- Joined
- Oct 17, 2019
- Messages
- 113
- Purraise
- 110
3 1/2 weeks ago, I adopted two now-15 week old kittens. Bonded siblings. I have a resident female here (age 10 - 12). I have kept them completely separated for the entire duration. Kittens have 2 rooms to themselves and get about an hour/day to roam the downstairs while resident cat is sleeping upstairs.
Resident cat reaction: in the beginning, she went to the baby gate where kittens were and hissed. Just occasionally. Now she generally ignores them, although when she's seen me holding a kitten, she has hissed. And yesterday, when one of the kittens got loose, she watched kitten approach her in a meandering way and ran upstairs. She seems a little bit nervous around them.
Kitten reaction: kittens don't even seem to realize that there's another cat here! They've seen Calliope through the gate but have had zero reaction.
Since I'm approaching the one-month point and the kittens are almost 4 months old, I thought that it might be time to let them loose in the house. I'm blocking off the upstairs so that Calliope won't be bothered (still working out how I can block THEM out without blocking HER in). She was declawed by a previous owner, so I definitely want to protect her from rambunctious kittens. I had a VERY miserable cat intro last year and I want this one to be more successful. Do all signs point to letting them all be together (supervised and only during the day, kittens in their own room at night)?
I'd love any advice!
Resident cat reaction: in the beginning, she went to the baby gate where kittens were and hissed. Just occasionally. Now she generally ignores them, although when she's seen me holding a kitten, she has hissed. And yesterday, when one of the kittens got loose, she watched kitten approach her in a meandering way and ran upstairs. She seems a little bit nervous around them.
Kitten reaction: kittens don't even seem to realize that there's another cat here! They've seen Calliope through the gate but have had zero reaction.
Since I'm approaching the one-month point and the kittens are almost 4 months old, I thought that it might be time to let them loose in the house. I'm blocking off the upstairs so that Calliope won't be bothered (still working out how I can block THEM out without blocking HER in). She was declawed by a previous owner, so I definitely want to protect her from rambunctious kittens. I had a VERY miserable cat intro last year and I want this one to be more successful. Do all signs point to letting them all be together (supervised and only during the day, kittens in their own room at night)?
I'd love any advice!