New Kitten…Intro to Older Cat

[StripeyMom]

We’ve always had a multi cat household. G (now 12 yrs) was rescued at 6 weeks with her litter mate and they joined my adult cat. Her litter mate died 3 years ago and we were heartbroken to lose our other cat 3 weeks ago. G was our only surviving cat. She is gentle and one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever had. She is spayed and indoors only.

A few days after losing our other cat, a friend found a 5 week old kitten (S) under her mom’s car. No mama cat could be found. She couldn’t take care of him and called us. We took him in. We confined him to a very small space at first and afterward, to our guest room, which is now home base. He is now 7 weeks old. He’s very playful and thriving.
Ive socialized/introduced cats before but this situation is very different than my other experiences. G my resident cat has no curiosity about baby S. I tried feeding near the door, etc. Baby S is upstairs and G won’t even go up (didn’t spend a lot of time up there in the first place). When she does, she visits my husband’s study but doesn’t go near the door or show curiosity about the room where Baby S is. We’ve given both cats lots of affection and attention.
Baby S is fast! Several times he’s run out and encountered my adult cat. She sat still and looked at him. A few times he got out my husband fed them together on the counter, supervising and there was no reaction. My older cat ate and retreated to her bed (high perch) in the plant window. We tried feeding together again. Sometimes G feeds with no reaction, other times she retreats to her perch until the coast is clear.
When she’s resting in her perch, we’ve let Baby S run around (supervised) downstairs to give it a thorough sniff. G doesn’t react at all. Sometimes goes to sleep on her perch or just watches from afar (relaxed). A few times Baby S has gotten out and encountered her when she’s down on the floor. She hisses and growls. The only times she’s reacted is when he tried to touch his nose to hers (she hissed, growled and swatted him) and when he tore around a corner (she retreated and we caught him/took him back to his space). Whenever baby is exploring we leave his door open for her to check out but she never does. I sit with her every night after work, love on and pet her. She sleeps with me. Baby is still in his room 90% of the time.
How do I help this along? What are next steps when she isn’t curious, won’t go near but isn’t really accepting of the baby? Thanks!

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. Introducing kittens to adult cats is generally the easiest and fastest cat introduction, however, it does get more difficult as the age of the adult cat increases. And at 12 years old, G is probably pretty set in her ways, and likely won't welcome a super active kitten with open paws. So her reaction so far isn't terrible.

An adult cat will not usually hurt a kitten, so that's probably not something you need to worry about. However, G getting stressed and stopping eating, or having litter box issues is something to try to avoid.

As they've already met several times, you are past the starting point in their introductions, however, there still might be some helpful tips in the TCS article How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat | TheCatSite

And, again, do watch for any signs of G getting stressed.
Stress in Cats – The Ultimate Guide – Cat Articles

Good luck. Hopefully they'll eventually be buddies.

 

[ArtNJ]

Sounds like its going very well. Once in a blue moon a senior cat might immediately take to a kitten, but this is pretty much the minimum amount of stress I'd realistically expect from a senior cat and a lot more stress is common.

Some supervised time together (hours if possible) sounds like a good idea, and if it continues to go well, you could let them be together when your around and in range.

 

[StripeyMom]

Allowed my little out today. Have lots of attention and praise to older cat. She hissed from a high perch and then wanted to hide in my bedroom, which was closed off. I opened the door and let her in, shutting the door behind her. My little has been scared and puffed up for about 10 min even though they were separated when my older cat wanted that. I’m just sitting quietly waiting for him to chill. He hasn’t sought me out which is different than past kittens too. Do I just keep them separate but let him explore downstairs (her territory) while she’s in my room? I don’t want to let him in my room with her because he might scare her. They are now sniffing under the door with constant hissing and growling from my older cat. I don’t want to push or stress them, but I don’t want to worry them either.

 

[ArtNJ]

Kittens are never scared of other cats for more than a week, usually vastly less, unless the older cat actually attacks them. A little hissing and puffing is nothing. Its actually better, since if the kitten is jumping on the older cat right away, that makes it hard for the older cat to adjust. And its normal for the older cat to hiss for a bit too. Most bff cats hissed when they first met.

Still, there is no rush, and maybe you could do a little more introduction process since your older cat is now showing a bit more stress than I gathered from the initial post. Totally normal, but sometimes older cats take a while to get over it, so an introduction process is helpful. Hissing under the cracked door is perfect. It lets them get the tension out without anything bad happening. So they can safely get it out of their system to a degree. And if you read the guides linked by rubysmama , there is a visual access step you could do after that. But there will likely still be hissing when they start mingling more freely.

I dunno, it still sounds like its going a bit better than average to me, but kitten plus senior cat can be difficult so caution is always good.