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Old December 30th 06, 06:16 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.community
Cory
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Posts: 148
Default Introducing A New Cat

Cheryl Perkins wrote:
Kerissa Ward wrote:
Hi,


I'm fostering -- with the hope of adopting -- a 4 month old tabby and
I'm trying to introduce him to my roomate's 7 year old Tortie. I'm not
sure if the behavior the older cat is showing is normal. She hisses and
growls at the kitten. And the two times I've tried to get them close to
each other, they've hissed and screamed. The kittn thens runs into a
corner and he seems to be afraid of her.


She's had a lot of knocks in her life -- declawed as a kitten, no
feline companionship while growing up, and an owner that doesn't keep
her litter box clean -- and it takes her a long time to warm up to
people. Is there anything I can do to calm her down and not be
threatened by th kitten?


This is quite normal, and depending on the personalities of the cats in
question, it can take quite a while - weeks or months, not days - for them
to adapt to each other. As a vet suggested to me years ago in a similar
situation - don't interfere! You mention you tried to get them close to
each other; I was trying to referee cat fights; neither really works as
well as letting them work their relationship out themselves.


I cannot swear enough by this recommendation. It's just the way it's
GOT to be. The kitties HAVE TO get to know each other on THEIR OWN
terms. Period. No 'ifs', 'ands' or 'buts' about it.

See, you have to understand that there's an underlying dominance issue
at stake here, in the eyes of the kitties. The older cat MUST be able
to establish his/her dominance over the kitten. That's just how it
works in the feline world... even the domesticated feline world. I
took my 8-10 week old kitten (at the time... Onyx is now 12) home for
Christmas a few weeks after I'd adopted him. He'd never seen another
cat in his life, except for his littermates and his Mama Cat.

The first thing he did when he met the two cats my parents had? Hissed
at 'em. Part of me was surprised, because I thought "How'd he know how
to hiss at other kitties? He's so young! It's probably the first time
he's ever hissed in his life, fer cryin' out loud!". Another part of
me said "It's instinct. It's just what cats do when they see a strange
kitty."

The other factor in all of this is that the older cat just simply looks
upon the kitten as an intruder kitty, 'cuz in the older cat's mind,
that's what the kitten is. The older cat has (presumably) just had
this young kitten "dropped in her lap", so to speak, in HER territory.
Thus, she's probably not too thrilled with THAT, either, because it
used to be HER turf, and now she's got to share it with a young kitten.

One night, in the dead of the night, after my mom adopted an adult
tortie from a friend for a companion for our calico kitty (an adult at
the time, also), there was a HORRIBLE catfight in our house. The
theory was that the newcomer kitty must've accidently stumbled into the
dominant kitty who'd been a part of the household since she was a
kitten.

The established kitty let the newcomer kitty have it but good.
Scratches, blood, screeching, growling, hissing, the whole nine yards.
It was NOT a good night... but'cha know what? The two kitties never,
ever had another major catfight again, because the dominance issue (and
thus, the "order" in the hierarchy of kitties) got settled that one
night - for good.

In short, if my parents three kitties get into a fight, they just stay
out of it, unless it truly, seriously looks like one kitty is going to
SERIOUSLY injure either of the other cats. Try that for a while, even
if it gets noisy and looks vicious. You might be surprised in the end.

--- Cory