Old cat, new kitten? How to make it work?

[MommyMK]

We currently own an older female cat, we adopted her 8 years ago from a rescue, not exactly sure of her age, but she is in the realm of 13-15 now. She spends the vast majority of the day sleeping - she comes out around dinnertime to eat, get a few pets and then transitions from sleeping under my bed (all day) to sleeping in my oldest daughter's bed (all night). Comes and goes back and forth to the food dish and the litter box a few times during the day, but doesn't really hang with us till evening and then only for about an hour.

We are seriously thinking about adding a kitten to the family and I was reading tonight about introducing the two. Everything I've read says to keep the new cat in a separate room for weeks(?) before introducing them slowly.

I have no spare room for this to happen, we live in a 3 bedroom house, all the bedrooms are occupied. The basement is where we keep the current cat's litter box, I can't imagine she would deal well with that being moved nor do we have anywhere else to put it in the house where it wouldn't be in the middle of a room. Keeping the kitten in the bathroom won't work - older home with doors that don't really shut and the door opens out, plus we have to use the bathroom all day long!

Any tips on this? I think the best we could do is a large crate for the kitten, otherwise I am out of ideas. If you have added a new kitten to a family with cats already how did you do it? And how did things work out? We dog sat about a month ago and the cat was NOT happy. I don't think she came out from under our bed all weekend. I carried her to the basement to make sure she went to the bathroom and moved her food and water into our bedroom. The dog was crated at night and while we were not home. But again, short of crating the kitten this would not work because the doors in our home do not shut fully (older rental and the situation is not one that is going to be fixed, long story there). Thanks for any advice.

 

[sonnyjane]

Can I ask are you just wanting the kitten because you want more "action" from your pet? I won't tell you not to adopt another pet, as it's noble, but think about your other cat. If she really is 15, she's in the final years of her life. You talk about it as if what she is doing is undesirable behavior (sleeping all day, not super social) but she is OLD lol! Don't fault her for that, and be considerate that the last thing she probably wants is a total upheaval of her routine.

If you DO decide to introduce a kitten, yes, you really do need to take the time and do isolation so that it's a smooth transition for all. I hate to think, though, that because you don't have a room where you can keep the kitten for a while that he or she would be stuck in a crate. You'd have to make sure your older cat couldn't have access to it. Imagine if you were gone and your current cat spent hours just hissing and harassing the new kitten and the kitten couldn't escape the situation. Intros can get violent. At best she would react like she did when the dog was there and just retreat forever. At worst, she could start urinating around house to mark, scratching, howling, hissing, etc.

It's not easy to intro cats of such different ages. It can and has happened, but it's not a "gimme".

 

[MommyMK]

I can't imagine our current cat harassing the kitten, but that is a good point. I am a SAHM so I am home most of the time and would be here to supervise. We have talked for a long time about adding a pet to our family and talked long and hard about getting a dog, but came to the realization that it will not work for our family and that we are more cat people than dog people. I have two kids, 9 and 5 and we want another pet to love and yes, to interact with. While I agree that it's not the "fairest" thing for the cat to add another cat to the family, it's also not fair to the kids to go possibly another 5-8 years with just the one old cat. We have been extremely lucky with our current cat, she always uses her box, doesn't scratch, etc. and I would hate to cause those behaviors to start. Even if we could keep the new kitten in a bedroom, it would need to be the 5 year old's bedroom since the old cat spends most of her time in our room or my oldest's room and I don't know if that is the best mix either. When we got our current cat we just sort of showed her where her box was and let her loose and it all worked out.

Even if we rearranged things so the kitten could stay in the basement, we are supposed to keep the kitten in the basement for upwards of a month without letting it into any other rooms in the house? I just can't imagine that working out very well for the kitten. I grew up in a multi-pet household and we had a mix of cats and dogs in the house at different times over the years, I don't remember my parents having to go through all this work to introduce the pets to one another. More thinking for us to do I guess. The cat is due to go to the vet this month for her yearly checkup and I will be sure to ask for advice there as well!

 

[monsterkitty]

Our older cat was a feral kitten when he adopted us. We had and older cat who was 18 when we got Gus. It took about 1 day for the older cat to decide Gus needed a bath. Fast forward 11 years - Now Gus is the older cat. I took him to the vet for his yearly check-up and somehow ended up bringing a kitten home as well. Gus was not happy so we kept them separated and it took a few days before Gus took the kitten under his paws.

