Ted, Sarah. Sarah, Ted.
I have roughly a month until the momentous move up town to KF's apartment. In the last few days we discovered Sarah, that the cat KF has been cat-sitting (just like last year) was probably going to be staying on as a permanent feature. This was going to be an issue.Sarah is an older cat, probably 5 or 6, and very very set in her ways. She also doesn't deal well with change. When her owner brought her for this last stay she spent a week or two under the bed, unwilling to come out and face the world even though she should have been familiar with the space, and the situation. Even minor changes like moving a piece of furniture is not very well received. She's been a single cat her whole life and isn't completely socialized we think.
Ted on the other hand is young, frisky, rambunctious, and pretty accepting of his situation. When we first picked him up off the streets and brought him into my apartment he blended in without really batting an eye. He was just happy to be somewhere warm and fed.So, knowing that there were bigger changes ahead, furniture being rearranged, new furniture being brought in we decided that it might be a good idea to bring Ted over early since he was likely going to be the biggest and hardest issue for Sarah to overcome. We expected the worst frankly. Sarah can be a vocal cat, and is occasionally aggressive about letting you know what she wants. We were expecting either a big fight, or Sarah running and hiding under the bed for the next month.
What we've actually gotten has been a sort of uncomfortable Cold War. The two of them have done a little dance all day circling the perimeters of rooms watching each other and intermittently letting out a half hearted hiss, but nothing dramatic. Sarah has simply watched from a distant corner or from behind a chair or a door while Ted has sniffed and explored his new home, under the beds, in the cabinets, behind all the furniture, that sort of thing. Ted, as expected has settled in and just wants to know where all the new play spots are. Sarah is a bit more apprehensive about the whole thing.
I will freely admit that Ted has made some... passive aggressive moves. Sitting in her litter box, (thankfully just cleaned) while she stared at him from across the floor and growled. But so far no big momentous clash between the two.We've set up two litter boxes for now, (though someday we'd prefer to get down to just one,) and we don't really know how the food situation is going to work, they are both used to being "grazers" just having a serving put out that they can nibble on all day. Whether they will eat out of the same bowl has yet to be determined.
This is so cute. As one who has integrated cats for many years, it's fun to read someone elses experiences. Currently I have a small cat that was abandoned in our garage by her mother, (her mother obviously knew Psycho was both near sighted and neurotic), and the most fun loving, I want to play with anything and anybody kind of cat. They have been together for a couple of years now, but Psycho still growls when Bear gets too close. They do co-habitate, however.
Good luck. If your kitten is young enough, you may not have much trouble.
As someone who did the same thing, twice, I gotta say, be very delicate with Sarah.
Since you and Ted have obvisouly bonded because you've have him since he was a kitten, Sarah is going to eventually resent you and the the kitten because her bond won't be as strong.
I spent 7 years with two cats that hated each other with a passion and who, even at the end, never got along.
I would wake up to horrible hissing and spitting and growling all the time.
It might help that Ted is moving into a new place and neither cat feels as if it's their apartment, so y'all might be ok.
I don't want to discourage you guys at all, but know that they may never like each other.
I think I tramitized Molly so much by bring in someone else's adult cat into my family that she's having a harder time of letting Joey into her life and routiene, but slowly I see them as getting along' it'll just take awhile.