Hey Cat People, it's ya boy, LZ. I posted here last year after poorly integrating my new kitten, Frankie, with my old man, Ash. The link to that post is below but here's a quick recap:

Both Ash and Frankie are as sweet as honey biscuits, but Frankie has unyielding, wild weasel energy that Ash does not. Also, Ash is very non confrontational, and at the time he was getting a mix of "bullying" (or Frankie biting his legs when Ash was in a spot that Frankie wanted to be in) and "horseplay" (ie Frankie playing tag with Ash without taking turns on who gets to be the prey and predator). I was at my wit's end and ready to re-home the small one but omg I'm so glad I came here and listened to you guys.

How things are now: They 2 guys are basically, well, brothers as I originally intended. And Frankie and I are best pals as well. Integration is absolutely key when you add a new pet to your single cat home.

They snuggle together at night, bathe each other, and play together. Frankie only sometimes gets too rough, but they actually take turns with tag now, with Ash melodramatically falling over with surprise when he's the "prey", even though he can obviously see and hear Frankie's sneak attacks.

Frankie still boots Ash from perches, which I don't think Ash minds as he ways preferred sleeping on the bare carpet anyway, but if I see it, I just return my oldest back to where he was and give Frankie something else to do.

So yeah, they have a wonderful dynamic together now and there's nothing but love between the three of us. Thanks everyone who shared advice back then, and thanks to everyone who read, didn't post, but still thought about us. That said, here's my quick takeaways about cat integration if it helps anyone else dealing with a similar situation.

1) Separate living areas for the original cat and the new cat.

2) Feed them near each other but with a solid barrier between each other.

3) Swap their living areas occasionally over the course of a month.

4) Allow monitored meet and greets between the 2 of increasing lengths for however long it takes.

5) Cats are as stubborns as mules so don't give up too easy!

Previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/CatAdvice/comments/j89ton/new_terrorizing_tabby_taking_toll_on_older_cat/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share