Any tips for bringing in new cat?

ok, so my mom was looking online at a classified section on her school website. there is a two year old female cat declawed for FREE to a good home. they are moving and for some reason not able to take her. so my mom is going to look into it tomorrow. at home we already have a 6 year old female gray tabby named laci. we have never brought another cat into our home with a cat we already have. any advice? will laci be mad at us? thank you for any help oh and a side note: this is only a possibility, not a definite thing. so it might not happen. (but i really hope it does!! )

 

keep the new cat isolated for up to 10 days. A couple of reasons for this
#1 to be sure she's eating and using her litterbox
#2 to make sure she doesn't have any contagious illnesses that can be shared with the existing cat
#3 best to keep her isolated until after an initial vet exam, fecal exam (parasites can be shared via litterbox) and up to date on ALL vaccines.
Then start to slowly, ever so slowly, introduce the 2.
I use treats and toys to distract cats when they are being introduced. That way they are concentrating on the toys and treats rather than each other and they start to see their meetings as something fun rather than threatening.
I do not leave the newbies along with my existing cats until I am 100% positive everyone is going to get along okay.
You can set the stage for their future relationship by taking it slowly and cautiously. If their relationship starts out tense it'll probably remain tense.
I've fostered over 50 cats so far and only have a problem now and then and usually it's with a foster who simply wants to be an only cat.
Just take it slow

 

ok, thanks so much!!! ill post if we do end up getting the cat or not. Thanks again!

 

Great advice by the moderator. I will add one more thing that has worked for me in addition to the ones she posted. I put my cats in a room by themselves for a couple of nights and allow the newbie to roam the house. Then I allow the older cats to roam the house and they acclimate to the odor of the new one, then I introduce the new one to the others. It has worked so well I just have to add it as a comment. Good luck and I hope you decide on the new one. All cats deserve a loving home