Bringing In two cats to a one cat household

Question
Hi Barb, I hope you can help me.  I live in a smallish city house currently with one indoor cat who has lived here with me for all of her 3 years.  Currently, my roomates are moving out and I am looking for a new roomate, and the one I would like to choose has two cats (one male and one female) about 2-4 years old.  My question is, how to appropriately introduce them.. should I have the cats meet before deciding on having the new roomate move in, or wait until she is moved in with the cats.. and keep the two cats alone together in a room for a while... My only worry is that my cat has no concept of other animals.. and has never been around any other cats.. let alone have two new ones move in...
Hope you can help ease the transistion...
thanks!
Michelle

Answer
Hi Michelle,

I think I would have your friend come over first with her two cats.  See what happens.  Your cat might be ok with them, but I am almost positive it will take some time for them to get used to each other.  Are all the cats spayed and neutered?  If not, that is a must!  It takes time but usually works.  If your cat has a really bad reaction to her/his two cats, then I would think you might want to choose someone else.  If this roommate is the one you really want, then try this:

The best way I have found for helping cats make friends, is to help them to play together.  You can either drag a string
across the floor and let them both get used to chasing it together, or you can buy or make a fishing pole toy.  You take a 3' rod of some kind (a dowl would be good), and attach a 3' string on one end.  On the other end of the string, tie a 1" to 1-1/2" square piece of denim right in the middle of the square so it kinda resembles a butterfly.  Then just play with them, flipping the string around and watch them chase it (letting them get it about every other time, taking turns).  They will probably hiss and spit at each other for awhile, but if you do this a couple or more times a day, for a few days, you will have them being friends in time.  It has always worked for me. If you can get them to play together that way, there will be less hissing and growling, but there is always going to be some of that.  

I moved in with my roommate two months ago, she has one cat, I have two.  They still play-fight and growl, but for the most part, they co-exist just fine.  If you find your cat hiding out most of the time, then this would be an indication that the addition of two cats in her life is not going to be good..... then you can make a decision whether to keep her in that situation or not. Good luck!!  I hope this helps ....  please write again if you have further questions.  Hugs, Barb