Advice for introducing two adult cats? Cat behavior/personality help?

[JenniferM]

My cat Macy is a 2 year old female short hair cat. I adopted her a year ago when she showed up as a stray one day, so I don't know her entire history. She is an independent type, likes to play but not too eager to cuddle.

A week ago, I adopted Winston, a 3-4 year old male Himalayan. He is a cuddly mama's-boy. He's been in his safe room for the past week.

Today I opened the door and let them interact for the first time. At first they sniffed faces then separated. Now Macy has been constantly growling, and following him around as he explores the house, going up on higher levels than him. It's been like this for the past 10 hours. I've been putting Winston back in his room every once in awhile.

Will they get better or do they need to be separated for even longer? Winston doesn't mind Macy one bit, he is trying to be friendly and go up to her, but Macy has been growling non-stop and making challenging eye contact. Is there a better way to go about doing this? Will Macy be O.K?

 

[Nikki]

let her get it all out, he is in HER house, it will take a few months, yes months, for her to accept him, let her growl and hiss all she wants, dont interfere unless she attacks him, keep him locked in the room when you are not around so nothing happens when you are gone

 

[samAnThA]

So, what's going on is that Macy is protecting her territory and owner. She doesn't understand that this new cat Winston isn't trying to steal her zone.
A good idea for getting them used to eachother is to put one cat in one room where the door has a little space under it, then put the other cat on the other side of the closed door and let them interact through smell and sound through the door...after a little while, hole the more agressive cat (Macy) in your arms while you stand in the same room as the other cat (This way your cat Macy will understand that you're not trading her out, and that you are holding HER, so you still love her.) Then slowly approach the more friendly cat (Winston) and start to kneel beside him so you are bringing Macy closer and closer to him slowly (Kind of judge how far you can go by how the cats are reacting to eachother. Keep them in seperate rooms while you are not doing this activity) Stop when they get a little feisty, and move a way for a bit, then slowly keep trying. After about fifteen or twenty minutes of this if you're not making any progress, put them in seperate rooms where they can still make contact through the door (ideally you would repeat this every day maybe once or twice per day and you will slowly get them to be comfortable with one another.) At some point when you can bring them almost so that they are touching, they will get curious. let them sniff at eachother while Macy stays in your arms until she tries to leave your arms to further explore.

 

[spirit]

territory is the thing that keeps the situation iffy. they will either find a way to respect each other or not sometimes they will play rough and you will think they are fighting. if not. a vet near you may need to check them out.