We kept the kitten in a bedroom for a few hours while Gus had free roam. We then switched - Put Gus in the room where the kitten had been so he could get used to her scent. Then we switched them again. It also helped that our 2 Golden Retrievers gave the kitten a bath and Gus loves his dogs.

 

[AppleDumpling]

With a cat that age, honestly I would be very reluctant to bring in a kitten. Cats are creatures of habit and also very territorial. A senior cat who is not active and sleeps a lot will probably not appreciate the disruption to her peaceful life. She may become stressed out by an energetic little kitten to the point of making herself ill.

If you do so, besides separating them in the beginning, you should keep 2 separate litter boxes in different areas, and 2 separate food dishes, since they might not like to share.

 

[sonnyjane]

Even if we rearranged things so the kitten could stay in the basement, we are supposed to keep the kitten in the basement for upwards of a month without letting it into any other rooms in the house? I just can't imagine that working out very well for the kitten.

Actually, as monsterkitty alluded to in that post, the idea isn't to keep them totally separated from each other, it is to be in control of the introduction. What monsterkitty mentioned is a good suggestion. You keep in one room, allowing them to smell each other through a barrier. Then you can swap rooms so old kitty smells kitten in that room and kitten can smell older cat throughout the rest of the house. The problem with your scenario is that you don't have a reliable place to limit access and also it sounds like your older cat isn't the most easy to access (sleeping under beds and in closets) when it would come time to shift her for these sessions.

I don't necessarily think your older cat will be violent toward the kitten (although it's certainly possible, I've been surprised in the past), but I WOULD be very worried about the other behaviors I mentioned. I've had experience with animals (luckily not my own) that started peeing on beds and in clothing hampers when they didn't like the addition of a new boyfriend, or a baby, etc. That same response can be brought on by a new pet, and then my fear is you'll come to resent your aging cat's behavior when in truth, it will have been caused by the introduction of this new kitten.

 

[sonnyjane]

While I agree that it's not the "fairest" thing for the cat to add another cat to the family, it's also not fair to the kids to go possibly another 5-8 years with just the one old cat.

I also just have a separate comment here. I'm saying this as respectfully as possible because I see your point exactly, but I quite dislike when people get pets to fill "roles". For example "I want a guard dog", "I want a second pet to keep the first one company" or, in your case, "I want an energetic kitten for the kids".

Animals have their own personalities just like people. Yes, animals can be trained to modify some of their behaviors (so can people!) but I feel they still have rights to be themselves. Chances are good that a new kitten you can raise from scratch will be very playful and meet every criteria you are hoping for as far as your kids go. BUT, what if after growing out of that stage, the new kitten doesn't live up to that potential? My friend has two cats - littermates - that are 2 years old, so still quite young. One "goes to work" each day under the bed for 12 hours, only to emerge for meals. His sister prefers men to women, a problem since my friend is a female! When her boyfriend comes over, she can't so much as pet her until he goes away. Your kitten could grow into a cat just like your current cat and then you'd have TWO animals, neither one living up to expectations. That's why I don't like getting pets for any purpose other than wanting to give an animal a good home. It's just too much of an unknown.

 

[MommyMK]

I also just have a separate comment here. I'm saying this as respectfully as possible because I see your point exactly, but I quite dislike when people get pets to fill "roles". For example "I want a guard dog", "I want a second pet to keep the first one company" or, in your case, "I want an energetic kitten for the kids".

Animals have their own personalities just like people. Yes, animals can be trained to modify some of their behaviors (so can people!) but I feel they still have rights to be themselves. Chances are good that a new kitten you can raise from scratch will be very playful and meet every criteria you are hoping for as far as your kids go. BUT, what if after growing out of that stage, the new kitten doesn't live up to that potential? My friend has two cats - littermates - that are 2 years old, so still quite young. One "goes to work" each day under the bed for 12 hours, only to emerge for meals. His sister prefers men to women, a problem since my friend is a female! When her boyfriend comes over, she can't so much as pet her until he goes away. Your kitten could grow into a cat just like your current cat and then you'd have TWO animals, neither one living up to expectations. That's why I don't like getting pets for any purpose other than wanting to give an animal a good home. It's just too much of an unknown.

I see and appreciate your point as well. We are not thinking of getting a kitten to "fill a role" in our family, but because we want to add a second pet to our home. I was mainly trying to make the point that we are not thinking of adding a kitten with the purpose of it being a companion or playmate to our current cat, does that make sense?

