Hi all. Sorry if I sound like an over-thinker (I am lol) but my husband and I have never introduced cats before and it seems like it’s going well but would appreciate any advice/insight from more seasoned multiple cat owners.
Our resident cat (5yo neutered male) has grown up happily around cats all his life until when we rescued him last year and since then he’s been on his own and our new cat (18mo spayed female) is also reportedly good with the other cats that were with her in the rescue. They both also have incredibly kind dispositions, both super gentle and affectionate and our resident cat even adores very young children! So you can see how we were hopeful that bringing in another cat wouldn’t cause stress to him.
We did scent swapping before the new cat arrived and our resident cat was very interested in her scent and have been doing the Jackson Galaxy method of feeding through the door. They’ve only had 2 meals together and whilst they both didn’t finish it all in one go, they both were eating at the same time with their bowls right against the door.
We did a very quick treat feeding whilst looking at each other through a glass door and whilst our resident cat ate all his churro, he did hiss at her. Is this a big concern? He also hissed at her twice through the door at one point but I think that was because he was scared as it sounded like she had jumped off of her tower and landed right near the door.
It feels like it’s going really well as our resident cat isn’t obsessed with her and isn’t constantly at the door but seems a healthy amount of curious even with the occasional hissing. Our new cat doesn’t seem bothered by our resident cat at all!
Is there any advice you would give/insight into our situation as to whether there are some red flags that my husband and I aren’t seeing? We’re still planning on taking things suuuuper slowly and not even considering letting them in the same room until at least 3 weeks from now. Our cats are our lives and we just want them to be as happy as possible!