How old is Tia now? I have been having the same problems with my cats. I have Polly (11yrs), Beanie (6yrs) and then introduced Whisper back in Oct at 9 wks old so she is now almost 6 months. Beanie hated her from the beginning. He would hiss and growl so much it worried me he was going to attack her. He also hisses and growls at us when she is around which I have found most upsetting. Now, 3 1/2 months down the line he still hisses and growls but not nearly as much. I still supervise the 2 of them together as Whisper often seems to want to wind him up but it is not nearly as bad as it was. We are making very small baby steps forward very slowly. Whisper used to charge at Beanie every time she saw him, wrapping her arms around his neck and chewing his ears. This has now stopped, she still runs towards him but stops just before she gets there. She often gets a swipe round the head but she needs that to let her know what is acceptable and what is not. Your kitten will settle down and learn how to behave when Lucy is around and Lucy will get used to Tia eventually. Patience and supervision is the key. I have learnt to let them get on with it and not stress myself over it as I think that probably made the situation worse. Beanie seems to make more of a fuss if we intervene than if we let them get on with it and ignore his grumpiness. Yesterday Beanie was sleeping on our bed and Whisper jumped up there. She sat washing and he was just watching her, no silly hissing or growling. I was so happy as this was huge progress for us. When I left the room I took her with me though as I didn't want to push my luck!

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Hi folks! I have to say it's pretty reassuring reading other people's accounts of their trials and tribulations introducing a cat to a new kitten, but nobody's touched on quite the same situation I'm having right now, so I hope you don't mind if I outline my problems in the hope that somebody might be able to give me some suggestions?

I've had Daniel for 8 years, since picking him up as a tiny kitten in the Sahara. (Long story.) For the first 3 years he did get to go outside sometimes, but since we've moved to the city, he's been a strictly indoor cat for the past 5 years.

Before that, he DID used to be friendly with the girl cat who lived next door, and the two of them would knock about together - he'd go round to her place and they'd shake down our neighbours for food, then the two of them would come over to our place and pretend nobody had fed them. They were quite a double act.

Now, since he's been stuck being an indoor cat, and since I'm out at work all day, he's become increasingly neurotic. Daniel's fine around me, but he's always been very highly strung and he tends to assume that visitors are evil cat-slaying ninjas, and to hide immediately; last summer he stayed with my next door neighbour when I was away, and he spent most of the four weeks hiding under their bed.

He's a big strapping lad, solid muscle, but very nervous. On the other hand, if he really gets stressed out he will default to fight-you-to-the-death.

You can see why I've been very much in two minds about whether getting a second cat would be a good idea; initially it was totally impractical because we were in a bedsit, but the place we're in is double that size, and my neighbours had successfully had two cats (siblings, mind) some years earlier in the same space, so I thought it was maybe viable. And I think it would be really good for him to have the company, because I'm pretty sure he's bored out of his tree.

Anyway, I've adopted a rescue kitten, who is ADORABLE. I did a fair bit of research online and asked around, and went for a girl kitty, 3 months old, on the basis that she's not so tiny as to be terribly needy (I'm still going to be out of the flat at work all day, after all) but she's half his size and much less than half his mass, so I figured she wouldn't be threatening. Plus, his old friend who he used to knock about with was a black girl cat, just like Wednesday is. She's also quite a submissive little girl - perky and adorable, but not aggressive.

She moved in on Friday. I've set up my bedroom as her safe room, because that's the only option I have. However, when she moved in I duly left her to it and spent the day making a big fuss of Daniel. I also had a Feliway plug-in in the living room to try to help him chill. (I subsequently moved that to my room, which I think was a mistake - the kitten is fine, it's keeping Daniel from going postal that I need to worry about; I've duly moved the plug-in back into the living room this morning).

