Second Cat

Question
Hello,  

We are considering adopting another indoor cat who is in need of a good home as
her 'owner' moved out and left her with his roommate 10 months ago.  That
roommate has taken good care of her these last 10 months yet is not keen on
being responsible for her for the rest of her life so my husband and I would
like to bring her home after getting her checked at our vet's (blood and stool
tests will be done) and getting her huge claws clipped.  We don't know much
about her medical record: whether she has been spayed, vaccinated, ect.  She
seems to be a healthy three-year-old shorthaired female grey tiger with white
yet we are so distressed of 'hurting' our resident cat or the incoming cat as
both have never lived with any other animals and our resident cat cannot see
from one eye and is three times smaller in size than the other cat.

This is the story of our resident munchkin. My sister found a four-week-old half
European half Siamese on the road and brought her home to me and my husband a
year ago.  She was malnutriented, had worms and severe eye problems.  One of her
eyes is perfect now but the other eye is cloudy and is susceptible to eye
ulcers.  Due to this she needs eye drops several times a day and will continue
to do so for the rest of her life.  She has not been spayed as she is an indoor
cat and never leaves our home except every fortnight when she is taken to the
vet for her eye checkup.  She has never been vaccinated as I am unsure of their
side affects.  Our little munchkin is a wonderful little girl who has made a cat
lover out of me and has changed our lives for the better.  Both my husband and I
work and are sometimes away from home for a good twelve hours so we're sure she
must be at times lonely.

My question and ongoing worry is can these two dominant female cats live
together in peace without hurting each other?  Besides Feliway, which we are
using in both homes, can we do anything to lessen the impact of being introduced
unwillingly.  If needed both cats will be spayed and vaccinated.  Another of our
worries is will their personalities change?  I mean, we get along famously with
our cat because she in general is very sweet, gentle, playful, etc. but will
this change if we bring in this larger female into 'her' territory?  The other
cat seems sociable but I don't know much else, even though I get the feeling she
doesn't really like me for some reason.

I apologise for such a long query but I haven't had a good night's sleep tossing
and turning with worry for a while now as we'd like to provide a good home for
these two girls.

Thank you so much.  We look forward to your advice.

Best wishes,

Mirian  

Answer
Hey !

Feliway should be enough to lessen the heat between the two. Make sure you have seperate litter boxes, separate bowels, separate everything. When you introduce the new cat to the female make sure you get a some bedding from each cat and rub it on each of them so that when they sniff each other they recognize the scent. I strongly recommend that you spay both of them with their shots. The spaying shouldn't alter their behaviors at all, except they may become more joyful and playful. If you do not allow any of your cats outside I suggest that you purchase some soft claw nail caps to put on both the front and hind feet of both cats incase if they get into a fight they wont be able to damage each other with their claws.

Another thing to do to make sure that everything is going ok with them is to not show favor in one cat and not the other as this would only make things worse. Make sure that you have a lot of Feliway on hand, and make sure that you have a private place that the new cat can go without being tormented by the older cat. I hope all goes we