Been here on TCS for a long while, know the ropes, etc. but new to adult/kitten intros. I posted about a week or so ago and just would like some opinions on where things stand and our plan at the moment.
Kitten is now 18 weeks (Luna). Very well socialized, very polite to our resident 10 year old female Cocoabean. Meetings thus far have been mostly from behind a gate. Cocoa was quite hissy/growly at the first few meetings but the growling has pretty much stopped and the hissing has died down quite a bit too. She actively will seek out these moments herself - we keep the kittens safe room open with the gate up during daytime hours and frequently find Bean sitting nearby, with the kitten at the gate sitting nicely looking at her.
Cocoa does not seem at all annoyed by these encounters - just - hissy. No behavioral issues at all and is all lovey dovey to my husband and I within seconds of them ending. She isn't motivated by food or toys so we aren't able to use those tactics to teach her that being near the kitten is good and fun unfortunately. Let alone, the room is upstairs and well, Bean is very much a creature of habit and will NOT eat anywhere but her kitchen placemat LOL.
Anyway. Being as they have been face-to-face many times over the course of the last week or so we decided to push the envelope this weekend. We brought Luna downstairs to explore our 1st floor living area. Bean, as expected, did her little hissing bit but, was not aggressive to her and eventually just sat down and watched for a while and then walked off.
We thought this was pretty decent. So this week we intend to continue giving Luna downstairs time. She's getting to a point where keeping her couped up in our spare bedroom is really cramping her style. She needs more space badly. Our plan is when I get home from work tonight, to bring her down and allow her to be with us for a few hours while I cook dinner, we eat and watch tv, relax etc. We can keep her much better entertained in a larger space and there are lots more things for her to do there too. Bean - for her part - has plenty of "up high" areas to run off to if she chooses and of course, can always go upstairs too if she's miffed enough. I somehow think she won't though. I suspect she's going to keep a close on on Luna and try to continue figuring her out.
This morning Luna managed to escape the bedroom when I went in to bring her breakfast (she's getting clever!) and Bean was in the hallway. They saw each other, Bean looked kind of stunned but didn't hiss this time. The kitten, was like "whoa!" and ran back into the room LOL.
We really need to have her incorporated and well, both my husband and I are feeling like Cocoabean is not going to do anything aggressive at this point to her but I'd still like some opinions. Luna is beginning to act more like a teenage cat now - not so much that tiny kitten phase and we do not want her frustrated by being enclosed more than need be now.
Thoughts?
Kitten is now 18 weeks (Luna). Very well socialized, very polite to our resident 10 year old female Cocoabean. Meetings thus far have been mostly from behind a gate. Cocoa was quite hissy/growly at the first few meetings but the growling has pretty much stopped and the hissing has died down quite a bit too. She actively will seek out these moments herself - we keep the kittens safe room open with the gate up during daytime hours and frequently find Bean sitting nearby, with the kitten at the gate sitting nicely looking at her.
Cocoa does not seem at all annoyed by these encounters - just - hissy. No behavioral issues at all and is all lovey dovey to my husband and I within seconds of them ending. She isn't motivated by food or toys so we aren't able to use those tactics to teach her that being near the kitten is good and fun unfortunately. Let alone, the room is upstairs and well, Bean is very much a creature of habit and will NOT eat anywhere but her kitchen placemat LOL.
Anyway. Being as they have been face-to-face many times over the course of the last week or so we decided to push the envelope this weekend. We brought Luna downstairs to explore our 1st floor living area. Bean, as expected, did her little hissing bit but, was not aggressive to her and eventually just sat down and watched for a while and then walked off.
We thought this was pretty decent. So this week we intend to continue giving Luna downstairs time. She's getting to a point where keeping her couped up in our spare bedroom is really cramping her style. She needs more space badly. Our plan is when I get home from work tonight, to bring her down and allow her to be with us for a few hours while I cook dinner, we eat and watch tv, relax etc. We can keep her much better entertained in a larger space and there are lots more things for her to do there too. Bean - for her part - has plenty of "up high" areas to run off to if she chooses and of course, can always go upstairs too if she's miffed enough. I somehow think she won't though. I suspect she's going to keep a close on on Luna and try to continue figuring her out.
This morning Luna managed to escape the bedroom when I went in to bring her breakfast (she's getting clever!) and Bean was in the hallway. They saw each other, Bean looked kind of stunned but didn't hiss this time. The kitten, was like "whoa!" and ran back into the room LOL.
We really need to have her incorporated and well, both my husband and I are feeling like Cocoabean is not going to do anything aggressive at this point to her but I'd still like some opinions. Luna is beginning to act more like a teenage cat now - not so much that tiny kitten phase and we do not want her frustrated by being enclosed more than need be now.
Thoughts?