Introducing cats in ONEROOM??

[Insaneslugg]

I’m renting out only one room in a basement currently while I’m looking for an apartment. My little boy who I found as a stray showed up and I fell in love instantly and took him out, fixed him up and got hims neutered! He is about a year old I think and After about 5 months of having him * (almost 2 weeks ago) *I found another kitten who is 8 weeks. I took the kitten to the vet in hopes of finding someone there who wanted him; however, he came back with a clean bill of health and I ended up taking him home and named him Poki. I bought a cage for Poki to stay in at night until they got acquainted and only fed ozzy while Poki was out of the cage to eat with him. Ozzy gives Poki the death stare, he doesn’t hiss or growl but he pounces on Poki like he is prey and bites him hard, hard enough for Poki to scream, hiss and run away in fear only for Ozzy to chase him down multiple times doing the same thing until I have to break it up (no blood is drawn but Poki is so small) I try to play with them both to keep them interested, however Ozzy just want to focus on Poki and pounce on him! What do I do? The best separation I can do is keeping Poki in a cage but I feel terrible keeping him in there so often. I’ve had to kennel my kitten and then kennel my cat to let the kitten out to get a chance to exercise without getting beat up. Im really conflicted on what to do, I’ve tried feeding them together *(which the eat together FINE, Ozzy doesn’t care that the kitten eats right beside him or even out of the SAME PLATE)* and playing together, staying distracted which is easy for my kitten and he minds his own business while and my older cat won’t take his eyes off of him and springs into action to attack him instead, my kitten is fearful of my older cat. I bought a calming Collar and a multi cat diffuser and at this point I feel like I’m just waiting until my kitten gets bigger to atleast stand up for himself :/
*Side note* I had to take both cats to my parents house and my cat was nice to the kitten! Even snuggled with him, and groomed him, which was a huge deal; however, as soon as we got back home he went right back to attacking my kitten, making him scream, and chasing him like he is food. I’m at my wits end, I love them both so much and only want ozzy to atleast not attack Poki for just existing.

 

[Insaneslugg]

*EDIT* also so everyone knows my kitten isn’t fixed but too young to be, and my older male cat IS fixed.

 

[ArtNJ]

Ozzy is acting normally. Year old cats are as crazy vigorous as kittens, but full size. Cats are predators, and they play by simulating hunting and fighting behaviors. Ozzy will not intentionally hurt the kitten, but the problem is that in the wild a cat such as Ozzy woud not have access to such a tiny kitten to play with -- momma cat would prevent it. So they don't necessarily know how to adjust their play down for the tiny size of a super young kitten. An 8 week old is literally 50% of the size of a 12 week old -- a huge difference. Even older kittens will sometimes squeal and seek to disengage from an older cat, but the fact that Poki is actually screaming is a bit concerning. Its not necessarily a great problem -- kittens can be drama queens. How does Poki act towards Ozzy when play is done? Does he still hide, or does he come back in 5 minutes and act like nothing happened? Maybe even initiating play at times? If Poki is not holding a grudge, that is a big clue that this is not any great problem.

Certainly you should should be watching closely. The questionis whether you need to use the bathroom to keep them separated for a few weeks as Poki grows (12 week old kitten being 50% bigger than an 8 week old). Hopefully not, because using your only bathroom for that is super hard! A covered playpen would be easier for you, if you have access to one. But is it truly necessary? Watch how Poki acts after play is over for clues as to whether this is ok or not. Its probably ok, but 8 weeks is certainly kind of borderline, an age where it isn't totally impossible for an accidental injury to occur due to the massive size difference. That said, we have people introduce 1 year olds to 8 week old kittens all the time, and I can't recall ever hearing of an actual injury to the kitten. So yeah, whatever it looks like, probably fine.

 

[Insaneslugg]

thank you so much! I needed to hear this and have some reassurance, this is great thank you!

 

[ArtNJ]

No problem at all. Watching a one year old play rough with a kitten is legit freaky if its the first time you've seen it, so it is a very frequent topic here. Your being concerned is normal. In fact, sometimes folks on here do recommend waiting a couple of weeks, just to be 100% safe, but I like to keep it real and know how incredibly difficult separation is in a one bedroom or studio. And it is a general truth that you can trust the kitten. If the kitten is cool with the big cat outside of play and not always fearful and hiding, that is a powerful signal. Similarly, its also true that despite the hundreds of similar posts, I can't recall one where a kitten was actually hurt by an over enthusiastic adult.

All of that said, since you have actual screaming from the kitten, as opposed to the more common squealing, perhaps taking a video for us to watch and listen too would be a good abundance-of-caution step.