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Thu 19 Jun, 2008 11:03 am
My Fiancee and I are looking to get another cat; our current cat, Ava, is about 5 years old.
All the online 'how-to' guides for introducing a new cat to the household recommend keeping them separated for a while, sometimes as much as a week. It's difficult for me to see how this could happen, for two reasons:
First, we have a two-bedroom apartment, and use every room all the time. The idea of having a whole room shut off for a week is a difficult one, as we would be constantly opening and closing the doors.
Second, my current cat HATES closed doors. As an indoor-only cat, I feel bad closing part of her territory off, it's small enough as it is. To close off the second bedroom for a protracted amount of time would be a major battle with her.
Anyone have experience with adding a kitten to a situation such as this? I don't want the two of them to hate each other!
Cheers
Cycloptichorn
If the older cat doesn't pay for mousetraps, kill it.
My experience is exactly the opposite, Cyclo. What has worked best for me is to bring the kitten in, drop it in the litter pan so it knows where it is, and just let them work things out themselves.
roger wrote:My experience is exactly the opposite, Cyclo. What has worked best for me is to bring the kitten in, drop it in the litter pan so it knows where it is, and just let them work things out themselves.
Hmm, that would be nice if it worked out that way!
Cycloptichorn
I will tell you this - it depends on the cat.
We have a new puppy, and a three year old cat. At first, the cat was really scared of the dog, but quickly that changed as the cat realized the dog was eating his food. So now the cat actually seems to enjoy the dog's company, to a point. Once the dumb dog gets too annoying, out come the cat claws for a good retraining session.
We also had a couple kittens in the house recently, and the cat sniffed them and just walked away. We didn't let the dumb dog near them.
everytime I get a new cat, I just set him down and dont bother.
They will fight and argue no matter what you do. You cant stop it , its just part of cat nature.
Keep a squirt bottle near by with water in it in case it gets vicious.. but let them be..
- Take kitten home, put in bathroom with no food.
- Take away the other cat's food. Let the cats investigate each other through the door for a few hours while they get hungry (especially your old cat).
- When they are pretty hungry, put some tasty (maybe go with tuna, or wet cat food for this) food in the same room a few yards apart and introduce them over food.
- Afterwards show the new cat the bathroom and let the rest run its course.
Letting them get used to each other's smell for a week through a door can help, of course, but a smaller amount of time and a peaceful introduction can also be good enough.
Echoing what has already been said.
When it comes down to it, they'll work it out.
We recently brought in a new edition to the household, Otis.
He was about, oh 12 wks old, roland, a large male is around 2, and jezzer, about 16.
jezzer was no problem, she was like "I've seen it all"
The first 2 nights or so Otis slept in the room with us, door closed. That was just so nothing major would happen.
roland spent about a week growling and hissing. Then, he'd play with otis and groom him....then growl and hiss. over the next couple weeks the growling/hissing stopped, the playing increased to a 24/7 wrestle fest, and he'd groom him all over.
In other words, they'll be fine.
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