yh i would spend lots of time lying down in the bedroom maybe watching telly or reading. It works for human babies when they are restless, just the reassurance that you're there without you actually interacting with them - you can keep her company and keep a sneaky eye on her while she explores xx I'm sure she'll settle down eventually, cats usually figure out what side their breads buttered on even if they stay mistrustful for a while. best of luck xx hopefully when ur cat gets better they'll get on, and at least the fact that there's another cat to interact with will distract her and help with the loneliness.

when i got my last kitten he took a lil while to settle in too, i put a small ticking clock in his bed box for him and a wrapped up hot watter bottle under his blanket which helped him settle, i think the clock acts like a heartbeat and helps them settle a bit quicker

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@}--->--->-- Mummy to Abyss, Midnight, Marmalade, Menace, Minnie and Dave[/COLOR] --<---<---{@

Dear all

Thanks again for all your comments and support.

Merkel (the new kitten) is still very skittish, but is now happy to play, if not to get touched (she mauled the poor vet this morning). The hissing has almost totally absent as well.

Luckily we got the go ahead to get the two kittens together today, and that seems to be really helping both Merkel and Winston as they are now bounding around, sorting out who is boss and taking no notice of either of us.

What seemed to help the most was just leaving Merkel be, but allowing her to investigate us both as and when she wanted. Resisting the urge to try and pick her up to comfort her, when she clearly didn't want us near. Playing music also definatly reduced the crying in the early stages and the hot water also worked, but was a little traumatic for her if I tried to place it near her (lots of hissing etc).

Once again, thanks again everyone. It was great to find somewere with lots of friendly people happy to pass on advice, I'm sure I'll be back online often.

Cheers!

YES YES YES *jumps for joy*
So glad you got two!
Didn't bother suggesting you got two as you have one cat already and didn't realise u had the oppurtunity but well done that's fantastic news... your kittens will be soo much happier and they'll keep each other entertained, teach each other stuff - we got two and I am thankful every day that we didn't just get one.
They will have so much fun monstering around that they'll settle 10 x quicker... good for you xxx enjoy! xxx