I've been studying about introducing a new cat to resident cat,
reading articles on the web and old posts here.  I've experienced
something quite different from what I expected, and I'm curious if
anyone has seen this happen before or knows what to do about it.

We have a 2 year old fixed female resident cat who in the past has
been fiercely territorial, injuring badly a neighbor cat who wandered
into her fenced-in back yard last year.  We recently introduced a
(very small) 1 year old, fixed female into the household.  Mindful of
our resident "bully" trying to kill the new cat, we kept them
separated as most suggest, and rationing their introduction to each
other.  At first, as we expected, our resident cat was quite angry and
hissed and swatted at the new kitty.  After several more days of slow
introductions, our resident cat began to warm to the new kitty.  We
finally felt it was time to set them down next to each other and let
them get to know each other (with supervision of course).  Much to our
shock and amazement, our new kitty went beserk, slapping our resident
cat several times with her claws and then chasing her all around the
house.  Our resident cat cowered under the couch and wouldn't come out
for hours.  In the only other instance since when we've tried to put
them together, the same thing happened.  Our resident cat is now
terrified of our new cat, who has seemingly turned into a bully.
Where should we go from here?
Donnie Swenson
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"Free-ranging cats in the United States have an average lifespan in the general population of only 3 to 5 years; indoor cats have an average lifespan of 12 years and frequently live longer than 20 years..."
(Karen L. Overall, M.A., V.M.D., Ph.D., Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Behavior; Department of Clinical Studies School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

"The hazards of the outdoors-automobiles, dogs, rival cats, poisonous plants, infectious diseases, and fleas, to name but a few-are compelling reasons to keep cats exclusively indoors."
Dr. James Richards, Director, Cornell Feline Health Center,
College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

"Cats can be happily kept inside all the time"
Robert J. Holmes, BVM&S, PhD, MRCVS, FACVSc,
Cat Behavior and Training
Animal Behaviour Clinic, Malvern Vie 3 144, Australia