Resident cat mad about new kitten

FetchingCat

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Sep 27, 2019
Messages
27
Purraise
25
I know every cat is different, but I need to know if there's a light at the end of the tunnel. My husband and I are a little stressed. Please share your experiences with integrating a new kitten into a household that already has cats, how long it took for the resident cat to accept the kitten, whether they ended up being friendly

We have a chill Siamese and a tabby who likes people and hates other cats. He gets along with the Siamese and will snuggle, wrestle, sniff noses, etc. The Siamese was 1 and the tabby was 5 months when we brought the tabby home. Tabby was hissy at Siamese, who was twice his size at the time, but got over it in a few days. That was over 3 years ago

We found a sick feral kitten and brought him home. He's highly contagious, so he's in a big cage in the middle of a room that neither cat can access. Tabby hissed at the door and is being uncharacteristically aloof to the humans. He runs away, hides under the sofa, ducks down when you try to pet him. He didn't even come out for treats. Clearly jealous and sulking, and we probably smell like the vet since we took the kitten 2 days in a row. Tabby has chased away 2 outdoor cats when he slipped out (we only let him out on a harness but he is a sneak). He will scream and puff up when he sees cats through the window. So I'm relieved at he's not in full attack mode at Kitten's door.

Anyone have a similar dynamic, and how did it turn out?
 

ArtNJ

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jun 1, 2017
Messages
5,485
Purraise
6,957
Ah thats pretty normal. Cats get less adaptible as they age. At 4, they still have an excellent chance of *eventually* befriending a kitten, but its not at all uncommon to have a real introduction process taking some time and causing some stress. I'll link our guide. You'll note that you have kind of skipped straight to visual access. Which is OK! I think that is the most important step, and generally the early steps aren't too critical. But its not unusual to have some stress at visual access. You need the cat isolated anyway, and as long as the stress isn't crazy high, its fine to continue at this step. You do have some stress, but you don't have failure to eat or use the litter box, attacking you or attacking the gate with a bit o madness in the eyes, so I think your good to continue this step until the kitten is medically cleared. At that point, you'll need to make a judgment call as to whether they are ready to mingle or need more time at a visual access step.

How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide – TheCatSite Articles

Good luck! Things can clear up pretty quickly with cats this age, so there is hope of getting to friendship without too much stress.
 

Furballsmom

Cat Devotee
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
39,271
Purraise
53,931
Location
Colorado US
Hi
we probably smell like the vet since we took the kitten 2 days in a row.
I don't know about the jealous and sulking. Cats don't think like that.

Yes, you smell like the vet, and also like the new kitten who is in his territory and also smells like the vet, which is a complicated set of odors in itself.

Wash the clothing you-all wore to the vet, and dab vanilla on the soles of your shoes.

Try dabbing vanilla, or raw coconut oil which is fragrant on a towel that is laid across the sill of the door the kitten is in, and on Tabby, like this;
From valanhb
You put a dab of vanilla extract under the chins, at the base of their neck (by the spine) and at the base of the tail (again, on the spine not the underside of the tail!) of all of the cats to make them smell the same. Cats recognize each other by scent, so if that kitty smells the same as "me", the he must be a friend. Kitty logic at it's finest.
This trick works when introducing cats into the household as well, or during a reintroduction after a redirected aggression event.

Also, it's possible that calming products and Cat Music might also help.
 
Top