Hello,
I adopted a 6 month old kitten 2 weeks ago. I had an 8 month old kitten at home already. New kitten was really shy at first but after a few days we were able to get her to come out of her carrier for pets, food, and play. She was a little hesitant about being picked up, but would let us hold her for a few minutes. She became a bit more confident each day, although still on the shy side. Well, our resident cat snuck her way up to our starter room and although we had a gate by the door, she got over it. We caught it fairly quickly and it appeared that they were playing and enjoying each other's company until the new kitty ran and hid and didn't come out for almost 2 days. She did come out to eat, use the litter box and I was able to coax her out with treats to play, but would run and hide when we left the room. It's now day 3 since this happened and she does come out and lets us pet her and will rub on us and looks for affection but still hides for a good amount of time. I'm concerned because I think she's terrified of our resident cat. When she comes out for food/litter box she comes out very slowly and will jump at any sound. I can't keep her in the starter room much longer as I will need it as a bedroom, but I don't know how to reintroduce these 2 without stress/fear. I feel like if the "kitty introductions" are anything like our "human introductions" she will take a few days to warm up. I don't know that keeping them apart is going to be beneficial since they know each other is there and look around for each other. I would like to slowly introduce them again. This is my first time introducing kittens so I'm not really sure what to do, but I think the more they get to know each other, the less scared new kitty will be. My resident kitty is sweet as pie but she is a bit more playful- which could have been what scared my new shy girl. Can anyone offer advice on how to introduce a super shy kitty to a playful kitty? I think my resident kitty could really help my shy girl, I just don't know the best approach. Thanks in advance.
I adopted a 6 month old kitten 2 weeks ago. I had an 8 month old kitten at home already. New kitten was really shy at first but after a few days we were able to get her to come out of her carrier for pets, food, and play. She was a little hesitant about being picked up, but would let us hold her for a few minutes. She became a bit more confident each day, although still on the shy side. Well, our resident cat snuck her way up to our starter room and although we had a gate by the door, she got over it. We caught it fairly quickly and it appeared that they were playing and enjoying each other's company until the new kitty ran and hid and didn't come out for almost 2 days. She did come out to eat, use the litter box and I was able to coax her out with treats to play, but would run and hide when we left the room. It's now day 3 since this happened and she does come out and lets us pet her and will rub on us and looks for affection but still hides for a good amount of time. I'm concerned because I think she's terrified of our resident cat. When she comes out for food/litter box she comes out very slowly and will jump at any sound. I can't keep her in the starter room much longer as I will need it as a bedroom, but I don't know how to reintroduce these 2 without stress/fear. I feel like if the "kitty introductions" are anything like our "human introductions" she will take a few days to warm up. I don't know that keeping them apart is going to be beneficial since they know each other is there and look around for each other. I would like to slowly introduce them again. This is my first time introducing kittens so I'm not really sure what to do, but I think the more they get to know each other, the less scared new kitty will be. My resident kitty is sweet as pie but she is a bit more playful- which could have been what scared my new shy girl. Can anyone offer advice on how to introduce a super shy kitty to a playful kitty? I think my resident kitty could really help my shy girl, I just don't know the best approach. Thanks in advance.