Cat Owners need your help

[shelby2001]

We just got our adopted 12 week old kitten today after getting approved. She is just beautiful and playful, however I have a 14yr old female that I also adopted from a shelter 4 yrs ago at the age of 10. My though is to keep them seperated for a few days and then have them meet. I had my older cat smell the carrier she came home in and she sniffed the box and rubbed her neck on it and then went to sleep. She came down a little while ago and ate her dinner and did the same thing with the box. Does anyone have suggestions on this for me, am I doing it the right way? Tonight they will be seperated by closed doors while we are sleeping, kitten will be in my daughter bedroom with water, food and litter box and older cat will be in my room. I will probably do this for a few weeks, what do you think.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Shelby

 

[chyam]

In my experience, it is usually fairly easy to introduce a kitten to older cats, they seem to know "it's a baby" I do think it is a good idea to keep them separate for a few evenings, but quite honestly I would introduce them now while supervised, I don't think you will need a few weeks. It's when you introduce to older cats to one another since they are territorial, usually kittens don't have that yet. Good luck and thank you for adopting shelter kitties.
I adopted a kitten last July, and my cat's ranged in age from 20 down to 2 and I actually let me meet them right away and had no problems, the older ones sniffed and then scurried away when the little guy (who by the way is no little guy no more and is named ****oo) started his kitten antics and wanted to play with everyone. I have had much more problems when bringing in an adult, Sophie was 2 when I brought her home and to this day she is quite reserved around the others and they tend to "cow" her.

 

[kayeandjim00]

We always do it the same way you did. We have never had a problem. I don't know if we have extremely easy going cats or what but usually after only a few hours they are pawing under the door trying to get to each other and never a moment of hissing or fighting. They say cats will let you know when they are ready to meet. Your female older cat already seems relaxed about the baby if she's not hissing at the smell in the carrier. Good luck

 

[chager]

I have always just sat down the new cat in the house and then let them sort it out. With the exception of our youngest cat since she was only 3-4 weeks old and much too little to allow freedom until she was bigger. So the other cats had a chance to know her through the cage bars until she was bigger. Enjoy your new addition!!

 

[Coloradomom]

We have done the same thing with our 3 cats and it works well. In fact with cat #2 we had him in the upstairs bathroom with his supplies, and DD slept in the bathtub that night to keep him company.Congrats on your new addition!

 

[shelby2001]

Well I held the new kitten and let the older one see her. The kitten wanted to get down and play with her. The older cat ran out of the room and is now hiding. I don't know about just putting her down as she was just spayed yesterday and has stitches but you'd never know it by the energy she has. I just am not sure about putting her down with the older cat.

P.S. the kitten just realized that we have a guinea pig. She climbed up and checked him out with her paw and he licked her she just looked at him and got down.

 

[chyam]

Well I held the new kitten and let the older one see her. The kitten wanted to get down and play with her. The older cat ran out of the room and is now hiding. I don't know about just putting her down as she was just spayed yesterday and has stitches but you'd never know it by the energy she has. I just am not sure about putting her down with the older cat.

P.S. the kitten just realized that we have a guinea pig. She climbed up and checked him out with her paw and he licked her she just looked at him and got down.

Oh my........the guinea pig! probably just the right size playmate When my prairie dog was alive, the cats actually got along with her, even when she was little. Do you have one of those balls that you can put the guinea pig in? I am sure your new addition would love to bat that around for awhile.....just kidding.

 

[Amberle3]

My older cat does not care for my kitten at all. He's a very sedentary cat, likes to just flop down and stay there for long periods, and the kitten wants to play all the time. They've settled into a routine now where the older one watches the younger one and then just avoids her when she gets rambunctious.

 

[shelby2001]

Well they met this morning by accident. My older cat was eating and the kitten went right up to her side and started sniffing her. The hissing, growling and paw slap took place and the older cat went to hide. About 10 minutes later the older cat came down and went to sleep in her spot and guess who went running over. I grabbed her and picked her up and the older cat was growling at her and then ran upstairs and is sleeping in a closet now. This is not going to be easy or go well, I just hope they will tollerate each other.

 

[Claire L]

Lol! Our older cats, brothers, were introduced to little one when they were just over 4 years old. When little one came home he wandered out of the basket and the big boys took one look and headed out! It was New Year and cold but they sat outside for quite a while in protest at the new addition. Alot of swearing took place but slowly they got used to each other and will now sleep next to each other Still get the rear swear but only if one of them spooks the other.

Claire

 

[Missy Mouse]

Well they met this morning by accident. My older cat was eating and the kitten went right up to her side and started sniffing her. The hissing, growling and paw slap took place and the older cat went to hide. About 10 minutes later the older cat came down and went to sleep in her spot and guess who went running over. I grabbed her and picked her up and the older cat was growling at her and then ran upstairs and is sleeping in a closet now. This is not going to be easy or go well, I just hope they will tollerate each other.

I've had 21 cats. What you're experiencing is very normal. Your cats will be fine, you just have to let mother nature sort it all out. They need to play the territory game for awhile and then the older cat will calm down.

 

[azgal81]

We introduced our cats by just putting them in the same room with each other right away. There was hissing, growling and paw hitting at first and there still is about a year later when they chase each other around and wrestle and stuff. They sleep together, play together and follow each other around. I think the hissing thing is perfectly normal try not to worry! They will grow to be best buds even with all this hissing and growling going on.