Hi nicchick! I am up against the same thing as you myself right now. I have two adult resident cats who are bonded and have just taken in older female cat who has never lived indoors. Indy is the newcomer and I have been told that she is viewed as an intruder by other members here as well as my vet. My one resident cat, Haney, is the top cat here and he is not liking having Indy here one bit. I have had them separate now for 6 days, however they are able to sniff noses through the door. My vet explained to me that by being able to smell each other and know about each other's presence is good. So I think that you should make some cut outs in your paper that you have taped to the glass door. Maybe just the size of their heads so that the new cat can still feel secure and not overly exposed but yet can come up to the cut out to have a look at his/her own will, and your resident cat can also get a peek as to the cat behind the glass. I think I would even crack the door open just enough for noses to sniff each other. You could even move their food dishes near the cracked door and would soon learn to associate each other with good food and not focus so much on each other. My vet recommended that I do this procedure until I see no signs of aggression but just curiosity. Once that is acheived then he told me to begin feeding them in the same room but at opposite corners, but to allow them to be in each others presence only 10 minutes at a time. Continue with this until I see no aggression and that they are beginning to tolerate each other, then at that time I can increase the amount of time.
I just saw my vet yesterday because Indy had developed an eye infection so I can't start this for a few more days. I was so hoping to be able to have my cats all together within a weeks time but I now realize that is just impossible. Most folks here as well as my vet said this can take weeks and even months to accomplish this. I have been warned not to push it because if I do the end results could be bad and have a negative affect on both Haney and Indy where they may never get along. Of course I don't want that so I will take as much time as THEY need to adjust to each other. Also my vet recommended using a
Feliway diffuseur. It plugs into the wall outlet and releases happy cat pheromones into the air which will calm a stress cat. I bought one yesterday to help Haney and Indy with the stress they are feeling toward each other and plugged it in near the door that separates them. Have you ever heard of it?
Are your cats both adults? I think this is much easier when they are kittens, MUCH easier.
Good Luck
Val
ps...here is the link to my thread of the same topic if you are interested in seeing what others have written?
http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,17577.0.html