Anyway, I did a fair bit of stroking-the-kitten then going to pet Daniel in the other room, to try to get him used to her scent. For about a day I don't think he realised she was here. Then on Sunday night, the saw each other for the first time through the window. I was with Wednesday, reassuring her, and Daniel was outside staring in. Wednesday tried to be all butch and hissing and so forth, but she's a tiny thing; I was really encouraged that Daniel didn't hiss or growl or make threatening body language stuff outside - he just seemed totally astounded and very interested - lots of miaowing (of the not-really-happy type, like the let-me-in or let-me-out type, but not the heart-rending meowls of despair or the boomy meowls of threat) and lots of trying to sniff each others' butts etc etc through the glass. I thought it went really well, actually, and went so far as to move his food bowl to the other side of the glass so they could sort of eat together. (this may have been a bad move?) They seemed to be surprisingly companionable.

Anyway, when I got home last night (Monday night) Daniel was clearly GAGGING to get into the bedroom and see the kitten. I fed him and hung out with him a little, but it was late and I went into the bedroom to crash & give the kitten some TLC. Daniel was back outside straight away, watching her bounce around and miaowing.

I know that people recommend leaving a week or so, but it had seemed to me that they were doing pretty well, so I picked up the kitten and carried her out into the living room. She was good as gold. Daniel came back inside, didn't seem to notice the kitten at all, and went and ate his wet food. I stood nearby holding the kitten and waiting for him to notice, but he just nommed his food. Huh, I thought - well, it's late, and really I don't want to do this in a half-assed way; I figured it was good she'd had the chance to see him, and evidently he wasn't REALLY all that desperate to see her if he didn't even notice she was there. I duly went back into the bedroom, but then a moment later I could hear him outside the door, and I thought "what the heck - it seems to be going really well". (Yes, I am an idiot.) So I opened the door a crack.

Daniel hurled himself in through the door and attacked her, full out. It was pretty scary - he must weigh at least three times what she does if not more, and he's pretty damn strong. Luckily she managed to bolt under the bed (which is too low down for him to get under) and I got hold of him, pinned him down with some difficulty and did some reassuring soothing petting and then dragged him out of the room. I went out with him, made reassuring noises and petted him a bit, then headed back to bed. Eventually I pried her out from under the bed to check that she hadn't been injured, and she meeped at me, and I drew the curtain so they wouldn't see one another so much.

So, that's my situation. Any thoughts on how I can help make this a successful transition? It's not just hissing and growling I'm worried about - he could really hurt her.

Help me, ObiWanKeForum, you're my only hope!

Tia is now around about 12 to 14 weeks we think - not all that sure, but she is tiny. She is the little rascal - when Lucy does pluck up the courage to come into the house, Tia stalks her really low and tries to pounce - she is just playing but Lucy doesn't wait around to check - she runs away terrified. If she would only stand up to Tia and show her who is boss, I'm sure it would all work out but she just won't and spends all her time outside. I don't want to cut off her exit as I have read thats a really bad idea but just wish she would try and stay in a little longer to get used to Tia.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Susan

I think I must have been really lucky introducing my two. I'd had my older girl (20 months old), Tia, for about 3 weeks. She's a Norwegian Forest Cat and took the move into my place really well. As she seemed to feel settled and secure, and I was struggling to keep her entertained, I thought it a good time to introduce a newcomer. I went for a Maine Coon X boy kitten, 14 weeks old who I named Kato.

When I brought him home, I popped him upstairs into his safe room, leaving him in his carrier while I went back downstairs to say hello to Tia. Then I went back up and let him out to explore his new surroundings and help him get settled in. I didn't spend too long at this because I didn't want to make her feel neglected so it was a busy evening of popping up and downstairs. I used her grooming brush to brush him and then her to transfer the scents. On my last visit before going to bed, I didn't notice her lurking and she scooted past me into his room. Although she looked rather astonished, she didn't seem to be entertaining violent thoughts towards him. She sniffed him then went to his food bowl to eat some of his biscuits before having a good tread in his litter, which I assumed was her way of asserting dominance. I only gave them a few minutes together before shutting her out again, and she came to sleep with me on the bed as is her habit.

The next morning, I found her hanging around outside his door expressing an interest. I took her downstairs fed her and gave her some playtime before going up to attend to him. I groomed him and then her each time I went in. Although he was a little hidey the first few times I went into his room, he had become much more confident - confident to the point that he managed to get out and downstairs. The first I knew of this was his little face peeking round the living room door where we were. I supervised them very carefully and put him back in his room after a short while following up with giving her lots of playtime and a treat. I let him out several more times through the day for longer and longer each time.

