On December 6th 2009, my husband brought home a stray cat that he had found in the snow and cold (ah). He is a lovely, neutered cat called Steve, and is soo friendly to everyone – sitting on laps, nuzzling etc. We already have a cat (Shirley) who is also an ex-stray who we’ve had for 3 years. Shirley is also a lovely cat, if a little timid with other cats. As soon as Steve sees Shirley, he full on attacks her, and fur flies. We have been separating them at all times and trying to do a slow introduction by binging Shirley down on our laps in the lounge in the evening and if Steve comes up aggressively spraying him with water. This makes him run away but then he comes back again half an hour later or so and repeats the same aggressive behavior. My poor Shirley is TERRIFIED and we are at our wits end. Steve even leapt up at my husband and scratched him for no reason the other night (redirected aggression?) and my husband has had enough. Steve is on the waiting list for a few cats homes which I feel DREADFUL about as Steve is a lovely cat and I want to make it work. Should I keep trying or is it a lost cause? I’m worried that I will lose Shirley (she is withdrawn and is often too scared to come in – even though I’ll protect her- and will stay out in the rain (not something she would EVER have done before Steve). Please can someone help as I’m at breaking point and feel so stressed about this. I'e read a lot of forums etc and they seem to suggest that the cats are mostly getting on and then have the odd spat - this is NOT the odd spat, Steve is CONSTANTLY being aggressive towards Shirley - it's not like they are ever comfortable around each other. Steve, even when not stalking up to her to attack her, is sitting on a chair in the lounge eyeballing her in an aggressive way.
I’ve thought about getting an animal behaviourist in but we’re not loaded and they seem very expensive. HELP!

I am no expert on this but i recently adopted a 11month old to two 15 year olds.
What i did was keep the new cat up stairs in his own room and each day for a few days brought him downstairs keeping him in a pet carrier and putting him in the same room as the other cats, just for a few minutes and building the time up each day.(I would do this for about a week in your case!) Also i would let the other cats roam around in his room so they could get his smells.
After a few days i opened the pet carrier and let him out for a few minutes under our supervision for him to roam around.
We did this till we were comfortable with him to be with the others.
You could try doing something like this and see how you get on.
Hopefully someone else will come on here and give you a few more tips that might help.
If all else fails you could keep him in upstairs or away from Shirley until you can find him a home.
It's a shame but poor Shirley to stay out in the rain she must be fed up with him!
Hope this helps.

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