This is normal behavior. I never brought a new cat home without at least one week of total hell.
I know it's not comforting, but cats are very territorial, and most don't like having someone new invading their house.
One of my sister's cats is just now accepting her newest kitten, six months after she got the little one. My two have been together two months, and my older one is just getting to the point where she doesn't growl at the young one *all* the time.
Millie - I am moving your question to the behavior forum where you will get more responses!
Thank you for joining us.........
Oh the joys of introductions in the kitty world.....
Since you didn't give any information on what the older cat is doing to the new kitten it's hard to for me to say how to solve the problem. One, you might have moved the introduction a little too quickly for your older cat and she really didn't have much time to adjust to the new kitty.
I'm not sure on how long you've had your older kitty for but it sounds like she's been the only cat in household(?) for some time and doesn't like her space beening invaded by a pesky little kitten. This may be something that will take time for her to adjust. You may have to reintroduce them again if things persist, only this time taking it a little slower.
If you find that you need to re-introduce the cats, please go to this page...it has links to three other pages that discuss the best ways to bring a new cat into a house where another cat lives. Good luck!
I just recently got a cat, a kitten, born February 26th. Cute white kitty. Don't know yet if it is female or male. It makes a lot of noise and was taken from its mom too early. I have a cat, a female, that is declawed and been fixed. Millie has been the
"goddess" of the house for a year almost. I kind of introduced the cats too early. Millie pats the little kitty on the head, growls, hisses, and was trying to bite the kitty a couple of times. She has a stuffed kitty about the size of our new kitty. I keep the little kitty in the bathroom. I havea small apartment, it is like two and half rooms plus the bathroom.
Millie is getting a little better everyday. I know about the towel method, and all. I plan on keeping them seperate when I am not at home. I spend quality time with both. What do u think? I just thought that I should praise Millie when she is nice, and probably pop Millie on the butt with a flip flop when she is mean, with a firm voice.
I just recently got a cat, a kitten, born February 26th. Cute white kitty. Don't know yet if it is female or male. It makes a lot of noise and was taken from its mom too early. I have a cat, a female, been fixed. Millie has been the
"goddess" of the house for a year almost. I kind of introduced the cats too early. Millie pats the little kitty on the head, growls, hisses, and was trying to bite the kitty a couple of times. She has a stuffed kitty about the size of our new kitty. I keep the little kitty in the bathroom. I havea small apartment, it is like two and half rooms plus the bathroom.
Physical punishment towards Millie won't change a thing except make her weary of you. In stead of just spending quality time with them seperately try spending it with them together.
Get some goodies, something that Millie really loves, hamburger, turkey, cream cheese and even a couple of her favorite toys and play with them both together, giving Millie and the kitten the treats every so often. Do this a couple times a day if you can.
The goal of this is to show Millie that maybe having the little rascal around won't be so bad and it can even be a good experience. With time Mille should come around hopefully and if they don't become best buddies don't worry. Some cats will never get along but they can tolarate each other's presence.:tounge2:
The 2 cats really shouldn't have any unsupervised contact until the kitten is at least 2 months old. A kitten that young is very vulnerable. I would not let your older cat sniff the baby without you holding it and protecting it. The longer the kitten is there and your older cat smells it, the more she will get used to it and accept it. It takes them weeks to months to get used to the idea of a new cat in the house. It is very sad that someone let these kittens go so very early.
As for tapping your older cat on the rear. It's never a good idea to use that form of punishment. The best way to disipline cats is by making a loud noise and giving a firm no. When she acts aggressive, clap, tell her no and scoot her out of the room. Once she is more familiar with the smells of the new cat, she should be fine.
I am not sure if you are familiar with the procedure or the possible effects of declawing. You might want to research the subject before it's time to get the new addition altered. When they declaw a cat they amputate the first knuckle. It's not as simple as it may seem. It often leaves cats with emotional problems, pain, and artheritis when they get to the teen years. This is a good webpage to read. http://community-2.webtv.net/zuzu22/STOPDECLAWCOM/
Well, Sandie already said it all, but I'm gonna say it anyway!
Please please don't hit your kitty. One, it's just mean. Two, cats don't really have much of an attention span and don't associate the punishment with the action. Just tell your cat no in a firm voice. Use the same word each time. For example, when my kitten gets too rough with me, I say "Gentle" in a firm voice.
And please check out Sandie's link on declawing. even if it really were just removing the nail, would you want that done to you? But it isn't. It is a horrible maiming procedure and can lead to the cat acting out in other ways because it has been deprived of part of its body.
Quoted from a newspaper link from Anne's post "Friends of Pets doesn't believe in declawing. In lieu of their claws, cats bite and become aggressive. The declawing procedure severs the claw at what would be the first knuckle in humans, she said. Initially, it becomes painful to use regular kitty litter, which is hard. In England, it is illegal to declaw cats, legislation she would welcome here."
I would suggest making sure when you give the kitten attention, give the other cat attention too. Don't let him get jealous or think he is being replaced.
I thought my one year old cat(at the time)was turning on me because we brought 2 new kittens into our home. He would hiss constantly and sit in corners, under chairs, and just be plain mean. It wasn't until 3 days later until he came around to somewhat accept the kitties. I felt soooo bad for him, and the kittens because they would hide from him when he hissed. He just needed time to adjust to not being the one cat in the household. They would play with his toys, share the litter box, drink/eat from the same bowls. He came around though, and now he's best buddies with Cleopatra...
My Whiskers did the same thing when he was about one and a half, and we got our 2nd baby, Velcro. Whiskers hissed and growled and batted at the new kitten, he was very "hacked off" about the whole thing for a while. Once they got along without the hissing and growling, Whiskers would use this nice little ploy, "Look, I like him! I'm licking him...." Lick, lick, lick, then he would CHOMP on his neck, like prey. I had to watch him pretty closely. Finally, Velcro got big enough to hold his own, then they would chase each other around the house and wrestle (not really fighting, as no ears back or growling). 8 years later, they still chase each other around the house, every day. And either one of them can "Start" it!
How are your cats doing together? I brought home a new kitten in December to my 3 year old. She was very territorial, and she was mad for about 3-4 months. Tonight I was watching them chase each other's tails and rumble and tumble on the ground, then they started giving each other a bath. Don't give up!!!!! It does get better!!