1 Year Old Kitty Throwing Up After We Brought Home New Kitten

[Mzion]

Hey guys so my first kitty has been with us for a little over a year, we decided that since he is still young that he may like a friend to bond with. Since bring home our new little addition our boy has seemed off. He would go up to the door of the room we are keeping the little girl in amd sniff and hiss. She would hiss back. I tried giving him his food at the door so he would have good feeling when near her. A few minuets after eating he threw up. I'm worried that he wont adjust, it is early and I know it takes a while for cats to bond. Any tips in helping both cats feel more comfortable would be apprechiated.

 

[stephanietx]

It could be stress related. Are you running any calming agents in your home such as Feliway diffusers? That might help. You might also want to read through this article on introducing cats. How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide

 

[Notacrazycatlady]

It could be fear on his part. When my niece's cat, Riddle, was staying with me and I ended up with a new kitten. Riddle would hiss every time he heard or saw Leo to the point where I was worried about the two of them being out together. After a week of quarantine, I started swapping--Leo out to play with my first cat, Angus (who gets along well with pretty much any cat so far in spite of his lack of kitty etiquette skills) while Riddle was shut up and when I wasn't home, Leo was confined and Riddle and Angus would be out. I allowed Riddle and Leo to be out together supervised after a week and a half or so and as long as Leo left him alone, Riddle just watched from a safe distance. After watching Leo and Angus play together for a week, Riddle actually started joining in their play and at one point even initiated play with Leo! By the three week mark, aside from Leo showing some food aggression, the three of them were getting along fine.

I did get a calming collar for Riddle to help him with anxiety--he doesn't deal with change well which was why my niece left him with me while they packed up their place and moved to a nearby city. The collar had a noticeable affect on his stress level.

One of my feral boys hisses at me when I bring breakfast out every morning. Clarence is right by my feet (I am not allowed to touch him), he's right there practically touching me as I set his dish down, but I get a token hiss from him as if he's reminding me that he's a bad*ss cat and I shouldn't mess with him.

I'm just saying, the hissing might not be aggression toward the newbie, but fear of an unknown cat who might represent a threat to him.

 

[B21999999]

We just went through our first integration with 2 year old resident and 3 month old kitten, and we did have an issue of the resident throwing up once. She has anxiety issues about being alone (developed crystalline urine issues) so the vet suggested we try a companion to see if that helps. The beginning was rough for the resident cat, she didn't eat or use the litter box for long stretches. One night she did throw up, but we figured it could have been a combination of nerves and her eating the kitten's dry food during room swaps. It's been a couple weeks and now they're great friends, and they hit new milestones every day (from not hissing, to playing together, to using the same litter box, to eating out of the same bowl, to now grooming one another). It was pretty hairy at first though!