A stray cat story and how to introduce a new cat to a resident kitten

[cheshirekitty]

Okay so this is my second official post here, the first being here where I introduced myself and my 3 month old kitten Ruby. Now I have a story to tell you all about my last weekend. We found a cat out in front of our house. I love cats. I went over to it. It was friendly, cuddly even. It was clean and healthy looking. No one else was on the street. My friend picked the cat up. It didn't protest or squirm or anything. She looked at it and determined it was a female. She also had an ear tattoo. This kitty started purring, it was clearly loving the attention, and to me that said clearly, I am a housecat, not an outdoor cat. So I brought Miss Kitty into my home. I gave her her own room so Ruby wouldn't disturb her or be disturbed by her. I gave her some kitten food (although I found out today that she is roughly a year and a half old, but kitten food is currently all I have) and water and put down a blanket for her to snuggle with. My own little kitten has the same N in her ear from my local SPCA, so they were the first ones I called. The branch near me was closed as it was Sunday and the one I called could not take her in to have her read for a microchip (for God only knows what reason...). So I settled down to take care of a second cat for a day until I could get her somewhere that would help me locate her original owner, if such a person existed. Ruby by now had noticed our new visitor. She didn't take kindly to the stranger, which I guess I expected, however it didn't stop me from hoping that they would miraculously get along and become fast friends. I let Miss Kitty roam around the house supervised as I felt bad keeping her locked up in a small room all by her lonesome. She began to relax, but I noticed she was limping. Looking at her front paws, the left one was definitely swollen and upon further observation I noticed she was babying it. Poor baby was hurt  

. So anyway, I just got back from the SPCA, since they are open today (Monday). She was in fact microchipped by them and they were able to track down her owner. They told me her name is Fuzzy and called the guy while I waited there. My heart sank as I realized he had answered the phone. Not because I knew I'd have to give Fuzzy back, I had always intended to. But the SPCA employee had to ask multiple times about whether this young man had lost his cat that he had adopted only last month. I saw her roll her eyes. She told him that someone had found his cat and brought her into them and if he would be able to come pick her up. He wouldn't be available for a few hours. She told him he had until close before they had to charge him for impound fees and the phone call ended. Coming back over to me, she said he didn't sound very excited to get Fuzzy back. He had told her that his roommate let Fuzzy out by accident last night, I had her since the day before so that was an outright lie and we both knew it. I remembered Fuzzy's paw and mentioned it to her. The staff at the desk then took a look and I swear everyone in the room gasped. Apparently it was worse than I had thought myself. She looked angry. She told me she was going to call back and tell the owner that she was injured and see if she could get him to surrender her. At this point I was beyond disappointed. I had been hoping to hear on the other line a very anxious individual saying, "Oh thank God, we have been looking everywhere for Fuzzy! I will be there as soon as I can to bring her back home!" Needless to say, I asked the SPCA employee to take down my information. I had too much invested into Fuzzy to see her go back to the shelter, or worse to an uncaring owner. She said she would call me if the owner did not step up.

Now I realize that this is a really long story just to get to my next point, but it was a pretty emotional event for me. I was worried about taking responsibility for Fuzzy, but even more so about what would happen to her if I didn't. I am left waiting for the phone to ring as I move onto accepting that I want to be Fuzzy's new mommy. So now I ask you, if I get that phone call and I invite Fuzzy into my family with my little Rubester, is my kitty going to pushed down from her Queen-bee pedestal by an older, bigger cat? She reigns supreme here now in this one cat household, and I like that she is able to do so, she's my princess 

. I'm not saying I need her to stay number one, but I don't want her to feel dominated over in her own home. Is it possible to introduce two cats in a way that they will feel like equals? Or does one always end up dominant to the other? 

Thanks for listening to my rant and ahead of time for any and all advice/opinions.

~CheshireKitty and Ruby   ...& Fuzzy, too!

 

[ritz]

Thank you for caring about this cat.
Here is an article about introducing cats to cats.
I don't have a lot of personal experience, but I will say this: make sure you pay LOTS of attention to Ruby. She is the resident cat, after all, and should be treated accordingly. Now, it will be up to Fuzzy and Ruby to figure out who is boss.
Good luck!