If the new kitten decides to spend 12 hours a day under the bed with cat #1 that would be fine and we'd love it just the same.

We got our current cat when she was younger and we had a 1 year old. The cat was scarce when the 1 year old was around and generally came out when she was asleep (naps and night). As the kid(s) and cat got older the kids slept less and the cat started sleeping more (age) and here we are. The cat and that former 1 year old are now best friends and the cat lets us know with some very loud meowing how unhappy she is when the kid is not home and in her bed at the specified time!

My husband wanted a snuggly and for the most part the cat wants nothing to do with him and only comes to me or my oldest for petting and love. It is what it is and we'd be ok with the same situation if it were to occur with a new kitten.

While I agree with you in theory that people should only get a pet when they want to give it a good home, the truth is that the people in the relationship want feedback, love and interaction from the pet as well.

 

[sonnyjane]

Sounds like you've thought it through. I would definitely talk to the vet when you go in. They may have some suggestions for you on the intro. Also there are pheromone sprays that can help calm kitty during the transition that your vet might have insight on.

 

[minneylovesmicky]

We introduced a new kitten to our 2 yr old cat - Louie, 2 yrs ago. Louie hissed and spat at the new kitten in her box.

We got hold of an old rabbit hutch, the triangle shaped ones with half wire and half enclosed. Left it in an area that Louie at had to walk past each day.

The hutch was small enough to not be in the way and large enough it fit a kitty litter tray, bedding and food/water dishes.

We fed the two in separate rooms and over the course of a few days, moved their dishes closer, till they were eating side by side but separated by the gage.

After about 5 days, all was quite and everyone was in bed, we heard Louie crying really really loudly. Came out to find her on top of the rabbit hutch, crying for the kitten to come out. We opened the hutch door and they slept together, snuggled up tight that night.

Have not looked back since. They get on like mother and daughter.

Good luck, hope my experience helps you some what

 

[mom2rtk]

We added a very young feral kitten to our house last summer. We have 2 other cats, one of which is an older cat, 14 years old at the time. We added the kitten because we were used to having 4 cats and lost 2 of them last year, so the house was seeming empty.

The kitten has been a great addition. He has really livened the place up again! But I will say that he does pester the older cat. He just wants to play, but she has no interest in it. We've seen more hissing and chasing in the last 6 months than we had in years with 4 mature cats. Unfortunately much of that hissing takes place early in the morning when they are restless and looking for food.

I kind of waver back and forth between thinking the new interaction is good for the older cat, and feeling bad for her. We try to stay on top of things though. If we see the kitten (now 8 months old) climbing up to the older cat's perch, we grab him down. If a chase lasts more than a moment, we isolate the kitten in the bathroom for a time out. Seriously. He goes in there a misbehaving demon, and 15 minutes later you open the door to a purring happy little well behaved angel.

One thing I do recommend is building some small perches around your house with room for 1 so your older cat can climb up and be alone.

It's a mixed bag. But I'm glad we're back up to 3 cats.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Given your situation, I think a dog crate sounds like a good idea. You don't have to keep the kitten in there for months. A week or 2 may be enough, allowing it to spend more time out of the crate every day. You have to asses the situation daily and adjust to the level of progress being made.

It sounds like your home is at least big enough that your older cat will be able to have some space away from the kitten. That is key. If you were in a small apartment where the cats couldn't have their own space then I would say no way.

I do think it is possible to introduce a kitten to your family. Just wait until you find the right kitten and have a plan in place for how you will handle any undesirable behavior.

 

[MommyMK]

Thank you for your replies, our home is definitely big enough to keep the two separated, just the issue of access to food and litter when we are not home. But I think we can work it out. Any tips on how to keep the old cat from eating the kitten's food? We leave food out 24/7 for old cat as she is on the small side and has lost weight in the past.

 

[mom2rtk]

Thank you for your replies, our home is definitely big enough to keep the two separated, just the issue of access to food and litter when we are not home. But I think we can work it out. Any tips on how to keep the old cat from eating the kitten's food? We leave food out 24/7 for old cat as she is on the small side and has lost weight in the past.

That really was a challenge for us. We have a third cat who is about 6 years old. She's overweight, so we definitely needed to keep her out of the kitten food. We ended up keeping a dish and container of food in the corner of the bathroom we used for time outs. A couple times a day I would put food down when the cat was in time out. When I let him out, I dumped the kitten food back in the container so the other cat couldn't get it.

We just recently swapped the kitten over to adult food and I was thrilled to not be policing the food dishes any longer!