Resident cat attacks kitten, need help.

Rekk

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Hi, we got a new kitten 3 weeks ago, (16 weeks old then), we have 2 resident cats M and B, M is very easy with new cats he was a friend to the kitten day one no problems with him, B is the issue, we started off with the basics, safe base for the kitten, scent swapping and all the basic things. We got up to the point where we could feed all cats face to face like almost touching through a screen door to be safe, been doing that for a week now no issues, we started doing actual face to face meetings 3 days ago, that didnt go great, B puffed up and looked like he was gonna attack the kitten and we put an end to the encounter before anything could happen, today though, B was sitting in the room looking at the kitten playing with a toy and suddenly decided to just attack him full on growling and pulled a bunch of hair off the kitten. Clearly not ready to be face to face yet. Any advice on what to do from now?
We have gotten the feliway friends spray on for 2 weeks now already.

Thanks for any tips
 

VAMama

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It's common for attacks to begin when they enter the routine stage. Kitten was a novelty, then a visitor, then a resident, then an annoyance. I'd keep kitten away for a while until the hair heals. Then do more supervised visits through a screen. Make the visits positive for both, a time of treats and play. Be sure to let B know he's not being replaced. When B shows aggression, end the visit and express disapproval.
 

rubysmama

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R Rekk : Hello and welcome to TCS. Sorry though for the situation that's brought you here.

Reading your post, it seems clear that they aren't ready to be face to face yet. Growling by itself, isn't too bad. But actually pulling out a bunch of fur from the kitten is a major sign of aggression, and is one of the things we say to watch for, in addition to blood shed, and one of the cats acting extremely stressed.

So in your case, you're right to go back a few steps and then proceed more slowly. It's not unusual for introductions to have setbacks, and TCS even has an article on the topic. How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction | TheCatSite

Cat introductions rarely go quickly, and can actually take longer than the humans were hoping. Good luck. Hope with time and patience your three cats will be able to live happily together.
 

FeebysOwner

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For some cats, 3 weeks is nothing, and it sounds like that applies to B. Site swapping is another step I didn't see you mention, so try some of that too - placing B and M in the kitten's safe zone while allowing the kitten to explore other locations of the house. It gets the kitten's scent everywhere so that B has to experience that without the presence of the kitten at first. It will also enable the kitten some time in other areas without feeling the pressure of not knowing when B might surprise him.

You always need to move at the pace of the slowest adapting cat, but that doesn't mean that the same steps at the same time need to be applied to each of the cats. Use M as a conduit between the other two, since it would seem M gets along with both. It might help to allow M to spend some of the time with the kitten during these site swap sessions, and some of the time with B. This exposes M to more of the kitten's scent which B will recognize, allows the kitten to continue bonding with M, and might actually help B to better adapt as well.

Also, I have heard quite a number of cases where Feliway actually causes more problems that it helps, so you might want to test that theory by discontinuing the spray.
 
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Rekk

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Thanks for all the replies and great suggestions, going to start doing more site swapping with B we’ve done it quite a few times but not daily, going to add it to the routine, M has started to love the kitten and vice versa so they hang out often together and play, M and B get along fine, and B acts completely normal everywhere in the house when the kitten is in his room.
When it comes to feliway i dont think it had any effect on B at all, could have made a small difference but we could test by stopping to use it for a while.
 

rubysmama

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Alldara

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Have you tried some gated time where B can watch M interact with the kitten? Sometimes that can help a cat learn to read the new cat's body language, which helps them to feel safe.

I also recommend taking a short worn by a human in the home and petting kitten, B and then M with it. Then run it along the baseboards of the home.
 

Alldara

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For example, when we got Cal, Magnus was comfortable with him quickly. So we let Magnus gate-hop and play with Calcifer. We kept Nobel on his own side and he watched a lot. When he watched, he learned about Calcifer and then he became comfortable with him.
 
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Rekk

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6 month update, Kitten was neutered about 4 weeks ago, had no effect on Boomi (B), he still hates the kitten. We have continiously kept swapping them so that the kitten doesnt have to spend all day locked up, set up a door with clear acrylic so they can see eachother from the kittens room, but boomi keeps trying to smash through the door to attack the kitten, repeated harness walks of boomi while kitten is out of his room so he can observe always end up in him trying to attack the kitten. What upsets me the most is when food is around, they can literally be touching noses while eating together and boomi does not care about the kitten at all, even when he finishes eating just walks away and glances over at the kitten and continues his own day but at the moment when the kitten stops eating he tries to go for him again. The only time boomi cautiously tolerates pabu is when they are both harnessed outside on our yard, still tries to creep up on him slowly but keeps getting distracted by the smells and insects outside. We have started to question if boomi is actually fully neutered because a few days ago while being in the kittens room he sprayed the wall next to the kittens litterbox (he has never done this before) which in term sparked the memory from boomi as a kitten when he was neutered only one of his testicles actually dropped, the vet did say they removed both but there is no actual guarantee. So we scheduled an appointment on our new vet who specialises in hidden testicles to see if he still has one. If not we are going to talk with the vets to see if there is any other options for us to try. Really not wanting to give up because we love all 3 of our handsome boys, just feels cruel to the kitten to keep him locked up all the time.

Any and all suggestions are welcomed no matter how silly.

Thank you.
 

FeebysOwner

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When you look into the neuter situation, ask about how long it might take for the hormones to fully dissipate, 4 weeks may not be enough in some cases. However, I doubt this is the cause of Boomi's behavior. It sounds like Boomi is just not ready to fully accept Pabu, although it seems to be heading in the right direction. I will ask the same question I posed earlier - are you allowing Pabu to explore the home while Boomi is confined to Pabu's room? That allows the kitten to have free time completely away from Boomi - and, not locked up all the time - and also can help Boomi get more comfortable with Pabu because he is in Pabu's 'room' during these times.

If the third cat gets along with both, he can spend some of the time with Boomi in the room, as he can also spend some time with Pabu when he is in the room.

I just think that more time is needed. Some cats can take months to adapt, even if nothing more than 'tolerance'.
 
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Rekk

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We put boomi in pabus room and sometimes my wife takes boomi in the bedroom with her and closes the door so pabu can roam around freely every day. Some days its just 1-2h sometimes its 6-8h depending on how sleepy boomi is so pabus definitely not ”always” locked up.
 

Alldara

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Have you been taking a dry cloth and wiping it on each cat and then around the baseboards? Building that family scent can be really helpful.
It can take a long time. You're doing well if you can do a few things together already.
 
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