Hissing Adult Kitten

[catlover73]

I recently adopted a new 5 month old male kitten last Saturday.  I have 3 other cats.  Two of my cats are fine with my kitten. One of my cats has already bonded with my kitten Apollo.

My 6 year old female has not stopped hissing at him yet.  She does not do anything else besides hissing.  Apollo was hissing back at her but he has stopped.  Starbuck hisses at him and then runs away from him.  Apollo is fixed already and so are my other cats.

The main issue I am having is that Starbuck seems to be trying to guard my bed.  Apollo goes on the bed but does not go near her or her sleeping space.  She tries to run him off the bed.  He ignores her and just goes back to sleep.  She either hisses and goes back to sleep or runs away.

Would it be helpful for Starbuck if I put a feliway diffuser in my bedroom?

I am currently just letting her complain since that is all she is doing.  Starbuck did the same thing to Sonny intially but it stopped after a few weeks.  Neither cat is showing any signs of aggression toward each other. Starbuck is a small cat.

 

[txcatmom]

 Apollo goes on the bed but does not go near her or her sleeping space.

If I'm understanding things correctly it sounds like Starbuck is communicating to Apollo to give her space and he is listening.  Great social skills on both their parts.  Sounds like it is going well for such a short time.  Enjoy the new addition.  We are finding four cats to be a fun number at our house. 

A feliway diffuser could certainly help calm tensions.  I love the calming spray they sell at PetSmart too.  (Right now we are using Nature's Miracle brand.)  With a spray you have to keep reapplying it though (to soft fabric things like bedding or carpeting.)  I spray the calming spray over the thresholds of our carpeted living room most nights before I go to bed.  My cats are all friends but they have their testy moments with each other like any family. 

 

[catlover73]

If I'm understanding things correctly it sounds like Starbuck is communicating to Apollo to give her space and he is listening.  Great social skills on both their parts.  Sounds like it is going well for such a short time.  Enjoy the new addition.  We are finding four cats to be a fun number at our house. 

A feliway diffuser could certainly help calm tensions.  I love the calming spray they sell at PetSmart too.  (Right now we are using Nature's Miracle brand.)  With a spray you have to keep reapplying it though (to soft fabric things like bedding or carpeting.)  I spray the calming spray over the thresholds of our carpeted living room most nights before I go to bed.  My cats are all friends but they have their testy moments with each other like any family. 

I am really happy with the way things are going so far.  We had some concerns with how Starbuck would react to a new family member.  She is a great cat but can be very moody.  I think she also needs more time to adjust to sharing her daddy.  She does not like it when she sees Apollo in daddy's lap.  I also think this is part of why she is still hissing at him.  She also does it after he is in daddy's lap.  I am glad that it seems like they are communicating well.

Starbuck was not properly socialized when we adopted her since some jerk abandoned her by throwing her out a car window when she was 4 weeks old. We adopted her a 6 weeks old.  Tegato my senior male kitty really did a good job teaching her boundaries and manners.