Question for all the Kitty Owners

[Widge 0]

well I was gonna reply to one of the nasty political threads but decided L'd pose this question instead and keep my sanity

OK dilema, yesterday we acquired a new kitten (prolly 8-10 weeks) adorable and all that stuff given to us by a friend who had it appear on its doorstep etc.etc.

the problem is how do we get our two existing cats to accept the new comer ..... they don't seem to keen to put it mildly. the only saving grace is that so far the kitty just sits and looks forlorn if she get hissed at

Any suggestions gratefully appreciated

[*Robert* 2]

simple answer.... you can't do anything except wait!

cats are very territorial. it will take a long time, couple of weeks at least, before they even start to back down. try bringing a dog in and see what happens!!!

Good Luck!!!

[GaryC 7]

roi is right, time is the only thing that will solve it. It's gonna get worse until the kitten grows up. Then she should start fitting in.

[babybunny 2]

cats are plain mean. I had 2 cats corner my puppy in the kitchen. my puppy was wimpering - when I realized they were teasing him.

got rid of them things too! dayum cats!

[*Robert* 2]

cats are plain mean. I had 2 cats corner my puppy in the kitchen. my puppy was wimpering - when I realized they were teasing him.

got rid of them things too! dayum cats!

LMAO!!!

Dayum Shon!!! should have let the puppy learn to stand up to the cats!!! now it will always be afraid of pu$$y!!!

[ace13 0]

It will be fine. I am going throught this right now. I have a cat and my brother dropped off his cat while he went on vacation. They were gone 2 weeks and the hissing got better. It isn't gone yet, but they can at least be 5 feet from each other now I am leaving on vacation yeah baby on Thursday and we are going to switch-so both cats will now be at my brothers. Now that they have had a chance to get aquainted, I think it is going to be fine

[misskiya 0]

I would say introduce them slowly, but I think you're probably past that point. Again like everyone else, time. Tiem is the only thing that will make it happen.

Coming from a mommy of 5 beautiful baby boykitties, I can tell you it takes anywhere from a week to 6-8 months. We've got a stray that STILL doesn't fit in. But time will heal all wounds and make them better friends than you could ever ask.

Guessing since you bought a kitten, it shouldn't be more than a month though. Kittens seem to adjust to "new rules" of other cats, and are accepted faster than strange adults.

GOOD LUCK

[TracyTN 237]

Its always drama at first! I've heard that keeping the newcomer a little isolated the first day or two helps all involved to get used to each other's smells. But we've always thrown them in together and let them sort it out. They'll get there, but there will be a lot of hissing and drama first.

Cats amuse me.

[Reba 2]

yeah, I've usually just tossed them all into a room together and let them sort things out. Its rare that an adult will intentionally harm a kitten, all the hissing and spitting is just telling the baby where they fit in the heirarchy.

Try introducing 2 Saint Bernards, now that's interesting! Fur, food and slobber flyin' around everywhere...house shaking, floors creaking...

Cats are easy!

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

simple answer.... you can't do anything except wait!

cats are very territorial. it will take a long time, couple of weeks at least, before they even start to back down. try bringing a dog in and see what happens!!!

Good Luck!!!

Weeks or years. Some cats will never accept another cat.

[CarolineM 0]

There are definitely things you can do to make the transition easy....i've done it heaps of times but bty just throwing the new one in with the old...i'd say it's too late.

Do google searches...heaps of good info.

you SHOULD start by putting the new kitty in a separate room all together with the door closed. That way all the cats just get used to the new scent. New kitty eneds her own food bowl, litter box, etc.

After about a week, take something out of the kitty's room and intorduce it to the old cats...a blanket, or a toy or something.

A week later, bring out the new kitty...still let her have her own things...but really it's not hard and works as as i've done it three times.

Just throwing the new kittyin to get hissed at is bad. She prob isn't eating I'm guessing?? That's just terrifying for her!

[Sister Fracas 5]

simple answer.... you can't do anything except wait!

cats are very territorial. it will take a long time, couple of weeks at least, before they even start to back down. try bringing a dog in and see what happens!!!

Good Luck!!!

Weeks or years. Some cats will never accept another cat.

yup I've got two stubborn as hell adult cats who are still trying to work out the family dynamics (they've only been together a little more than 2 months)...neither are backing down, but tossing them together to "sort it" isn't an option either as the male is a Bengal, with a wee bit of that wild still in him and he has a good 4 pounds of weight and pure muscle strength on her. He wants to be dominant, but she's havin' none of that either... I DO hope one day they will be able to really be in a room together without water pistol intervention to break up the drama.

But really, a kitten usually has a lot less problems. Definitely isolating the kitten at first and then if you can separate them so they can see and smell each other without contact, and then supervised contact. The kitten does need to feel safe though while still getting use to a new environment and just putting him in a hostile environment isn't going to work well. IF all of the kitties were kittens, I'd say do the "let them sort it themselves" thang...but since they aren't... you can't let the adults just bully the kitten to point of fear.

Edited July 25, 2006 by Frances

[Widge 0]

Thankyou for all your helpful suggestions

Afraid I had to laugh at the last comment about the fact that she would't be eating ..... Oh my she is eating us out of house and home ...... part of why we ended up with her was she turned up stray on a friends doorstop and he didnt want her and wasn't feeding her so gave him to my softy hubby.

I'm afraid the thought of keeping her shut up is beyond my sensibilties (guess I'm a closet softy too) she crys if she is out of my sight for 5 mins.

guess we'll just have to tough it out and wait for ruffled fur to settle the big plus is that she does not want to get into it with the other two and just sits and watches them EVEN if they hiss

If the kitty fans wanna see her she can be found on my blog www.lifeacrossthepond.blogspot.com (and yes she does have enormous ears and no I hope she isnt really a lynx )

[ghallett 0]

At least the kitten isn't suicidal yet like my dumb one.

[danae 0]

Hi,

My good friend has 18 cats. She rescues them, and they are all of different ages and have entered the home at differnt times. They are like a proper little society, with the alpha male and female. She has had some really tough cases- kitties that have been badly abused and other completely feral cats. When she takes a new one in she has a seperate room, and the door is made or wire netting that she puts the newbie in. That way the cats can see and smell each other, without feeling too threaten. After a while she then slowly socializes them. She brings the new cat out for increasingly long periods, and monitors behaviour closley.

In her household, there has never been a cat that could not be successfully socailized. Yes some of them dont particularly like each other- but they stay out of each others way.

You just need to be very understanding of the cats territorial feelings and take it slowly

Good luck!