Introductions

Question
We have had Victor  for 7 months he is almost a year old, he is a house cat,
my partner and I thought he was lonely so we got him a friend she is a bengal
and approximately  2 years old. Victor is not aggressive or fearful of her but
does follow her around everywhere and when he gets to close she hisses and
swipes her paw at him,  We've had her for 3 days and have already messed up
all the introductory guides as we were unaware of how difficult it would be
and just played it by ear. So they have already had faces to face gone wrong,
what do you advise we do?

Answer
Ben,

Congratulations on your new family member. The nice thing about new cat introductions is that you can do things over with great success. This will take a bit of time and patience, but it will be well worth it in the end. My recommendation would be to try a homeopathic remedy called Bach's Rescue Remedy which is a blend of flower essences that works well to calm cats and other animals down. I would suggest that you give each cat about 8 drops in fresh water each morning. You can generally find Rescue Remedy in natural health/health food stores. This remedy is very safe and has been used to treat anxiety and fear by some vets & some pet owners throughout the world. Starting over with the introductions is  a good plan. The nice thing about starting over with proper introductions is that this is at a fairly early stage. I would highly recommend having the cats sterilized if they aren't spayed or neutered yet as this can certainly increase the potential for more extreme territorial behavior. Cats are quite territorial so they will often become anxious, fearful or aggressive with one another. I would also recommend that you place the new cat into a room behind a closed door for a period of 2-3 weeks with all of the usual kitty necessities. You may need to keep these guys apart for slightly longer if they don't settle. You can feed the cats on opposite sides of the door from one another as this will help to gradually introduce the new cat to your resident cat. It's not a bad idea to use a hand towel and rub your new kitty down, then your resident cat and to the new kitty again daily. The whole point of doing this is that it allows each cat to become accustomed to the scent of the other. It is very important that the new kitty is given lots of attention by the human family members while the new kitty is isolated. Isolation provides other benefits beyond the gradual introductions. For instance the isolation period allows you & your partner to get to know your new friend and what her personality is like. Once the first few days have gone by and your new little one has become more confident in her new surroundings you will be able to get an accurate idea of essentials like eating & litter box habits. Getting to know a new cat is always tons of fun and you should be quite aware of how energetic and playful your little girl is by the time that she is comfortable enough with her new surroundings and integrating her to the household is happening. The isolation periods also allow you to place the new kitty in quarantine if you will. There are a number of very serious chronic health issues like feline leukemia and FIV which resemble HIV and AIDS in people, but you may not know whether or not a new cat has been exposed to or tested for these serious conditions. These illnesses can be passed from cat to cat so sharing common food and water bowls or litter boxes and bedding shouldn't really be done prior to testing for these health problems. Cats can also have less serious health issues like conjunctivitis or an upper respiratory infection, which are contagious and require proper vet care. Conjunctivitis can also be passed on to people if they handle the cat or eye discharge and touch their face prior to washing their hands thoroughly in hot, soapy water. Questions regarding proper new cat introductions are quite common, if you would like further details you can check out my past answers on the subject. I hope that you have found this information helpful. If you have any further questions, concerns, or you would simply like to send an update or some pictures my way, please don't hesitate to contact me again.