Introducing a kitten into a household with a cat

We have a new kitten (lovely Russian blue) and an 8 year old calico. We
have been trying to make the introduction slow and gentle. The kitten
is in our upstairs bathroom with the door closed. The idea (given to us
from the breeder) is to let the cats (especially the cat we've had for
years) get used to each others smells for a week, and then let them see
each other face-to-face.

So far, the older cat will hang out in front of the door from time to
time. She stretches there playfully, so I'm wondering if a full 7 days
is necessary. Today is Friday, and the kitten, who's getting a little
stir-crazy, has been at our home since Monday.

Thanks for suggestions!

Stephen

wrote:

We have a new kitten (lovely Russian blue) and an 8 year old calico. We
have been trying to make the introduction slow and gentle. The kitten
is in our upstairs bathroom with the door closed. The idea (given to us
from the breeder) is to let the cats (especially the cat we've had for
years) get used to each others smells for a week, and then let them see
each other face-to-face.

So far, the older cat will hang out in front of the door from time to
time. She stretches there playfully, so I'm wondering if a full 7 days
is necessary. Today is Friday, and the kitten, who's getting a little
stir-crazy, has been at our home since Monday.



I've been using this technique to introduce fosters to my other cats
for years and it goes at its own pace. Open the door a crack. If
there's no hissing and spitting, let the little guy out and watch for
a few minutes.

I've had fosters who went straight from the carrier to the general
population in hours, and some it took months. Give it a shot.

wrote in news:1161968001.070223.260560
@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

We have a new kitten (lovely Russian blue) and an 8 year old calico.
We
have been trying to make the introduction slow and gentle. The kitten
is in our upstairs bathroom with the door closed. The idea (given to
us
from the breeder) is to let the cats (especially the cat we've had for
years) get used to each others smells for a week, and then let them
see
each other face-to-face.

So far, the older cat will hang out in front of the door from time to
time. She stretches there playfully, so I'm wondering if a full 7 days
is necessary. Today is Friday, and the kitten, who's getting a little
stir-crazy, has been at our home since Monday.

Thanks for suggestions!

Stephen



We've always let ours meet a new kitten right away, under supervision.
The worst that ever happened was a little hissing, then they were
curious about each other so sniffed, then the little one would be busy
exploring the new house and the resident cat followed with great
curiosity. The first night I would separate the kitten to be sure, but
that's all.

So, try and see what happens.

Bobble

--
Save the earth... it's the only planet with chocolate.

Sonny's web page -- http://web.ncf.ca/ai151/index2.html

On Fri, 27 Oct 2006, Richard Evans wrote:

wrote:

We have a new kitten (lovely Russian blue) and an 8 year old calico. We
have been trying to make the introduction slow and gentle. The kitten
is in our upstairs bathroom with the door closed. The idea (given to us
from the breeder) is to let the cats (especially the cat we've had for
years) get used to each others smells for a week, and then let them see
each other face-to-face.

So far, the older cat will hang out in front of the door from time to
time. She stretches there playfully, so I'm wondering if a full 7 days
is necessary. Today is Friday, and the kitten, who's getting a little
stir-crazy, has been at our home since Monday.

I've been using this technique to introduce fosters to my other cats
for years and it goes at its own pace. Open the door a crack. If
there's no hissing and spitting, let the little guy out and watch for
a few minutes.

I've had fosters who went straight from the carrier to the general
population in hours, and some it took months. Give it a shot.

I agree with this answer to your post. If your older cat doesn't seem
upset, you might want to try letting them see each other a little bit.
The older cat's body language seems accepting to me. They have obviously
sniffed noses, and your older cat seems interested in playing. I think
I'd give it a shot, too. I've had kittens who weren't accepted right away
and others who could just walk right into the mix. It all depends on your
older cat's temperament.

The last one I brought home walked right up to my big dogs and acted like
it was no big deal. The other cats weren't crazy about him and hid up
high where he couldn't go for a week or so, but they never fought. If
they play and act like they're getting rough, you can gauge how serious it
is by seeing if the bigger cat stops what she is doing when the little one
screams, it means your older cat understands that she's scaring the little
one. If she doesn't stop, you need to go slower. Good luck! I'm sure
they'll be tearing around the house doing thunder kitties in no time!

Eva

P.S. Why do they always do the thunder kitty thing at 6 AM?

on Fri, 27 Oct 2006 22:49:10 GMT, Eva Quesnell wrote:

If
they play and act like they're getting rough, you can gauge how
serious it is by seeing if the bigger cat stops what she is doing when
the little one screams, it means your older cat understands that she's
scaring the little one.

in our house, it's the older cat who screams, and the little one never
stops! I'm surprised my older cat hasn't beaten the snot out of this
kitten yet. On the flip side, my older cat, Rudy, is even more
affectionate than usual since we got little evil Levi.

