two firsts! introducing a kitten to a cat and... joining a forum

i hope someone can advise us on our next move.

we have a two year old male (neutered) cat who is very friendly and quite passive but has had to frequently work hard to defend his territory against tom cats. this is not always completely successful as we get spraying just inside the cat flap However our vet says he is physically very capable/strong.
on sunday our 13 week old female kitten arrived. She is confident and feisty and seems to have settled well. we have been following forum and vet advice and have seperated them, initially swapping scent through cloths then putting our kitten in a box and allowing our older cat to explore the room. This has been going really well with our older cat sniffing and weeing in he litter tray and today they had breakfast side by side with kitten in basket and older cat next to her. Following this i let the kitten into various other rooms/places enjoyed by our older cat and then encouraged our older cat to follow her scent.
tonight we again used the basket to give them some more time in each others company. our older cat was not aggressive despite the kitten growling at him. However he eventually pounced on her (safe in basket) after i had stroked him as a reward for not doing this!
We put the kitten in another room and ensured she was ok. our older cat hid behind the sofa and then went and pooed in her litter tray.
we are commited to giving them both time, encouragement and attention, when they are together and also seperately and we know that this is a slow process.
My question is: how will it work if the kitten continues to growl thereby possibly agitating the older cat?
if this continues should we let the kitten out of the basket since this is a more realistic approach?
thank you

welcome to the forum, you should also pose your question in cat chat lots of knowledgeable people over there....Jill

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(Justice was not served for Lyle)(Value of a Human life by the Canadian Justice system 835 days)

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hello there and welcome to PF!

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Mummy to.....

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Welcome to the forum

The older cat will need to put the kitten in it's place to an extent so she learns to respect her elders I'd only ever intervene if one of them was getting hurt and then I'd just squirt them with water to separate them without fussing or showing favour to either cat.

Good luck x

Just to say hi and welcome

think Baby British said all i woulda!

hello and thanks for messages of welcome. All is calm now with the kitten intergrated and asserting herself as the boss! older cat seems happy if a tad confused but is eating sleeping and purring well.
thanks for support

Hi there and welcome to the forum!

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Hi there and welcome to pet forums, it's a great place and as I'm sure you'll agree, there are people on here to help and advise with any questions you have, it's also a great place to enjoy sharing your pets lives...I love to post any new things my pets do and funny things lol
RE the cats, they'll settle into an understanding, I've only ever intervined with my pets if they've become aggressive with each other.
I introduced a puppy into our home a short while ago and all I did was put her and my 8 yr old girl in the room toether and let them be, with m watching of course, fizz (8) has told Penny (12 weeks) off a few times and other than that they've been fine...Penny has quickly learnt not to pee the old girl off lol.Cats tend to sort themselves out in my experience....they find their own place and who are we to interfeer but just the hand that feeds...lol
Enjoy the forum
Clare xx

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Mum to 4 Great kids

Staffy x Lab almost 10...Fizz
Ginger Tom 2 1/2...Tilly
Giant yellow Continental Rabbit...Dolly 2 1/2 years
Bichon x King charles spanel 1 yr 10 months
Latest addition Tex the black shep 11 1/2 years foster pooch
How can I forget my fish..i have 13 tropical fish too...err...2 cats 2 neon and one lemon tetra...2 err...will have to go look and get back on that one i can't remember the names lol
My Dogs are the centre of my world