My Older Cat Seems Threatened By The New Kitten

[HollyBolly]

Please help! We bought a new female kitten over the hoidays and we already have a 7 year old female torishell. When we brought the kitten home, sadly our older cat attacked the kitten which resulted in the kitten having stitches. Over the last few weeks we have kept the kitten in a separate room, but have opened up the room to allow the older cat to have a sniff around whilst the kitten is safely in the cat box. There has been hissing by the older cat when she came in initially, then she stopped going into the room altogether. We have bought the Feliway Friends diffusers, bought a gate to the kittens room so the older cat can see each the kitten, allowed the kitten into other parts of the house whilst the older cat was elsewhere, allowing her to leave her scent around and we thought we were making some progress. But sadly today, I brought the kitten down into the kitchen in her cat box whilst the older cat was on the sofa. It was only for 5 mins, but ever since then the older cat seems traumatised. She is always at home, but today I struggled to get her to come back inside, and she is now very wary of where she is going and her eyes are constantly big. We are really worried that the older cat will leave home. We don't know what to do. My mother in law has offered to have the kitten, and we are wondering whether we should just cut our losses and give the kitten to her. We don't want either the kitten or the older cat to suffer. Does anyone have any advise?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

YES! First, this takes TIME! I'm talking about weeks, sometimes months, but IT CAN BE DONE! Patience is the key here, and allowing your older cat time to adjust. I'm going to give you links to two articles that will spell out how to introduce these two step by step, so that you can have a content blended family. I will tell you right now that they may never be "besties," but they can learn to live together in quiet contentment anyway!

How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide
Introducing Cats To Cats

And for your older cat:

Six Surefire Strategies To Reduce Stress In Cats
Do Cats Get Jealous? (and What To Do About It When They Do)

As I said, time and patience are the keys to doing this, but IT CAN BE DONE! Don't worry too much that you got off on a bad foot to begin with. Cats are very good at do-overs!

 

[HollyBolly]

Thank you for your response. I have read the articles and will try the suggested methods. My only concern is that their first encounter was violent, and everything I've read suggests if this happens initially, it is almost impossible to get the cats to live side by side. I'm also worried that my resident cat is starting to distance herself from us. She is normally housebound and only very occasionally goes out, but now she wants to go out all the time and is reluctant to come in. It really is a tricky process.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

It is tricky. But I've seen cats who lived in adversarial households for MONTHS come around with time and patience. Now, it sometimes TOOK months to reverse things, but it did happen. Don't give up. And let your older girl have time to adjust, as well. LOL, she's a tortie, so she probably has very definite ideas on "how things ought to be," but she will come around, bit by bit.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I keep meaning to ask...What ARE their names? And when you have a minute, go here New Cats on the Block and introduce yourself and the cats to our community. If you mention that you have a thread here, you may get some additional ideas, as well!

 

[HollyBolly]

The resident cat is called Holly and the kitten is called Daisy!!!! They are both very gorgeous!!! Thank you for your help.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Oh, you are more than welcome! That's what TCS is all about. At some point, a new member will be going through something very similar, and you will be able to reach out to them, as well.