If there's one thing for sure about cats, it's that they don't like change. Some hide under the bed. Some stop using the litter box. Efforts to soothe others may be greeted with a hiss or a growl, or even a swipe with claws

bared.

While these are all normal feline reactions to stress, the bad habits cats may develop while coming to terms with something new could become a permanent part of their routine. Which is why, for your cat's sake and your own, you need to remember one word when introducing any change to your cat.

That word? "Slowly."

Introducing a second cat to the household is one time when patience is never more important.

Despite your pet's initial misgivings, adding a companion can be a wonderful idea, especially for an indoor cat. More cats today spend their lives inside, protected from deadly hazards such as cars and contagious diseases. There are trade-offs, though: An outdoor cat's life may be shorter, but it is filled with smells and sounds and other animals. We must make up some of the difference, enriching the lives of our indoor cats.

Cat trees, screened porches, edible indoor greenery and a wide variety of toys are important, but so, too, is a playmate. For pets who spend hours alone while their owners are at work, another cat can fill that lonely time.

If you don't have a cat yet, and know you'll eventually want two, it's easiest to adopt two kittens at the same time, preferably from the same litter. Kittens don't have the sense of territory grown cats have and will settle down together nicely.

But even a solitary adult cat can learn to enjoy living with a companion. Since the worst territorial spats -- complete with urine marking -- are between cats who aren't spayed or neutered, your chances for peaceful co-existence are many times greater if the cats are both altered before any introductions are attempted.

Prepare a room for your new cat, with food and water bowls, and a litter box and scratching post that needn't be shared. (Separate gear may be a temporary arrangement, or it may be lifelong; it all depends on the cats involved.) This separate room will be your new pet's home turf while the two cats get used to each other.

Take your new cat to your veterinarian first, to be checked for parasites such as ear mites and contagious diseases such as feline leukemia. When you're sure your new pet is healthy, the introductions can begin.

Bring the cat home in a carrier and set it in the room you've prepared. Let your resident cat discover the caged animal, and don't be discouraged by initial hisses. Let your old cat explore, and when the new cat is alone in the room, close the door and open the carrier. If he doesn't want to leave the carrier at first, let him be. Leave the carrier door open and the cat alone to take things at his own pace.

Maintain each cat separately for a week or so -- with lots of love and play for both -- and then on a day when you're around to observe, leave the door to the new cat's room open. Don't force them together. Territory negotiations between cats can be drawn-out and delicate, and you must let them work it out on their own, ignoring the hisses and glares.

Eventually you can encourage them both to play with you, using a cat "fishing pole" or a toy on a string. And slowly -- there's that word again -- feed them in ever-closer proximity.

Most cats -- but not all -- will eventually learn to co-exist happily. When you see your two sleeping together, playing or grooming each other tenderly, you'll know the effort was worth it.

CYBERLINKS: The best Web site for cat-lovers is the Cat Fanciers home page (http://www.fanciers.com), a superb resource with hundreds of documents on breeds, health and behavior, as well as links to many other sites. The newsgroup rec.pets.cats.health(plus)behav is available for the discussion of health and behavior topics. And when you're through with all that serious Net surfing, visit The Amazing Cat Picture Page (http://www.islandnet.com/(tilde)jensal/cats.html) to see some fabulous felines.

Gina Spadafori, the award-winning author of "Dogs for Dummies," is affiliated with the Veterinary Information Network Inc., an international on-line service for veterinary professionals. Write to her in care of this newspaper, or e-mail to Giori(at)aol.com.

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600

When Laramie's big heart finally stopped a week ago, her death was a blow to the woman who'd raised and lived with the black-and-tan Doberman for nearly 15 years.

Live with an animal that long, and it's to be expected that the first day you wake up and she's not there can be as empty as any you've ever known.

I felt the loss, too, although surely not as keenly. I'd known Laramie almost all her life, and became friends with her owner, Gay Currier, over the shared interest of our love for animals. A lot of my friendships start that way, and over the years my friends and I have consoled each other when our animals have left us -- Anitra and Sara, Toni and Binky, Kippy and Doc, to name but a few, all gone but never forgotten.

But Laramie ... this dog was a part of something bigger, something that changed the lives of thousands of people for the better.

Laramie was born to be a service dog.

The concept was still new when Laramie was a puppy. People had long accepted that dogs could be trained to help people with impaired vision, but one woman thought they could do more.

Bonnie Bergen was that woman, and she thought dogs could be trained to assist people who use wheelchairs, to turn light switches on and off, to pick up dropped items and fetch others, to provide both companionship and a degree of protection. She thought dogs could also be trained to do tasks for people who were hearing-impaired.

But more than anything else, Bonnie Bergen thought trained dogs could offer independence to the people they served.

With such a dream, she founded Canine Companions for Independence, based in Santa Rosa, Calif., and sought out dogs like Laramie to help make it come true.

"Bonnie said, 'I think you'll like this dog,'" said Gay, of her decision to become one of CCI's earliest puppy-raisers. It turned out to be an understatement of the grandest scale.

Laramie grew into such an outstanding dog that she was never given the chance to be a service dog -- she was held out to be bred. She had one litter, and one of those pups went on to be a service dog.

Laramie herself, trained to respond to more than 70 commands, became a public-relations ambassador as Gay moved on to open an office in Sacramento, Calif., for CCI, helping puppy-raisers train and socialize their charges for the work ahead of them. Laramie also worked as a therapy dog, visiting nursing homes and schools.

Gay doesn't work for CCI anymore, and the organization no longer uses Dobermans in its service-dog program. But in the course of this one dog's lifetime, the work Laramie was born to do has become an invaluable and accepted part of the fabric of our society, another example of the importance of animals in our lives.

When she called with her sad news, Gay said it seemed to her that Laramie's life went by in a flash, that it was so, so very short. And she's right in one respect: I remember the leggy young Laramie as if no time at all has passed.

On the other hand, it seems long ago that there was a time when service dogs didn't exist at all -- no dogs helping people in wheelchairs, no dogs helping people who cannot hear.

All this changed, in one dog's lifetime.

"She changed my life," said Gay. "That may be an unusual concept for some people. But it happened. It happened."

Thanks to dogs like Laramie and the people who recognize their potential, it's not such an unusual concept at all.

Just ask anyone with a service dog.

CYBERLINKS: You can find out more about service dogs by visiting the Web sites of those organizations that train and place them. Canine Companions for Independence (www.caninecompanions.org), Independence Dogs Inc. (www.ndepot.com/idi), and Paws With a Cause (www.ismi.net/paws) all have pages describing their programs. The Internet also offers support for those who have just lost a special animal companion. The newsgroup alt.support.grief.pet-loss provides animal-lovers with a place to discuss their pets, and Kathie Maffitt's pet-loss page (www.primenet.com/(tilde)meggie/petloss.htm) is a good jumping-off spot for pet-loss resources on the Web.

Gina Spadafori, the award-winning author of "Dogs for Dummies," is affiliated with the Veterinary Information Network Inc., an international on-line service for veterinary professionals. Write to her in care of this newspaper, or e-mail to Giori@aol.com.

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600