Introducing kittens to resident teenage cats - eek, the hissing! Am I doing this right?

[catlover1717]

I‘m not really sure how well the introduction of two new kittens (8 weeks) to our resident cats (both almost 2 years old) is going. This is the first time we’ve ever had young kittens. The kittens have been placed in our spacious master bathroom with a mini cat tree and blankets + toys galore. For a week the door was totally closed and after a few days we did some scent swapping. Our resident cats were nervous at first when they smelled the new kittens on our hands/items.

When the resident cats no longer responded with fear to these scents and began sitting/laying outside the bathroom door (the kittens were never scared of the resident cat smells) we set up a gate that separates them but allows them to see one another. Dun dun dun! The moment of truth. The kittens did a little bit of “Halloween cat” posturing and poofing up, as well as a few hisses. At first the resident kitties were fine, just looking at the kittens with no hissing or other vocalizations. Definitely curious. But today the male hissed a few times at them while they were playing. A few hours later I fed the kittens their wet food near the gate and then my resident female cat got a squeeze treat on the other side since she was in the room. She hissed multiple times between licks and that set off one of the kittens who began growling a little while eating.

I’m a little apprehensive. When we adopted the resident pair they were advertised as loving every cat they ever met, which was true in the case of our previous senior resident who passed away a while back. It was love (and obsession) at first sight for them, though the senior was a lot less thrilled. LOL! But now that THEY’RE the resident cats and newbies have been brought in, it’s less smooth. Maybe kittens are more frightening than old kitties? I don’t want to let them mingle together until all hissing has ceased. I definitely will not rush that final stage. Plus the kittens have some roundworm so I want that cleared beforehand.

I do have three Feliway plug-ins going, one classic and two multicat. Is there anything else I can do? I know hissing is normal but I’m so anxious for this to work out alright in the end.

 

[ArtNJ]

Hissing with a gate up is totally normal. Thats sort of the whole purpose of the gate, to let them express stress, see that nothing bad comes from it, and get over it. Its most likely going to be totally fine since your adult cats are only two years old, and that makes it a lot easier, on average. I agree that you should wait until the hissing is done. Keep in mind that you might and probably will get more hissing once you let them mingle, because mingling is more stressful than looking through a gate. Thats normal too. There is very close to zero risk of adults hurting kittens this young, so its almost as good as having a gate up. You can just let them get over it. This is true even if the adults give a "get away from me" swat now and then. Where it gets a little dicey is when the adults charge at the kittens and chain swat them. That is rare though, and if you get unlucky come back and we can talk about where to go from there. For the most part, once the hissing stops with the gate up, you can just let them work it out, and with cats this young, they will likely end up friends within days of unlimited mingling. My current cats, the adult did about two days of suspiciously following the kitten around and hissing, and then they transitioned into friends.

 

[catlover1717]

Hissing with a gate up is totally normal. Thats sort of the whole purpose of the gate, to let them express stress, see that nothing bad comes from it, and get over it. Its most likely going to be totally fine since your adult cats are only two years old, and that makes it a lot easier, on average. I agree that you should wait until the hissing is done. Keep in mind that you might and probably will get more hissing once you let them mingle, because mingling is more stressful than looking through a gate. Thats normal too. There is very close to zero risk of adults hurting kittens this young, so its almost as good as having a gate up. You can just let them get over it. This is true even if the adults give a "get away from me" swat now and then. Where it gets a little dicey is when the adults charge at the kittens and chain swat them. That is rare though, and if you get unlucky come back and we can talk about where to go from there. For the most part, once the hissing stops with the gate up, you can just let them work it out, and with cats this young, they will likely end up friends within days of unlimited mingling. My current cats, the adult did about two days of suspiciously following the kitten around and hissing, and then they transitioned into friends.

Thanks for the reassurances! I think I tried feeding them too close together too soon. Guessing it was a case of each one feeling insecure and wanting the other to know this tasty stuff belonged to them. I get that. God knows when I order a pizza I don’t want to share. LOL!

Here’s hoping after their second roundworm treatment next week we’re all feeling a little more secure.

 

[ArtNJ]

Thanks for the reassurances! I think I tried feeding them too close together too soon. Guessing it was a case of each one feeling insecure and wanting the other to know this tasty stuff belonged to them. I get that. God knows when I order a pizza I don’t want to share. LOL!

Here’s hoping after their second roundworm treatment next week we’re all feeling a little more secure.

