The cat we are looking at adopting is very gentle in nature, as is my cat, but the last thing I want is to send him into a state of depression or something because he's so used to being the only cat. Naturally, I know cats are territorial (he's not a fan of other cats in the garden and will chase but that's about it, not fight) so I would expect some tension to begin with, but does it sound like a possibility?

Forgot to add, keeping them in separate rooms would be tricky. The only option would be my room, and current cat can open the door

It can be done if managed well, is it a boy your adopting or girl? Ask the rescue for a blanket from her pen, the smellier the better, then take it home and put it somewhere your boy will come across it, then judge his reaction, a sudden hiss, snarl etc = not a good idea, others ignore it = could go either way, others fuss around it, try to over scent etc = a good possibility of it going ok.

Not a perfect guide but a good indicator of how he'll react.

It's another boy, but we are actually waiting to hear back from the centre if he's still there. It's cats protection, so I imagine they will be good at advice on this? Just wanted a heads up first

They should be good, but it's never easy to home two adult males (or females) together. Not impossible if both as neutered and calm in nature, but it needs to be done right, so make sure you get thier support to do it.

It's not impossible and it's not always traumatic. I've just introduced a slightly hyperactive 3 month old girl kitten to my two 6yo boys (litter brothers). At first they were scared of her, then intolerant, now they're ok. I'm sure one of the boys actually plays with her if he thinks we're not looking. Trust your knowledge on the nature of your cat. I knew my two would be ok as the last place we lived had many neighbourhood cats, a couple of which they even allowed into the house!

Your attitude to them both will help your current cat too. Whilst my two now tolerate the new one, they still hiss at the strays in my garden. They know who they have to live with and who they don't

IMO it's easier to introduce (neutered) boys than girls. Boys tend to be pretty dumb about most things. Girls are a grumpier far more intelligent matter all together!

We do have a lot of neighbourhood cats, one very dominant one in particular that likes to wander into our house if the back door is open! My cat will sometimes hide from it and sometimes have a go at chasing it out. This is why I think getting a gentle cat is best, like himself, however I still don't want him to feel threatened/scared and hide away like he sometimes does with the neighbour's cat. A large part of me thinks this is down to the very confident nature of this cat though.

Definitely - there were a couple of cats that my two couldn't bear to have in their airspace! As long as you're confident that the attitudes of both cats are similar, you'll be ok.

Ok we went to opposite extremes and have got a female kitten. So far so good (we think), he has had a good sniff of her and is generally a bit wary but no hissing, growling or hitting from him. She had a bit of a hiss but that's it and they've been in the same room for quite a while just minding their own business.

So far so good then! As long as you don't expect them to be BFFs you'll not be disappointed. I have noticed in my situation that my two original boys are far more tolerant of other cats if they're in the house rather than outside. I've just had a stray girl neutered and so I'm keeping her in the house for a few days and so far there is peace.

He kind of backs off in slow motion whenever he sees her...

I've had cats all my life, always more than one at a time. When one has died, I've always taken on another one and I've never had any problems at all. They usually take a bit of time to get used to each other but it doesn't take long for them to adjust. Some will get on great, others will tolerate each other and there will always be a pecking order between them but I've never had any fights or problems.

What I usually do is put a room aside for the new cat. Put its bed in there, inside a big box so it has privacy and somewhere to retreat to. Give it lots of company and attention and when it has thoroughly explored that room, give it access to more of the house. In the meantime, get the other cat used to the new cat's scent by putting a blanket from its bed in another room.

Gradually introduce them to each other, but don't force them to interact. Put them together for small amounts of time at first, maybe at feeding time so they are occupied on something else, not just each other.

It won't take long, and some cats will get on fine straight away and you might be worrying for nothing.

Thanks for that madmoo, your advice sounds a lot like what I am doing. I'm now finding it hard to tell if my 6 yr old cat is attempting to play with the kitten or if he's trying to attack her! The kitten goes to grab his tail etc. He will sit on the same sofa as her sometimes which makes me think he must be tolerating her to an extent.

We've introduced new kittens to older cats on a couple of occasions, it always involved hissing, spitting, swiping and each trying to find / defend their place in the family hierarchy, but generally they (eventually) sort it out between themselves. If my wife had her way we'd never have got another cat because she was scared of the older cats killing the kittens, but it's never been an insurmountable problem.