OT: bringing a kitten in when there's already a cat at home

Lisa, make sure your older cat has plenty of places to escape to that the kitten can't reach. My older cats jump on top of my bureau hutch when they want to be inaccessible. We brought in a kitten in the fall of 2004, while we already had a 13-yr old non-spayed female(moved here with us) and a 4-yr old neutered male(found under our house shortly after we moved in). All are total house cats.

My first steps were to keep the kitten in a back workroom/shed for 2 weeks, as he had conjunctivitis. Then we brought him in, but kept him in a cat carrier, on a harness and leash, or closed in the bathroom at night(which has louvered doors), so the older ones would get used to his smell but not be able to harm him. Maybe a little over-protective. We were pretty sure the old female would just run and hide where she couldn't be reached, but we weren't sure about the 4-yr old male, who was rather heavy at the time(he has since lost weight).

The kitten(Little Bit) turned a year old this month, and is going strong. There are the usual wrestling matches between the boys, and the older girl isn't feeling really well, and gets picked on a bit, so I'm usually yelling at one of the boys to leave her alone, or leave each other alone, but I expect this will stop in another 6 months or so(just like kids, I expect). Since the older cat may not be around much longer, I'm glad we have the two others, so no one is super lonely when she goes; they'll have each other for company.

Make sure there are plenty of toys for the kitten; soft balls he can throw and bat, and they LOVE the red rings that come off the milk containers. You may find the older cat playing, as well. Make sure you give the female lots of loving so she doesn't feel displaced. And if the female is not spayed, make sure the kitten gets fixed as early as possible. Let me know how it goes. HTH, Carey in MA

Lisa, it may take a week or so but they will get use to each other. I have had six at one time and they have all learned to get a long. I am now down to 4 and when we brought Mystic in to the group we had four all ready and it took them about a week to understand we love them and she was staying. About year ago we lost are middle guy to a tumor so we are back down to 4. and now Mystic and the second youngest are best buds and my 14 year old thinks she is the cats meow *grin* but what I am saying is just give it time and they will be fine or they will find there own place and leave the other alone. Introducing a kitten in the family I think is easier this way the older cat trains them sorta. All your older cats is saying I am here first and you will do what I say or get baped *grin* and poor Mystic and Magnus got bapped a lot when they where kittens. I had a 15 pounder that wass a brick wall who taught them the do's and don'ts so we got to see flying kittens a lot *grin*

Dawn

wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...

I agree, Dawn, the older ones do teach the younger ones. My 14-pounder is down to about 10 pounds now, and the kitten feels like he's about 8 pounds. We have a few body slams around here, and each slams the other pretty evenly.

-- Carey

Having just gone through a similar experience of bringing home a 6 week old kitten to a home with a 2-year-old and a 16-year-old already in residence, I'd say the best advice is to give them time to adjust. When we had brought the now-2-year-old home as a kitten from a shelter, we had recently lost our 9-year-old male and so the now-16-year-old cat was understandibly lonely without a companion. It did take some adjustment time for them as the house was the old cat's domain, but once the young cat was spayed and they were both able to go outside, the playing field became more level -- the outdoors was both their territory and eventually they could learn to share the indoors. Now with three, the kitten and the young cat have begun to play well together, but the old cat stands more aloof. She will eventually come around once the kitten has been spayed and is allowed to roam outside alone. She will teach her the outdoor skills which will build a comeraderie between the senior and the baby. :-)

So not only is your old cat having to adjust to a strange cat in his/her territory, it's a baby and is an unaltered animal too. Once baby has been fixed and has a different scent and has grown up a bit, I think you'll find the two will get along better. I would only worry if the old cat becomes so extremely aggressive to the point where the kitten is in physical danger of being seriously hurt or killed -- then you would have to consider finding him a new home. But for now, just give them time to adjust and don't forget to give as much attention to the old cat as you give to the new one so that nobody gets jealous. If you buy a toy for the kitten, buy a treat for the old cat at the same time. They may never be the kinds of cats you see who sleep in a pile together and are inseparable, but at the very least they will become good companions and will learn to live together with their humans.

Keep at it, Lisa, you *can* make this work!

HTH.

Cheers,

snipped-for-privacy@> I need advice.

