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I have had my 3 year old spayed female shelter cat ever since she was 10 weeks old. She is not very social when people come to visit me. If she isn't comfortable and people try to put their hands in her face, she will snap at you. She has actually biten people. She is very moody and not 100% friendly. She gets annoyed easily. Otherwise, she is very loving to me. She can be sweet to other people if they are patient with her. I live alone and just moved from a small apartment to a 2 story house. I have been there for about a month now and my 3 year old seems to have adjusted well.
SO............I decided to ruin this happy home and get a 10 week old kitten from the shelter. I was volunteering there and just feel in love. The kitten is a neutered male. As soon as I brought him home 4 days ago, I have kept him confined in a 2nd bedroom. The vet says I have to for 2 - 3 weeks. He has ear mites and might be getting a cold.
My 3 year old female has been very curious and I have caught her sitting in front of the kitten's door and just watching it. She has hissed a few times when she catches a glimpse of him. When I go into the room, my 3 yr old just sits there in front of the door and tries to look under. I opened the door a crack to say hello to her and she hissed at me. When I come out of the room, she is super sweet to me and doesnt seem too bothered. I have kept her routine up and try to give her even extra attention. I want this to be a happy union.
How do I know if she will accept this kitten and not kill him? She has biten people before and can be very moody. I'm so scared to upset her. We have been friends for 3 years now. :o) I have read to put a towel with the kitten's scent under her food dishes so she associates his scent with something pleasurable like eating. I just want to be safe and not sorry. Are there warning signs?
SO............I decided to ruin this happy home and get a 10 week old kitten from the shelter. I was volunteering there and just feel in love. The kitten is a neutered male. As soon as I brought him home 4 days ago, I have kept him confined in a 2nd bedroom. The vet says I have to for 2 - 3 weeks. He has ear mites and might be getting a cold.
My 3 year old female has been very curious and I have caught her sitting in front of the kitten's door and just watching it. She has hissed a few times when she catches a glimpse of him. When I go into the room, my 3 yr old just sits there in front of the door and tries to look under. I opened the door a crack to say hello to her and she hissed at me. When I come out of the room, she is super sweet to me and doesnt seem too bothered. I have kept her routine up and try to give her even extra attention. I want this to be a happy union.
How do I know if she will accept this kitten and not kill him? She has biten people before and can be very moody. I'm so scared to upset her. We have been friends for 3 years now. :o) I have read to put a towel with the kitten's scent under her food dishes so she associates his scent with something pleasurable like eating. I just want to be safe and not sorry. Are there warning signs?
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Re: New kitten with Old cat... Need advise :o)
Wed, July 30, 2008 - 4:48 PMHer curiosity is a very good sign. Very good. I'm sure there are lots of tips on those links. I like using the Feliway Comfort Zone plug-ins too, and I like rubbing one cat with a dry washcloth and then rubbing the other cat with the washcloth too to transfer the scent from each to each. I've had a situation very much like your own, but the first cat didn't even like *me* very much, and she really disliked the rambunctious kitten and rejected all his overtures, hissed, swatted, growled, etc. My housemates one day found the two of them sleeping separately, far apart from each other, and gently placed the kitten so he was sleeping with her. I was scared to death. Somehow the shift didn't wake either of them for awhile. The older one woke first, saw the kitten next to her, and all of us witnessed that cranky cat fall in love on the spot. She adored him, completely, from that point on. This should work out great. If she were bolting from the house and hiding from him, that'd be harder. -
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Re: New kitten with Old cat... Need advise :o)
Thu, July 31, 2008 - 10:49 AMYay!!! Thank you so much for this positive information. It has now been 6 days and my older cat doesn't seem bothered at all anymore that there is a cat staying in the other room. She has actually been even more loving and warm to me. Instead of sleeping at the end of the bed, she sleeps with her head on my shoulder.
I feel that the union might be a good one. I still have that tiny fear of something going wrong though....
I can't wait for the kitten to be healthy so I can start this process. She has 4 more days of medicine for her ear mites and she has very watery eyes which might be the beginning stages of a URI. -
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Re: New kitten with Old cat... Need advise :o)
Thu, July 31, 2008 - 10:51 AMWow! I'm so used to a female cat that I keep calling my male kitten a "she"!!! LOL!!! Whoops! -
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Re: New kitten with Old cat... Need advise :o)
Thu, July 31, 2008 - 11:26 AMoh, somehow I missed that the kitten wasn't totally well -- so don't do the washcloth things!!!!! -
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Re: New kitten with Old cat... Need advise :o)
Mon, August 4, 2008 - 11:50 AMMy next door neighbor introduced two kittens just weaned off of their mother (9wks at the time) to his two "old ladies" Squeak (8 y.o.) and Princess (4-1/2 y.o.)a couple of months ago...Squeak is rather antisocial and despises Princess but is very patient with the kittens and lets them nuzzle up to her and play a bit with her before she remembers herself and shoos them away and Princess went from hating them for the first several days to being their surrogate mom She frets if she loses sight of George and Gracie (the kittens) she occasionally allows Gracie to dry-nurse her and she loves to pin George down and groom him relentlessly, for which he goes belly-up and purrs like a little chainsaw...so the first week notwithstanding, they have been quite the little family for almost two months now -
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Re: New kitten with Old cat... Need advise :o)
Tue, August 5, 2008 - 10:02 AMAww that sounds just precious!!! :o)
I still have the kitten confined to the spare room because he has been a little sick. This Friday will be 2 weeks and if he is all better, I will start the introduciton process.
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Re: New kitten with Old cat... Need advise :o)
Sun, August 31, 2008 - 3:35 PMSummer, your situation sounds exactly like mine! Our 4 year old spayed female cat is not happy that we've introduced a male kitten into the house. She rejects efforts to get her to enter the den, Shadow's "home'". Meanwhile, Shadow is not longer sick and he's become very frisky. He permits himself to be petted, even demanding to be petted. He appears to be very content living in the den. We've encourage him to leave the den and explore the house but so far no luck. He doesn't appear interested in doing so. We will try the idea of rubbing him and Smo-Khe with the same washcloth to familiarize each with the other and we'll see how it goes...but how do we get him to leave the den?
Norm
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Unsu...
Completely normal
Mon, November 10, 2008 - 10:07 AMHi there-
I have had cats my whole life---that's 33 yrs. What you have described is completely normal. When I adopted my cat Lily, she was the only kitty. My previous kitty had recently passed away. When she was about 3 or 4 months, I rescued a dying cat from the street gutter. Lily did exactly what your 3 yr. old did. She'd sit outside the room, very curious. When I went in the room & closed the door, she'd cry & cry for me. However, I did introduce them when Daisy had regained strength after her starvation. The hissing is just normal cat behavior. It is very rare for a female cat to attack & harm/kill a kitten. That is usually what Tom cats (unneutered males) do to remove competition. Let them get to know each other, under your supervision, & before you know it they should be best pals!
Adopting the 10 wk. old is most likely NOT a mistake. Good luck! -
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Unsu...
Re: Completely normal
Mon, November 10, 2008 - 10:13 AMAlso, make sure that the kitten doesn't have feline leukemia before introducing them, especially if your 3 yr. old isn't vaccinated! Feline leukemia is getting worse in the US--more cats are spreading it than are being treated. I used to work in a vet's office & the leuk patients were so heartbreaking. There's no cure!
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