On 4/4/00 I was just given an beautiful 3 yo Maine Coon spayed female. She has never been around other cats and I was wondering what is the best way to introduce her to my 6 yo DMS spayed female to prevent too much fur from flying. She is shut in my bedroom for now to help her adjust to me. Of course she was very frightened at first but is now coming out from under the bed to greet me when I come in the room. Should I wait a few more days or would the sooner the better I introduce them be the best way to handle it. Any input will be greatly appreciated.

-- Anonymous, April 06, 2000

Answers

Hi Sandy, I recently brought a 7 yr old female and a 4 mo. old male Maine Coon in to my home that includes 2 14 yr old DLH females. I confined the MC's to my bedroom the first week, then I moved them to another room for a couple of hours and allowed the resident cats to come in and sniff around. Then, I put the MC's back into my bedroom so they could sniff where the other cats had been. Then I allowed them access to the rest of the house by just leaving the bedroom door open - letting them take their time (all of this under watchful supervision). I continued to confine the MC's at night for another week or so.

The initial meeting of all the cats actually went quite well. There was the obligitory hissing to establish territory and hierarchy but other than that, no cat fights (other than the occasional swat at the kitten to keep him in line ). As I type this, three of the four are draped in various locations around the computer.

I guess the best advice is to allow them to meet and greet on their own terms. If you try to intervene you're only delaying the creation of the "pecking order".

Good luck!

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2000

Thanks. I'm doing just about the same thing. My older cat and the Maine Coon met this past week-end. They just sat about 4 ft. away from each other and stared. So far so good. Thanks for the input

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

We have a 1 year old Maine Coon that we got in January. He is an extremely social and friendly clown of a fellow. We were worried that he was lonely during the day, so 2 weeks ago, we got a 9 month old female Maine Coon look-alike from the local cat rescue society.

We were ready to keep them separate for awhile, but the minute Whisper's foster mother brought her over, Bear (my boy) jumped on top of the carrier. We opened it up, and within half an hour they were socializing. There was some hissing and growling, and a little agression on his part, but nothing major.

Within a week, most territorial issues were worked out. At this point, they get along really well and are only trying to figure out how to wrestle while respecting Whisper's "boundaries". I am sure the fact that they are still quite young and that the new cat was a younger female helped make the process easier.

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2000