Now Then,

We have a 5 year old female cat (Mitsy), who was a rescue cat.
We used to live out in a village and she would go out all of the time, now that we live in a town she goes out for a few mins now and again but soon as she hears a noice runs back in. She also hates the door bell and runs if our friends children come around.
Me and my girlfriend thought that we should get another cat for some compay for Mits as we both work and she dont go out very much these days. So after talks we decided to get a male kitten.

We was looking for a few months and on monday found a white with grey patches semi long hair ish 14 week old male.
Before we borught him home we made the kitchen kitten safe, and put Mitsys food and litter tray else where.
Before we left the house, we put Mitsy in the main 2 rooms which are open plan, then when we brought new kitten (Murphy) home we walked straight in and took him to the kitchen and shut the kitchen door and let him out of his cage. Murphy was out and about in the kitchen in no time and finding his new home really well. We then let mits out who in the end came up to the kitchen door which has glass in it and hissed a few times then ran away.
Left things as they were and then yesterday put Murphy in his cage and left the door to the kitchen open, eventually Mitsy came in looked at him and hissed twice and then ran off.

Since this happend Mitsy has been coming back a few time and watching him through the kitchen door and hissing at him, we have also put both cat feeding points near to oposite sides of the kitchen door. We are making lots of fuss over Mitsy so she dont feel left out.
I just wondered what else we should be doing and what to try next, hope everything that we have done so far is right.

Steve

try mixing scents... swapping their blankets around and things like that... and taking a cloth and rubbing the cat with it and then rubbing that on to places the kitten can sniff.... do the same rubbing with the kitten transferring that on to surfaces (door posts, table legs and what not) that the cat can sniff. This link explains it all in very great detail so it's probably easier to just give you the link....

Living Together - Introducing a New Cat

when you do come to the first face to face introductions... I suggest you use a crate for the kitten if you have one (if not just a cat carrier will be fine) ... and possibly before that sit infront of the slightly wedged open door and let them have a wee short sniff and paw at eachother through that.

the main thing is not to rush anything and take it slowly

by the sounds of thinsg though it's all going well

well done for doing your homework BEFORE HAND! (and for getting a 14 week old kitten instead of a 7 week old )

OOH, he sounds gorgeous....can we get some pics pleeeeese?
Great names too( I have a Murphy and a Mitzy too! )

__________________

Nellie Paddy Mitzy Milo Peggy Murphy

Millie and Monty, the White Devils!

yeah i will get a pic up soon
what going on now is, Mitsy spends a lot of time watching him through the door. and still hissing now and again.
we left the door open while we was in with Murphy and Mitsy came in had and sniff hissed at him and then left. She done this a few times now

mitys spends a lot of time watching murphy though the glass door and really wants to get in the kitchen/muphy room, then just hisses at him and walks away.
any idea be great but we only got him last monday
murphy.jpg

Hi everyone,
Well its 2 months down the line and both cats are spending quite a lot of time moving around the house openly, but mits is not very keen on murphy still. all that she does is his at him and growl. dont know if this is cos he is still young and wants to play all of the time.
any ideas gang

I'm sure they'll get there in the end. We are two and a half weeks into owning 2 girl kittens and having a 7 year male neuter. But we always knew he would be gentle - annoyed but gentle.

He sulked for a few days and hissed a bit. We hardly have any hisses now and he is trying to play with them but he's a bit out of practice - he was way too humanised before. Now he's behaving more like a cat. Whereas our boy didn't care for playing and toys (no matter how hard we tried), the kittens seem to be giving him a new lease of life.

I recommend playing with the kittens when your cat can see. Get a 'Da Bird' - it's a hit with all of ours. Playing and letting them be together and concentrating on something else seems to really help.

All the best

I was going to create a new thread on the subject as i have just brought home a new kitten and my 7 year old male done exactly what i had read he would probably do. Hissing like mad and very twitchy. I have the kitten in our spare room and was wondering when is the best time to start to introduce the two? If you would like me to create a seperate thread let me know. i think keeping it to one would be beneficial for us both as we are both in the same situation and could learn from each other

I also have a new kitten - a five month old rescue kitten, Cleo- who needs to be properly introduced to our resident cat (a four year old ginger and white tom, Ollie). I say properly introduced because I (somewhat foolishly) introduced the two briefly before I looked up the subject on here...

I carried Cleo downstairs in my arms, to let her get a peek at Ollie whilst he was sleeping on the back of the sofa. This didn't work, as he seemed to sense her and woke up (possibly her scent?). He blinked at her a few times (the cat's 'lets be friends' signal) but she's only tiny and just stared back at him, so I'm not sure if this affected his response! They both were just looking at each other, so i crouched down a little, and they touched noses, had a sniff, and Ollie licked Cleo's nose. He then hissed a little, so I backed away. Cleo wasn't afraid of him, so I repeated the process, and they repeated the same actions - with another nose lick! However, after hissing this time, Ollie started with a low rumbly growl.

Now I'm aware that this seems to be a much better introduction than others here have had, but I was wondering if anyone had any insight or had had a similar experience? Ollie is a bit of a strange cat, he gets on well with the cat that lives next door, but sometimes comes home with scratches which I imagine are from territorial scraps. Are his growls just him letting Cleo know who's boss? Is his licking her nose, even followed by the hiss and growl, a good sign?

I didn't do any deliberate separating. We do have the room and enough spaces though so that Scribble felt secure and that he could go and be undisturbed by himself. I have mostly just let them get on with it - let them find their own way and not make a big fuss or drama.
I haven't rushed it either. It was important for me that Scribble did not get stressed or find himself in a position where he was out of control. he has always been able to do what he wants.
We have encouraged play together, and one funny moment was shining the laser pen on Scribble so the kittens jumped on him! He leapt in the air with surprise but was actually ok with it. This was a good few weeks in though and way past the hissing stage.

Yesterday I woke up and found Scribble lying on the bed with Jazz cuddled up to him - she was fast asleep. That was a great moment.