Within 24 hours of his arrival, they were playing chase. Day 2 though was a different story, she seemed quite huffy and would walk out whenever he entered the room - do cats suffer from PMT - the following day, she was clearly on heat and encouraging any attention at all. Rather disconcerting to see such a young kitten trying to mount a much bigger cat, but it certainly helped break the ice ;-)

During those first few days, even though they seemed to be getting on, I always popped him back into his room when I went out. I tried to make it clear to Tia that she was top cat. I think it also helped that his room was unused so the door was mostly closed anyway and it didn't feature as part of her territory.

The next step was leaving him out of his room at night where he joined us up on the bed. After another couple of days of monitoring their behaviour, I finally left the door to 'his' room open all the time and occasionally fed her some of his biscuits in there before starting to move some of the items downstairs into the common area.

I still make time once or twice every day to play with her on a one to one basis with her Da Bird toy, which remains exclusively hers for the moment, as her style of play is a lot more restrained and subtle than his kitteny wildness. He is forever jumping out on her and play fighting (hence the name) which she tolerates pretty well but when he's at his most relentless, I distract him with one of his favourite toys to give her a bit of space.
A few days ago, I noticed he had a few light scratches on his ears, so I clipped the ends of her nails to avoid further injury while he learns her boundaries.

They've been together now for 15 days and it's going well. Last night I popped my head round the living room door to see them curled up together for the first time. Bit of an aaaah moment. So although it sounds like introducing kittens to resident cats can be a nightmare, it isn't always the case.

I'm sorry not to be able to offer anyone who's having ongoing problems some tips but I'm a novice at this myself. This is just what worked for me with my two. I believe both NFCs and MCs have a reputation for being sociable and getting on with other cats as part of their breed characteristics.

Best of luck to everyone going through the process.

Fluffy spends all her time outside too and only really comes in to eat or spends a bit of a snooze on my son's bottom bunk but the kittens just annoy her. I've resigned myself to the fact that they are just going to have to learn live along side each other.

My mum has the opposite problem where the resident cat will accept the new addition but the newcomer won't accept the resident. Lucky (the newcomer) still hisses at Coco 4 years on. She doesn't attack her just grumbles and hisses meanwhile Coco just wants to be friends.

My mum was incredibly lucky with her old cat India who adored Coco right from the moment they met and would snuggle up together and follow each other around so when India died they thought that it would be a good idea to get Coco a little friend to help her with her grief but alas it just hasn't worked out because Lucky just hates other cats You can't win them all.

I am soon going to be dealing with integrating a kitten with two a bit older kittens. The little one is 3 months two weeks old, and the other two are 5 an 6 months. I will be doing it carefully and gradually, but it should be somewhat easier since they're all still kittens, right?

My residents cats were 1 year old when I introduced a kitten of 5 months. It took us about 2 weeks to full integrate them, not forgetting I also have a dog.

I used separate rooms and when allowing them to meet each other I used a crate. Once the hissing stopped I introduced Bellini to one of the resident cats, then to the other. Then when I felt happy all three together. I introduced Duke and Bellini a bit different I had Duke sit and wait used a cat toy to entice Bellini closer to Duke. Building up the time the boys spent together.

Everyone has their own way of introducing kittens to resident cats I don't feel there is a right way or wrong way provided the end result is successful.

Guys, I simply cannot resist to brag after some hissing, growling, and exactly 24 hours since they first caught each other's eyes...

Lena, Tim and Inishka - YouTube

I hope everything goes well for everyone having issues introducing their cats too. It did turned out to be easier for me since they're all just kittens, but I think part of it also has to do with my Siberian's typical adoring, kind personality.

Cute video!! Congrats that the intro went well. I don't think it helps our situation that Fluffy is a feisty naughty tortie lol!

It is easier introducing kittens, it only took Jumpy about a day and a half to settle in!

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RIP Charcoal my shy girl 1987-2000, Patch the wanderer 1987-?, Tabby my darling fluffball 1988-2002 & Panda the rascal 1988-2008