Well, the idea with feeding on opposite sides of the gate is to build positive experiences. If its stressful, you could feed them further apart and gradually move the bowls closer session to session. But personally, I'm not sure that it really does anything. If you get far enough apart that they are food focused, they are food focused and not thinking about the other cat, so how does it build positive experiences? If you think about it, its also a different therapeutic model then most cat introduction stuff. Most cat intro stuff we do is based on a desensitization model, which is like when therapist treats a human afraid of spiders by gradually moving a spider closer session to session. That is what scent exchange and the gate is about, desensitization. Building positive experiences is a different therapeutic model, and at least in humans, we don't try and combine the two. Imagine it, the therapist just went from spider in the cage at 10 feet to spider on his hand 6 feet from you. He says "your doing great! Here, have some ice cream!" Lol, not a natural combo of approaches, or maybe I'm just skeptical of the building positive experiences approach period, regardless of whether its combined with desnsitization. Imagine your significant other said, "I know you are afraid of flying, so lets sneek into the bathroom and get frisky, make the flight a positive experience! That ought to cure you!" I dont think that would work for anyone seriously afraid of flying??? Maybe it works in cats -- I haven't gone and looked for studies. But I wouldn't worry at all that it didn't work well for you -- if you want to keep trying the step, just start the dishes further apart.

 

[catlover1717]

Well, the idea with feeding on opposite sides of the gate is to build positive experiences. If its stressful, you could feed them further apart and gradually move the bowls closer session to session. But personally, I'm not sure that it really does anything. If you get far enough apart that they are food focused, they are food focused and not thinking about the other cat, so how does it build positive experiences? If you think about it, its also a different therapeutic model then most cat introduction stuff. Most cat intro stuff we do is based on a desensitization model, which is like when therapist treats a human afraid of spiders by gradually moving a spider closer session to session. That is what scent exchange and the gate is about, desensitization. Building positive experiences is a different therapeutic model, and at least in humans, we don't try and combine the two. Imagine it, the therapist just went from spider in the cage at 10 feet to spider on his hand 6 feet from you. He says "your doing great! Here, have some ice cream!" Lol, not a natural combo of approaches, or maybe I'm just skeptical of the building positive experiences approach period, regardless of whether its combined with desnsitization. Imagine your significant other said, "I know you are afraid of flying, so lets sneek into the bathroom and get frisky, make the flight a positive experience! That ought to cure you!" I dont think that would work for anyone seriously afraid of flying??? Maybe it works in cats -- I haven't gone and looked for studies. But I wouldn't worry at all that it didn't work well for you -- if you want to keep trying the step, just start the dishes further apart.

Next step: spider flavored ice-cream!

 

[catlover1717]

Well this just broke my heart. The two year old male, Bean, threw up (he NEVER throws up) after watching the kittens for a minute or two. Poor guy.

 

[ArtNJ]

Awe, that stinks. Definitely leave the gate up till he chills + at least a few days. I'd still bet all will be well in the end.

 

[danteshuman]

I would slow down the introductions, let your older cats sleep with you & site swapping do the kittens get the house at night. Calming treats couldn’t hurt,

That bed you sleep in is the cat throne.... so let your master bedroom be for your resident cats. Don’t dethrone your older cats!

Hissing is fine. Batting thd kittens on the head is normal. What you don’t want is: yowling, fur pulling, pee or blood. I think growling is between cat fights and you do not want it! Avoid it stop any stare downs (cat speak for “hold my beer”) So use a poster board of large piece of cardboard to block the cat’s sight so you can redirect one cat away from the potential fight.

 

[catlover1717]

I would slow down the introductions, let your older cats sleep with you & site swapping do the kittens get the house at night. Calming treats couldn’t hurt,

That bed you sleep in is the cat throne.... so let your master bedroom be for your resident cats. Don’t dethrone your older cats!

Hissing is fine. Batting thd kittens on the head is normal. What you don’t want is: yowling, fur pulling, pee or blood. I think growling is between cat fights and you do not want it! Avoid it stop any stare downs (cat speak for “hold my beer”) So use a poster board of large piece of cardboard to block the cat’s sight so you can redirect one cat away from the potential fight.

The kittens haven’t gotten the house at all yet actually, just the master bathroom (quite large) and the carpeted closet hallway. The gate is at the end of said hallway. So the resident cats still reign supreme and do have full access to their normal sleeping spots. Their overall routine and prowling area remains the same - they never really go in either of the two bathrooms so no loss there.

I’ll let the kittens roam more once the roundworm issue is cleared up and the hissing has stopped or become extremely minimal. I wouldn’t want to even give them the whole house at night though. They’re so darn tiny!

 

[danteshuman]

Yes until around 4 months they are adorable trouble seeking ninjas with Houdini like skills for squeezing into things! So I understand your not wanting to let them roam about without supper vision.

If you have 2 people, 1 person can play with the kittens in front of the gate while the resident cat’s favorite human can play with them, give them cuddles and treats. Just to let them observe the little trouble makers & to hopefully start associating the kittens with good things. Feeding on opposite sides of the gate is always good to.

I have noticed while most adult cats will begrudgingly tolerate baby kittens..... the adults often prefer to hide or stay up high or avoid the kittens until they are 5-6 months old. They often want to avoid all that hyper energy! When the kittens are older, you can try introducing one kitten at a time.