--
Lynne

On 2006-10-27 10:10:56 -0700, Richard Evans said:

wrote:

We have a new kitten (lovely Russian blue) and an 8 year old calico. We
have been trying to make the introduction slow and gentle. The kitten
is in our upstairs bathroom with the door closed. The idea (given to us
from the breeder) is to let the cats (especially the cat we've had for
years) get used to each others smells for a week, and then let them see
each other face-to-face.

So far, the older cat will hang out in front of the door from time to
time. She stretches there playfully, so I'm wondering if a full 7 days
is necessary. Today is Friday, and the kitten, who's getting a little
stir-crazy, has been at our home since Monday.



I've been using this technique to introduce fosters to my other cats
for years and it goes at its own pace. Open the door a crack. If
there's no hissing and spitting, let the little guy out and watch for
a few minutes.

I've had fosters who went straight from the carrier to the general
population in hours, and some it took months. Give it a shot.

Exactly... I recently introduced a new cat (about a 1 year old
neutered male) to my older cats (a 3.5 year old neutered male and a 2.5
year old spayed female) and my dog. I had planned on keeping the new
cat in a closed room for a couple of days to a week, but he INSISTED
that the door be left open (as soon as the door was closed, he'd
scratch at it like he wanted to dig through, but once it was opened,
he'd relax on the top of the cat tree and just observe the doorway). He
stayed in the room for at least 3 days before coming out, but he wanted
to have a view of what was going on in the hallway. The other cats and
the dog hung out in the doorway for those 3 days so they all maintained
their personal boundaries while getting a good look at each other.
Then, once Gillie decided to come out, he pretty much fit in. The
issue is that the personalities of all the individuals involved is
pretty laid back. None of them are particularly territorial. If there
had been any major issues I'd have kept them separated for longer. The
trick is to watch them and take your cues from their behaviors.

Katrina


--
History: special people in special places at special times
Anthropology: everyone else the rest of the time
-KWorley, 1997

Stephen When we got Ka' Shay just a few months ago the closed door
routine lasted 2 days they wanted to know who was here and what the heck
was going on. We open the room up but kept Ka' Shay in a cat carrier she
was just 6 weeks old.

Everyone did there thing except for my spirit who wanted her out of the
carrier now every time she cried he talked right back to her. After 2
more days we open the carrier up and kept a close eye on the pack. Away
she and spirit went started wrestling around. He became her big brother if
she cried he was there wanting to know what was going on and why she was
crying. I got nipped quite a few times when I would not put her down when
she was crying to be let down.

Every cat and household is different if no hissing or angry furballs open
door watch to see if there is if not let them do their thing


wrote in message
ups.com...
We have a new kitten (lovely Russian blue) and an 8 year old calico. We
have been trying to make the introduction slow and gentle. The kitten
is in our upstairs bathroom with the door closed. The idea (given to us
from the breeder) is to let the cats (especially the cat we've had for
years) get used to each others smells for a week, and then let them see
each other face-to-face.

So far, the older cat will hang out in front of the door from time to
time. She stretches there playfully, so I'm wondering if a full 7 days
is necessary. Today is Friday, and the kitten, who's getting a little
stir-crazy, has been at our home since Monday.

Thanks for suggestions!

Stephen

On Fri, 27 Oct 2006, Lynne wrote:

on Fri, 27 Oct 2006 22:49:10 GMT, Eva Quesnell wrote:

If
they play and act like they're getting rough, you can gauge how
serious it is by seeing if the bigger cat stops what she is doing when
the little one screams, it means your older cat understands that she's
scaring the little one.

in our house, it's the older cat who screams, and the little one never
stops! I'm surprised my older cat hasn't beaten the snot out of this
kitten yet. On the flip side, my older cat, Rudy, is even more
affectionate than usual since we got little evil Levi.

Lynne

Yeah, that makes sense. The little one hasn't learned yet that biting
hurts. Your older cat sounds very patient. They usually are. It's rare
to find kitties who won't get along eventually. I do have a little black
cat I trapped as a 3-month old feral. She hates my white kitty with a
passion. He's the sweetest cat, but she simply cannot abide him. They
don't fight, tho. She hisses if he walks in the room or if she jumps on
the bed and he's already there. He just ducks his head and waits till
she's over her hissy fit! Upon the rarest occasion, they will play a wild
chasing game.

Eva

Well, after over a month I'm happy to report that the transition went
well. The older cat did not hiss much at first and only sulked from
time to time.

Now though the cats play together and generally get along well. Our
older cat is not quite as social or tolerant of loud toddlers, and
since she (the calico) outweighs the female Russian blue, she has no
trouble wrestling her down when the kitten is too high energy for her.

The Russian blue has turned out to be a wonderful, people oriented,
toddler tolerant family pet.

Stephen