Confused by resident cat behaviour towards new kitten

ArtyCat

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Hi,

I've ended up here as i'm in need of some advice concerning the behaviour of my resident Male(4Y) Norwegian Forest mix towards our new Male(4M) Ragdoll kitten.

Before our new kitten arrived we spent a significant time researching how to introduce our kitten to our resident cat. This paired with the fact that our resident boy gets along with another cat that sometimes appears on the terras we were convinced everything would work out eventually. As expected the during the initial meeting the kitten was met with a curt hiss. Now that our resident boy was aware of the new kitten we separated them for a couple of days. Allowing the kitten to get used to us and the house before adding the additional challenge of dealing with another cat.

As it turns out our kitten is quite confident and is making himself at home. Occasionally we would section parts of the house of by closing a door allowing the kitten to explore without disturbing the resident cat, additionally it also added more scent stimulation for the resident cat once the doors were put back to their original position.

Unfortunately, during one of these moments our kitten had managed to slip by us and confront the resident cat. Unsurprisingly a hissing fit followed.
We once again separated them as we had not intended for them to confront each other yet. After some time we allowed them to meet, separated by a glass door. This seemed to go quite well, our resident boy did not hiss and seemed genuinely interested. Slowly we created a bigger gap until both of them were chilling on the floor next to each other. We then closed the door again, happy with the days progress. We repeated this the next day, this is when our resident boy started to behave strangely.

He essentially made a 180 flip in behaviour changing from reclusive anxiety to full out stalking the kitten and swatting at him. The change was so sudden that it caught us completely of guard.The best i can explain this is by describing the events of that evening.

We were supervising the kitten exploring the living room while the resident cat was chilling under the dining table. When the kitten turned a corner i noticed our resident cat going prone and his pupils dialating, classic signs of pouncing i guess, he would then proceed to race around the corner and stop when he sa the kitten again, rinse and repeat. I didn't think much of it until it started escalating to what seemed like genuin Stalking behaviour as he does when chasing bugs or rodents. He now follows the kitten around in a stalking manner and once he finds a appropriate moment pounces, essentially ambushing him, him and delivers several quite hard sounding swats straight to the kittens face, the kitten will occasionally hit back but is mostly overwhelmed. The resident cat would do this repeatedly so we separated them once again.

Additionally, when opening the kittens room door recently the adult cat came running up the stares and took up an ambushing spot outside the door.
Me knowing what he was up to held the kitten in my hands and slowly edged it closer to the portal, shielding it with my hands. Sure enough a powerful swat followed combined with what sounded like a half cough, half hiss.

I read online that swatting is to be expected as they learn to respect boundaries but this behaviour seemed to extreme and is worrying.
I'd appreciate some feedback and or advice, perhaps we're taking incorrect steps?

Thx In Advance!!
 

Mamanyt1953

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What, exactly, is "after some time?" Although older cats usually become accustomed to kittens fairly easily, not all do. Introductions between cats can take weeks to be successful. Time and patience are on your side. I'm going to give you links to several articles about cat introductions...each one will have something that the others don't.

How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction – TheCatSite Articles
How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide – TheCatSite Articles
Introducing Cats To Cats – TheCatSite Articles
How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat – TheCatSite Articles

I will tell you that if your kitten was not injured by one of these "attacks" it was almost certainly more of a "I am going to teach you your manners and who is boss here" thing than a serious attempt to harm. Those interactions look, and often sound, far worse than they are. However, the safe money is on being vigilant.
 
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ArtyCat

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What, exactly, is "after some time?" Although older cats usually become accustomed to kittens fairly easily, not all do. Introductions between cats can take weeks to be successful. Time and patience are on your side. I'm going to give you links to several articles about cat introductions...each one will have something that the others don't.

How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction – TheCatSite Articles
How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide – TheCatSite Articles
Introducing Cats To Cats – TheCatSite Articles
How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat – TheCatSite Articles

I will tell you that if your kitten was not injured by one of these "attacks" it was almost certainly more of a "I am going to teach you your manners and who is boss here" thing than a serious attempt to harm. Those interactions look, and often sound, far worse than they are. However, the safe money is on being vigilant.
Thank you for your reply. The process took about one and a half weeks and in retrospect that might have been to fast. We’ve moved back to step one and are keeping them separated without contact. Last night they were sniffing each other under the door and trying to paw at each other without any signs of aggression.

On the side what’s the best way of moving a kitten to scheduled feeding so we can try out feeding them on opposite sides of the door (not the glass one) or perhaps is putting our resident boy’s bowl at the door during meal time already sufficient.

We’ll maintain feeding our resident boy this way until we feel like he’s more comfortable. With the situation. We’re also trying to spend several hours with the kitten in the room each day as to keep it company and play with it. Unfortunately he seems quite attached and will often meow when we leave the room. Is it best to ignore this behaviour as not to ingrain into him that we come back when he meows?

Once again thank you for the links they are helpful!
 

Kflowers

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Since the kitten will still need to eat 4 or 5 times a day, and older cat will not, but may feel slighted if kitten is fed and he isn't, you'll need two places to feed the kitten. One by the door when the older cat is fed and one as far away from the door and older cat as you can get.
 
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