Introducing a new cat to my current one

Peppercorn

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Hi everyone! I'm looking for some advice about introducing a new cat into the household.

I currently have a very shy but sweet 8 month old guy who was a rescue off the streets when he was 2 months old. My issue now is that my tenant has asked if she could bring her 9 year old guy to live with us. Her cat is very sweet and completely uninterested in most things (he stayed with us for 6 months last year until she had to travel and is currently living with her parents).

I'd love to have him but I wonder what the implications could be by bringing in a much older male cat into the household when my cat is a very shy and timid boy.

I've done plenty of research regarding the right process of introducing them safely but I can't really seem to find anything that relates to our situation. Any advice or thoughts would be so great as I'm a first-time cat owner and I don't want to cause any real trauma or drama for both sweet guys.
 

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ArtNJ

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Cats under 2 years tend to be pretty adaptable. Might still take some time, but they usually adapt. However, older cats can sometimes get all bent out of shape even if the other cat is totally chill. It could go a dozen different ways, but the most likely scenario? Your cat wants to play pretty quickly, or maybe just chills out pretty quickly, but the other cat growls, hisses and defensively swats while acting stressed. It could take a while, but as long as they don't actually fight it should improve over time.

You have to follow the introduction process in the guides above and modify based on how its going.
 

She's a witch

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They don’t really seem like a good match (one kitten and one older, inactive cat), but it doesn’t mean it won’t work if you really give it time and patience. I’d however have a plan B in case any of them takes it particularly hard - would it be possible to return the older one to your tenant/her family?
 
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Peppercorn

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Thanks for your replies
Cats under 2 years tend to be pretty adaptable. Might still take some time, but they usually adapt. However, older cats can sometimes get all bent out of shape even if the other cat is totally chill. It could go a dozen different ways, but the most likely scenario? Your cat wants to play pretty quickly, or maybe just chills out pretty quickly, but the other cat growls, hisses and defensively swats while acting stressed. It could take a while, but as long as they don't actually fight it should improve over time.

You have to follow the introduction process in the guides above and modify based on how its going.
Thanks for your help! My cat (the 8 month old) is very scared/nervous of pretty much everything (bird life included). He's very content sitting on the windowsill in my bedroom or lying in the sun on my bed and will only venture out to eat or explore outside. He's definitely not interested in any other animal and will often run back to safety if another local cat will come up to him in our backyard.

Sorry I should have clarified that I'm more concerned about bringing in a confident older male who might find issues with my sweet guy.
 
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Peppercorn

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They don’t really seem like a good match (one kitten and one older, inactive cat), but it doesn’t mean it won’t work if you really give it time and patience. I’d however have a plan B in case any of them takes it particularly hard - would it be possible to return the older one to your tenant/her family?
Thanks for your reply! If anything, the older boy is much more active and social than my young cat who is pretty much scared/timid of a lot and loves to just chill out in my bedroom.
 

ArtNJ

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Sorry I should have clarified that I'm more concerned about bringing in a confident older male who might find issues with my sweet guy.
Well, the fact that he won't try and play with the older cat is helpful. He probably will get growled at by the older cat for at least a week or two despite the fact that the older one is sweet.

I think She's a witch She's a witch made an excellent point: any time you have a high anxiety cat involved in an introduction process, or with any high difficulty introduction, its important to know you have a bail out option. If your cat starts not using the litter box, hiding all day and not eating, of if the older cat gets violent (which I know seems unlikely to you), what is the solution?

DONT attach too much significance to the fact the older cat is inactive and sweet. Thats relevant, sure. However, the only thing that really predicts how a cat will act with stranger cats is if they have recently been involved in other introductions. My mother in law's cat was plump and inactive, and it was crazy hissy when we tried to adopt it after she passed.

Extremely bad results from an introduction process are rare. However, when you have a high anxiety cat going into the process, the odds of a bad result do go up some. That doesn't mean don't do it, but it does mean having a bail out option is useful.
 
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