Hints & Tips introducing new kitten to cat

HigginsJ

Hi. We got a new kitten yesterday (boy bout 6-8 weeks old) We currently have a 4 year old cat (female)

We have kitten in a cage in the sitting room and when the cat comes into the room she wont go near the cage starts hissing and wants to go out. If we try to go near the cat she will swipe at us with her paw.

Now our cat has been pampered since we got her so I presume its some sort of jealously/worry.

What can we do to ease the transition for our existing cat to get used to the kitten??

Heroditas

Keep them in completely separate rooms for the time being.
Get an old cloth or towel and stick it in the cage with the kitten and get its scent on it. Then leave the rag near the other cat so it can get used to the smell.
Gradually introduce them to each other when both have got used to the smell of each other.
Eventually you should be able to feed them in the same room (in opposite corners of course). I found that if cats can eat ion the same room as each other, they will more readily trust each other... on condition that one is not eating much quicker than the other and running over to steal the other's dinner.

Pumpkinseeds

Both my cats eat in the kitchen at the same time. One insists on having his food bowl on a kitchen work top. They both use the same bowl of dry food though. Not sure why but it keeps the peace. One thing I've noticed is that our former feral will try to bury any wet food thats left in the bowl on the floor, can be hillarious at times.

HigginsJ

Thanks for the advice. I can see this being a long process as the new cat (George) seems semi feral. Our current cat (Isabel) is hissing when we pick her up now even if not in same room as the new kitten.

lubie76

Ya, will take a bit of time but they will get used of each other although maybe never best buds:D

HigginsJ

Ok so bit of a problem with George. We had been giving him bread and milk which he seemed to like but last night he threw up/spit up alot of it. I went out and got cat milk and whiskas kitten dry.

What would you suggest feeding him? Is the throwing up food something to worry about. We are taking him to vet next week for check up, is this something they will check on?

He has also only pooped twice in 2 days since we got him and not really sure he knows how to use litter box as he seems to sleep in it.

Can't remember having any of these problems with Isabel.

SillyMangoX

Bread and milk is just in no way a proper diet for a cat, they are lactose intolerant for the most part so that could be why he is spitting it up, and the bread has no nutritional value. Cats are carnivores so any wet kitten pouches will be perfect. We feed ours a mixture of wet and dry, and just water to drink. No harm to mention it to the vet during the check up but it should sort itself out when he is being fed proper food!

ABajaninCork

I left my two to sort it out between themselves, whilst keeping a careful eye. Didn't take long!

It's a fallacy that cats like milk. I've had three. Only one liked milk and he had a saucer every day. The other two hated ANY kind of dairy product and just liked water - preferably cold and straight from the tap! Sitting water (in their dishes) was given a wide berth, although both liked to drink from puddles. Go figure...

HigginsJ

George is much better this evening. He drank full bottle of the Wiskas cat milk throughout the day and also ate about a handful of the Wiskas kitten dry (mixed through the milk)

He has stopped the hissing (pretty much) when we try to pick him up. So things looking up on that side.

Isabel still very unimpressed :rolleyes: She sits on my OH's lap all fine but if she hears George meowing in the other room she hisses. Have got few scratches from her past 2 days.