with my boyfriend and his male cat.? I initially felt as though i did their introductions properly, and now i am second guessing my process and want to know what i should do at this point... here's the story:
He lived with me as a kitten to about a year and a half old when i had to relocate him to my mother's house temporarily until i found a big enough place to live to give him adequate space. (i moved from a 2 bedroom to a tiny studio, and felt that he would be miserable being so confined.) he was an outside kitty at my mom's house, happily running through a big yard. after 2 years of that, i've introduced him to my new home, a 3 bedroom house with a decent size yard. me and my boyfriend just moved in with his 3 year old male cat. Both kitties are not agressive and are easy going, and i thought they should get along ok as long as i take it easy with the introductions.
boyfriend's cat was brought to the new house and was there for 3 days before i brought my cat to the new home from my mothers house. I kept my cat inside a separate room with litter box, food and water, and some furnature for him to hide in. i closed the door. boyfriends cat immediately sniffed the door. i gave them both lots of love, while separated, for about 5 hours. I then opened the door, and let them see eachother, boyfriend's cat approached my cat, and my cat hissed. i gave them both pets and treats infront of the other. I figured they should both see me give each of them pets and love so they knew they both belonged, and i love them both. then i let my cat back in his room and shut the door. he hid, and boyfriend's cat went about his day like normal. I took a week off work to make sure they both got along ok. after day 1, the morning of day 2 i left the door open, so they could both explore. I thought this would be ok since i was going to be home all day. they have seemed to get along ok. as well as i can expect. i'm not expecting perfection or anything. sometimes they seem to play, but i'm not sure if it's playing. i continue to give both attention and love. i let my cat be hidden as long as he wants. he has done well with my boyfriend as well. anyway, I was home for a week like this, and now i have been back to work for 3 days thinking everything is relatively ok, and now im worried, because i'm reading stuff on the internet that the introduction process should have been much slower. like, they should have been completely separated for a whole week! i only let it be 5 hours! i'm hoping i didn't screw up their meeting too horribly. my cat pee'd the bed last night, and i'm concerned maybe the other cat has been terrorizing her during the night? while we're sleeping? and now i'm worried about if things are not going ok while i'm at work... I really want to do everything right to help both kitties get along ok and not be stressed. I'm thinking i will go back to keeping my cat locked in her room during the day. but i'm hoping i haven't made things start off badly by letting them be alone these few days. what does everyone think? any suggestions now that it's been a week and a half? is the damage done?
unfortunately him going back to my mother's is not an option, since because of a medical condition, he can no longer be an outside-only kitty. so some ideas would be more than welcome, thank you!
they both have been neutered years ago, and have their shots. both have lived with other pets before.
He lived with me as a kitten to about a year and a half old when i had to relocate him to my mother's house temporarily until i found a big enough place to live to give him adequate space. (i moved from a 2 bedroom to a tiny studio, and felt that he would be miserable being so confined.) he was an outside kitty at my mom's house, happily running through a big yard. after 2 years of that, i've introduced him to my new home, a 3 bedroom house with a decent size yard. me and my boyfriend just moved in with his 3 year old male cat. Both kitties are not agressive and are easy going, and i thought they should get along ok as long as i take it easy with the introductions.
boyfriend's cat was brought to the new house and was there for 3 days before i brought my cat to the new home from my mothers house. I kept my cat inside a separate room with litter box, food and water, and some furnature for him to hide in. i closed the door. boyfriends cat immediately sniffed the door. i gave them both lots of love, while separated, for about 5 hours. I then opened the door, and let them see eachother, boyfriend's cat approached my cat, and my cat hissed. i gave them both pets and treats infront of the other. I figured they should both see me give each of them pets and love so they knew they both belonged, and i love them both. then i let my cat back in his room and shut the door. he hid, and boyfriend's cat went about his day like normal. I took a week off work to make sure they both got along ok. after day 1, the morning of day 2 i left the door open, so they could both explore. I thought this would be ok since i was going to be home all day. they have seemed to get along ok. as well as i can expect. i'm not expecting perfection or anything. sometimes they seem to play, but i'm not sure if it's playing. i continue to give both attention and love. i let my cat be hidden as long as he wants. he has done well with my boyfriend as well. anyway, I was home for a week like this, and now i have been back to work for 3 days thinking everything is relatively ok, and now im worried, because i'm reading stuff on the internet that the introduction process should have been much slower. like, they should have been completely separated for a whole week! i only let it be 5 hours! i'm hoping i didn't screw up their meeting too horribly. my cat pee'd the bed last night, and i'm concerned maybe the other cat has been terrorizing her during the night? while we're sleeping? and now i'm worried about if things are not going ok while i'm at work... I really want to do everything right to help both kitties get along ok and not be stressed. I'm thinking i will go back to keeping my cat locked in her room during the day. but i'm hoping i haven't made things start off badly by letting them be alone these few days. what does everyone think? any suggestions now that it's been a week and a half? is the damage done?
unfortunately him going back to my mother's is not an option, since because of a medical condition, he can no longer be an outside-only kitty. so some ideas would be more than welcome, thank you!
they both have been neutered years ago, and have their shots. both have lived with other pets before.