- Joined
- Jun 22, 2018
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Hi all!
I've been a bit anxious about my decision. I adopted a new kitten a few days ago and she's a total sweetheart. From the looks of it she was separated from her mom very early on because she's been to 5 foster homes before I got her. She seems to treat humans very positively and also treats me as her playmate (gentle biting, grabbing of hands, etc -- a habit I'm hoping to slowly get rid of by redirecting her to toys and never letting her continue playing with my hands). My existing 2 kittens never do this because they socialized with each other from birth and also because I never played with them with my hands.
Tofu (new kitten, 8 weeks and 3 days old) is a VERY active kitten. She seems to sleep less 20 hours a day actually. Therefore I'm concerned that she needs a lot of interaction to grow up healthily. I honestly thought that 4 months wasn't that much older than 2 months, but I think I was really wrong.
I've been going through the initial stages of introduction -- exchanges of scent so far. Ashes (the more sensitive of my 2 kittens) has been hissing at Tofu's door a lot and also he's hissed at her scent NONSTOP when I brought it in -- I didn't shove it in his face, I just put it on the floor. He had the same reaction at the vet where he would hiss at anyone new passing by or even at the lady taking his weight. He just hates anyone new, because he's a scaredy cat.
Shadow is a lot calmer, and he's actually seen Tofu and didn't hiss at her at all until she hissed at him. Then he hissed back. This was when I first brought her in, and they haven't interacted since (always separated).
I'm planning to continue this scent exchange until Monday when my ordered cat-gate arrives and then start a proper visual introduction with treats and all.
I brought in a toy of hers for them to investigate and Ashes took the lead in approaching it and smelling it and hisses and growls ensued. The interesting thing was Shadow interpreted the hisses as Ashes defending the toy from him so he hissed back at Ashes which has never happened before. They had a bit of a eye contact stare-down before I broke it. Shadow had some alone time with the toy when he approached it and smelled it with no hissing. Totally clam. But -- he started kind of tossing the toy around aggressively and playing with it, and I didn't want him to associate the smell with "prey" so I quickly took it away after.
My worry is that based on Ashes' aggressive reaction to the scent alone, my 2 bonded kittens will never accept the newcomer when I can see that she desperately needs play buddies. Has it been known to happen where a pair of older kittens accepts a new one? If they get along and play together, will they end up accidentally hurting her? She seems to have been underfed, so she's a smaller size than they were when I got them at 8 weeks old.
If the introduction fails next week OR it succeeds but they largely just ignore her, should I return her to the shelter? I don't care about the lost costs ($400 ish so far), I just want her to have a good life growing up. A good home where she can get a healthy amount of exercise without fearing 2 bigger kittens or being ignored by them.
Advise greatly appreciated. Picture of Tofu attached. She loves sleeping with humans over sleeping in a cat bed. Shaved belly because of being spayed 2 days ago.
I've been a bit anxious about my decision. I adopted a new kitten a few days ago and she's a total sweetheart. From the looks of it she was separated from her mom very early on because she's been to 5 foster homes before I got her. She seems to treat humans very positively and also treats me as her playmate (gentle biting, grabbing of hands, etc -- a habit I'm hoping to slowly get rid of by redirecting her to toys and never letting her continue playing with my hands). My existing 2 kittens never do this because they socialized with each other from birth and also because I never played with them with my hands.
Tofu (new kitten, 8 weeks and 3 days old) is a VERY active kitten. She seems to sleep less 20 hours a day actually. Therefore I'm concerned that she needs a lot of interaction to grow up healthily. I honestly thought that 4 months wasn't that much older than 2 months, but I think I was really wrong.
I've been going through the initial stages of introduction -- exchanges of scent so far. Ashes (the more sensitive of my 2 kittens) has been hissing at Tofu's door a lot and also he's hissed at her scent NONSTOP when I brought it in -- I didn't shove it in his face, I just put it on the floor. He had the same reaction at the vet where he would hiss at anyone new passing by or even at the lady taking his weight. He just hates anyone new, because he's a scaredy cat.
Shadow is a lot calmer, and he's actually seen Tofu and didn't hiss at her at all until she hissed at him. Then he hissed back. This was when I first brought her in, and they haven't interacted since (always separated).
I'm planning to continue this scent exchange until Monday when my ordered cat-gate arrives and then start a proper visual introduction with treats and all.
I brought in a toy of hers for them to investigate and Ashes took the lead in approaching it and smelling it and hisses and growls ensued. The interesting thing was Shadow interpreted the hisses as Ashes defending the toy from him so he hissed back at Ashes which has never happened before. They had a bit of a eye contact stare-down before I broke it. Shadow had some alone time with the toy when he approached it and smelled it with no hissing. Totally clam. But -- he started kind of tossing the toy around aggressively and playing with it, and I didn't want him to associate the smell with "prey" so I quickly took it away after.
My worry is that based on Ashes' aggressive reaction to the scent alone, my 2 bonded kittens will never accept the newcomer when I can see that she desperately needs play buddies. Has it been known to happen where a pair of older kittens accepts a new one? If they get along and play together, will they end up accidentally hurting her? She seems to have been underfed, so she's a smaller size than they were when I got them at 8 weeks old.
If the introduction fails next week OR it succeeds but they largely just ignore her, should I return her to the shelter? I don't care about the lost costs ($400 ish so far), I just want her to have a good life growing up. A good home where she can get a healthy amount of exercise without fearing 2 bigger kittens or being ignored by them.
Advise greatly appreciated. Picture of Tofu attached. She loves sleeping with humans over sleeping in a cat bed. Shaved belly because of being spayed 2 days ago.