Don`t panic too much - it`s natiral that the older cat should do that at first. You`ll find that an adult dog OR cat will rarely harm a puppy or kitten - it`s just a means of telling theyoungster who`s boss! Try to let them sort it out themselves, just keep an eye on them, and until things improve don`t leave them shut in a room alone.

We used to breed Siamese, sooften had to introduce new members of the cat family. There were horrendous curses and screams, but no damage. They pull their punches, particularly where a kitten is involved!

Pat P

Yeah I still see the body slams going on here. But Garfield my 15 pounded is the one we lost. He would just sit and let them run full out and try to knock him over. Now this guys are all kittens when they would do this so the three that where younger them him would just slide down him and he would not budge. they where all maybe just a pound. We would tell him let them win once in a while so just before they would hit him he would lift his paw and fall over so they thought they did it. OK here is why he would he would then roll on top of them and hold them down. till they stopped moving. *shaking my head as I watched this* Well, what I did not say is that my two girls are smart they would stop moving right away. Garfield would move so they could slid out, well they would then bite his tummy. You should have seen the look on his face when he got out smarted, It was priceless. And poor Magnus my little blonde boy (he is grey and white) he would just keep trying to pull his head out from under Garfield till we would make him move so that he would not smother Magnus. But now Maguns gets picked on buy the girls. My

14 year old Feanor just watches it all from his loffty perch he is to good to get his paws dirty that is what the girls are for. the link to the webshots has pictures of my four leged babies

Dawn, so sorry you lost Garfield. Your pictures of the cats are great. I especially love the one with four of them comforting you while you are feeling poorly. They sure love their mama. We found a growth starting on Queenie (the 14-yr old female) several months ago; both the vet and I thought it was a mammary tumor, and decided against exploratory surgery because of her age and the thought that any surgery might cause it to spread faster. At the moment, the lump on her side isn't too bad, but her ribs are rather splayed out, and she's a normally thin cat, so it looks odd. We will see how she progresses; she's eating as usual and is not in pain. She's never been a particularly friendly cat, but hwile she's being a bit more friendly with me, she could certainly do without the kitten. Isn't it amazing how they love cardboard boxes? Even the 2-inch deep boxes that a case of soda comes in make a hit around here. 'Course, the youngest is now enamored of the plastic-wrapped coke bottle cases(when he isn't trying to prove he's a big boss cat); once a few of the bottles are removed, he climbs in under the "tent." Off to cross stitch(after I get off this 'puter). TTFN, Carey (Love your store, too. Probably be in there sometime soon.)

That's fairly typical, and if they're not hurting each other, I'd let it go. Keep them apart when you're not around, and make sure both get plenty of catloves, catbribes, and cattreats. Feliway, a synthetic "cat happiness pheromone", may help ease the introduction -- it tends to lower the overall level of stress.

The cacaphony should diminish in a few weeks, but you'll still have occasional screaming matches for awhile, if it goes as most introductions do. Prepare to see some "bowling with kittens" and the kitten flop-on-to-side "don't beat me" behaviors. Beware of any fights you hear where there's no screaming... those need to be broken up immediately, as they are much more serious than the noisy fights. Don't wade into the middle of a cat fight, or pick up a cat who's been recently fighting... a sharp "NO!" and a handclap will usually send the participants to their quarters. A glass of water dumped on the participants will break up even fairly serious fights, ime.

If things go as I'm used to, another week or so should see a pretty solid truce between the cats. Occasionally it takes longer, but rarely, ime -- usually the time is longer when you're introducing a new adult into a clowder, or working with cats that have been abandoned for awhile.

More help here:

Don't wade into the middle of a cat

I can certainly second that advice. My most affectionate cat was having a serious hissy fit with a strange cat through a screened window. As my cats are all inside cats, I was worried about them knocking the screen out or something. As I reached for my Enid, I thought, "Don't touch her", but my mind/hand coordination was too slow. When she bit me one of her teeth went into my knuckle and I ended up with cellulitis from the bacteria trapped in the knuckle. I spent a week in the hospital on drip antibiotics and surgery to open the knuckle and flush out the bacteria.

Many people were amazed I still had my Enid but it wasn't her fault that I did something stupid. She is still my favorite cat and I am still her favorite human.

Jane