New kitten not getting on with our adult cat
Discussion
My daughter got a new kitten just under 3 weeks ago. The kitten is now 9 weeks old and extremely playful. Unfortunately our older cat (age 7) is far from impressed.
Currently the kitten is mainly constrained to the lounge but is let out to explore when someone can supervise her. Whenever the two cats meet the older one looks scared, hisses, growls and runs off. It's odd because he doesn't appear to mind the neighbours cat, even when it gets in the house and tucks in to his food. I was hoping that after 3 weeks he woudl have started to get used to her and calmed down.
Any suggestions of how I can help them tolerate one another?
Currently the kitten is mainly constrained to the lounge but is let out to explore when someone can supervise her. Whenever the two cats meet the older one looks scared, hisses, growls and runs off. It's odd because he doesn't appear to mind the neighbours cat, even when it gets in the house and tucks in to his food. I was hoping that after 3 weeks he woudl have started to get used to her and calmed down.
Any suggestions of how I can help them tolerate one another?
I suppose the analogy is how would it be best to handle you if someone you didn't know moved into your house and started living there without your permission.
In practice, having been through this a few times it's basically a lottery and ultimately you have to just let them figure it out for themselves.
In practice, having been through this a few times it's basically a lottery and ultimately you have to just let them figure it out for themselves.
jesusbuiltmycar said:
My daughter got a new kitten just under 3 weeks ago. The kitten is now 9 weeks old and extremely playful. Unfortunately our older cat (age 7) is far from impressed.
Currently the kitten is mainly constrained to the lounge but is let out to explore when someone can supervise her. Whenever the two cats meet the older one looks scared, hisses, growls and runs off. It's odd because he doesn't appear to mind the neighbours cat, even when it gets in the house and tucks in to his food. I was hoping that after 3 weeks he woudl have started to get used to her and calmed down.
Any suggestions of how I can help them tolerate one another?
It takes time... Currently the kitten is mainly constrained to the lounge but is let out to explore when someone can supervise her. Whenever the two cats meet the older one looks scared, hisses, growls and runs off. It's odd because he doesn't appear to mind the neighbours cat, even when it gets in the house and tucks in to his food. I was hoping that after 3 weeks he woudl have started to get used to her and calmed down.
Any suggestions of how I can help them tolerate one another?
It took Oscar (passed away last October) and Finley (who we found Sept 2022) a good month or 2 to get used to each other; Oscar was 14! Fin was 9 weeks old...
Get a few Feliway plug ins and have them around the house; give the older cat plenty of space to disappear to when they want to and keep the kitten fed & entertained. They'll soon get used to each other...
They both loved the fire 
We introduced two kittens to our older cat in Sept.
He still growls and hisses at them. He more or less doesn’t mind if there is one of them being quiet around him, as long as they do they too close. But if they are playing with their toys (they love chasing ice cubes around the floor for example) near him he hates it. And he especially hates having them both approach him at the same time.
It seems to be a case of him feeling threatened by them, and being scared of them. They are incredibly inquisitive generally, and particularly about him. They would love to interact with him I suspect - both will often drop their favourite toy next to him, and their body language is always submissive. We think he might not have been well socialised as a kitten, and/or and only kitten (he’s always been a bit of a w
ker around strangers, and sometimes has taken swipes at us; most of the time he seems to regard us as his pack and all the time he thinks of the house as our collective territory).
The notion of the three of them curling up together and sleeping is a very distant dream. It may never happen.
He still growls and hisses at them. He more or less doesn’t mind if there is one of them being quiet around him, as long as they do they too close. But if they are playing with their toys (they love chasing ice cubes around the floor for example) near him he hates it. And he especially hates having them both approach him at the same time.
It seems to be a case of him feeling threatened by them, and being scared of them. They are incredibly inquisitive generally, and particularly about him. They would love to interact with him I suspect - both will often drop their favourite toy next to him, and their body language is always submissive. We think he might not have been well socialised as a kitten, and/or and only kitten (he’s always been a bit of a w
ker around strangers, and sometimes has taken swipes at us; most of the time he seems to regard us as his pack and all the time he thinks of the house as our collective territory). The notion of the three of them curling up together and sleeping is a very distant dream. It may never happen.
danb79 said:
It takes time...
It took Oscar (passed away last October) and Finley (who we found Sept 2022) a good month or 2 to get used to each other; Oscar was 14! Fin was 9 weeks old...
Does not always work, we got 2 kittens deliberatly so they could play with each other and not have to bother our older cat, unfortunaly one kitten got cancerIt took Oscar (passed away last October) and Finley (who we found Sept 2022) a good month or 2 to get used to each other; Oscar was 14! Fin was 9 weeks old...
we introduced them properly, kept them seperated, feed them against a door so they got used to the new smells etc and hes still a miserable old git that hisses and bats at the youngseter if he crosses his path or trys to play 2 years later, if its cold they will cuddle up and occasionally they head wash each other, cats go figure
BlackTails said:
We introduced two kittens to our older cat in Sept.
He still growls and hisses at them. He more or less doesn’t mind if there is one of them being quiet around him, as long as they do they too close. But if they are playing with their toys (they love chasing ice cubes around the floor for example) near him he hates it. And he especially hates having them both approach him at the same time.
It seems to be a case of him feeling threatened by them, and being scared of them. They are incredibly inquisitive generally, and particularly about him. They would love to interact with him I suspect - both will often drop their favourite toy next to him, and their body language is always submissive. We think he might not have been well socialised as a kitten, and/or and only kitten (he’s always been a bit of a wker around strangers, and sometimes has taken swipes at us; most of the time he seems to regard us as his pack and all the time he thinks of the house as our collective territory).
The notion of the three of them curling up together and sleeping is a very distant dream. It may never happen.
Agree here we got a kitten back in September. We have an older cat aged 14 who we had with her brother from kittens until he got run over a couple of years ago.He still growls and hisses at them. He more or less doesn’t mind if there is one of them being quiet around him, as long as they do they too close. But if they are playing with their toys (they love chasing ice cubes around the floor for example) near him he hates it. And he especially hates having them both approach him at the same time.
It seems to be a case of him feeling threatened by them, and being scared of them. They are incredibly inquisitive generally, and particularly about him. They would love to interact with him I suspect - both will often drop their favourite toy next to him, and their body language is always submissive. We think he might not have been well socialised as a kitten, and/or and only kitten (he’s always been a bit of a w
ker around strangers, and sometimes has taken swipes at us; most of the time he seems to regard us as his pack and all the time he thinks of the house as our collective territory). The notion of the three of them curling up together and sleeping is a very distant dream. It may never happen.
They always slept in the same bed or on the windowsill. The older cat and Kitten keep their distance from each other. At the moment both are asleep on our bed separated by cushions !
But yeah I’ve just bought those plug ins as the older one decided the newish rug is an ideal piss place.
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