Introducing Two Kittens?

[Gina]

Hey all, It's been awhile since I've posted, but I've been lurking. And now its time for the lurking to come to an end because I have a question. So lets start with some background info, We already have a kitten around 4/5 months old we got in July. It was sort of my moms peace offering because we were moving out and I had to leave my dog with my dad (My parents divorced).
So after having Millie (the orignal kitty) since July I've been bitten by the cat bug, and volunteering 4/5 days a week at the local shelter just set fuel to it. And being there all the time I fell in love with an older kitten (Just shy of six months) and my mom is agreeing to let me adopt him and I am taking her to meet him Wednesday and if she likes him, Hopefully we'll be bringing him home.
Alright before I type a novel on back story I should probably get to the question; Does anyone have any tips for introducing them? They are both fixed and both shelter kittys raised with other cats, I'm just nervous they wont get along. Sorry for the book :)

Thanks in advanced, Gina.

[lauraleellbp]

I've done this a couple of times.

I'd start off with the new cat kept entirely in a smaller room (bedroom, whatever) behind a closed door for a while. Let them interact only safely this way. I waited till it seemed they were no longer anxious and only curious (they'd generally play with each others' paws under the door) before starting to let them interact directly- closely supervised. If everything went well after several days I'd start leaving the door open except for at night, and if still no fights then, I'd then leave the door open permanently.

Separate feeding, water, and sleeping areas is usually a good idea for at least a while if not permanently.

It worked pretty well most of the time. I did have one older cat that never did accept two cats we "sat" for a few years- they'd still squabble on a regular basis, but only once was there actually any inury (bite that got infected). Always separating them all at night usually kept issues to a minimum, though.

[Mocha]

We have a huge dog kennel for my husbands hunting dog (golden retriever) anyway, it's large enough to house the litter box, bed, food and water. We just put the new kitty in there for about 3 days and the older cats/other cats, sit on the outside gazing at the kitty and they play through the slats in the kennel, and after about 3 days, I open the door and out comes the kitty, and everyone is happy.