[sunshine9]

As some of you now, I adopted a 9 week old kitten on Saturday for a companion to my 10 month old cat Mistletoe. The kitten has been living in the bathroom. I have Mistletoe's food bowls near the door to the bathroom so that she has to smell the kitten. I let Mistletoe sniff my fingers after I have been petting the kitten. All this has occured without any issues. I carried the kitten out of the bathroom for a moment last night and Mistletoe saw us and didn't do anything but watched. She has seen the kitten through the door quickly without doing anything.

SOOOOO I thought I will let them sniff through a slightly open bathroom door. Well that resulted in Mistletoe hissing and the kitten hissing.

Have I pushed it too far already? Tonight I am placing a towel in each of their sleeping areas. then tomorrow I will rub their respective towel on their face and flanks to ensure that their smell is really on it. Then I will switch towels. I won't let them see each other tomorrow.

This is the first time that I have done cat intro's so any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks
Deirdre

 

[hyper_dermic]

im eagerly awaiting an answer as well!!!
so far my kitten intro has not gone that well....
i have a 10 week kitten, and a 7 year old female.... (and a 4 year old male, but hes indiffrent about the kitten)

the kitten keeps running towards shadow, and she keeps hissing and swatting him...
yet the kitten keeps on going back to her!

ive tried the towel trick... shadow doesnt seem to mind if i place it right next to her....

ive tried the food bowl trick, and issac and shadow wont eat at all if its anywhere near the door...

its getting to be a problem, because the kitten wants to explore out of his room, but i cant let him near shadow... and EVERY TIME he sees shadow, he wants to run up to her and sniff her.. i think its because the 1st blanket i gave him had her scent all over it!
so perhaps the towel trick has backfired....

sorry to hijack your thread, but i figured if people are going to start dispensing kitten advice, its better to have it all compiled in one thread instead of spread out over a couple....

please let me know of your progress......

[hyp]

 

[sunshine9]

hijack away. I would love to hear ideas from people. You're only a few steps ahead of me. I'm currently letting the kitten run around our apartment with my other cat in what use to be her safe room. Just so that the kitten can let out some of her pent up kitten energy. And maybe get her scent in the apartment more. We'll see how it goes.

 

[hyper_dermic]

that will probably be my next step...
but im sure shadow wouldnt like that one bit....
ive also heard the vanilla trick..
put a drop of vanailla on the back of both of their necks.. that way they smell more like each other...

good thing for you mistletoe is only 10 months old....
im afraid shadow may never like him, i have a strong feeling she came from a 1 cat household.. shes bonded to me since then... she will follow my girlfriend or mother around, but she only wants to sit on my lap, or cuddle with me on the couch, etc.
now that im spending lots of time with the kitten, im sure shes even more threatened by him....
if he were older, perhaps it wouldnt be as much of a problem because he could swat back at her.

she was the 2nd cat in the house, issac was 1st..... there were 0 problems when they were introduced.... but then again, issac is HUGE, but extremely gentle...

when they caught issac they found him running with a mommy cat and a bunch of kittens (the shelter people said they were not his kittens)
so perhaps he can be father to the little one....

all it takes is time i guess....

[hyp]

 

[drjean]

I think you are all doing fine; just keep proceeding very slowly. Here's some detailed info about cat introductions:
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?a ... roductions

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Dr. Jean

 

[sentimentalgirl]

I'm in the process of introduction too. I have two 7 months old kittens and now new - 5 weeks old kitten. Yesterday I let them to be in the same room. They smelled each other... The older kittens seemed to be scared. I was holding the small kitten in my arms most of the times.

Later, I let the kitten run on the floor. The 2 older kittens kind of blocked her and the poor kitten had nowhere to go. Then they would almost scratch the kitten with their paw. I grabed the kitten fast and took her away.

Today I gonna buy vanilla and try to put it on their back. I think I have to give them more time....

 

[hyper_dermic]

every day, every introduction seems different with these kitties....

today issac and the kitten hanzo met again...
but this time, hanzo was quite scared of issac... he went right up to issac, but then put his ears back , and assumed a very low posture, and flopped onto his side....
issac paid no attention to hanzo, and walked on by...
as soon as issac turned around, hanzo spied his tail, and began playing with it.
issac responded with a little swat.
hanzo jumped back and assumed the defensive posture again...
issac looked away, and the whole thing repeated again... it seems hanzo cant get enuff of his tail...
yet hes scared when hes face to face...

todays intro with shadow was accidental, and again, she responded with aggression... she tried to nip at him, which made him hiss at her.....

poor kitties, i wish shadow and hanzo could just get along, little hanzo is outgrowing his little room SOOO FAST...
i cant stay in there all day with him, and he cries his little head off if someone is not with him....

if i could let him run around upstairs when im home, i could keep an eye on him, but im afraid shadow might back him into a corner or something...
she is very possive of me, and usually follows me around...
luckily she fell asleep in another room tonight, so i was able to let hanzo out for most of the evening.

tommorw after hanzo's visit with the vet, i think i will try putting shadow in hanzo's room for a while....
perhaps that will work....

will vanilla extract work for the scent trick?
thats plan B

[hyp]

 

[sentimentalgirl]

I didn't buy the vanilla extract yesterday.

Yesterday, I switched the cats - I took Maugli to the living room and closed Yoda and Dunga in our bedroom. It lasted only few minutes because Dunga was crying and scratching the door.

I brought a carrier and put Maugli inside and left the carrier in the living room - and let the cats out of our bedroom.

Yoda was next to the carrier - hissing. Dunga was close by to. Later, Dunga didn't pay attention to Maugli but Yoda was still there next to the carrier.

Interesting thing is, that we keep Maugli in our bedroom and Dunga and Yoda always want to come in! If Maugli cries, they come to the door and sit there.

I gonna buy the vanilla today - for sure! I think it might help.

I feel so bad leaving Maugli in our bedroom all the time. She doesn't like to be alone.

 

[sunshine9]

Well today, I put the kitten in a carrier to let Mistletoe sniff her. Mistletoe just sat there and hissed at her.

I can't coax Mistletoe into the kitten room. She just won't go.

Their food bowls are on opposite sides of the door. In the morning, this makes my life difficult. The kitten usually sneaks out and Mistletoe hisses at her and freezes in place.

I gave Mistletoe a towel that has been in with the kitten since Saturday so hopefuly she'll get the kittens smell. Ugh, this is so much more stressful than I thought. I can see this is going to take quite a long time I think.

 

[angie]

I did not have any luck with the vanilla. I heard that you put it on their nose and at the base of the tail on the topside. My cats would not cooperate. I did, however, put some shower-to-shower bath powder on my hands and rub each cat down a couple of times a day. They are all smelling alike, and they are getting along better. My oldest, Precious, is still being a rip about it, but no one is attacking the baby(6 months old). there is still a little hissing but not much. They quit blocking him from the food. Just be patient. If he is real little, do not let him out unsupervised. I would let him out and just keep an eye on him when you do. Good luck.

 

[hyper_dermic]

update

Heres an update on the condition of my kitties

shadow has become much more tolerant of hanzo, and hanzo has become a bit more wary of shadow....
he will still occasionally try to ambush her tail....
but there no more hissing atleast....

i can tell she still does not like him around, and does not put up with his antics....
when she has had enuff she will swat at him, and when he really pushes his luck she trys to bite his ear....

they have established their boundries, and as long as he does not try to attack shadow, she wont attack him....

[hyp]

 

[sentimentalgirl]

Our cats don't hiss anymore and they are together all the time! I think the intro took less time because they are all young cats.