new kitten and old cat

[Twotinygirls]

I'm after a bit of advice. We are soon adopting a new kit. We have a cat at home already.
I'm worried about two things, what do I do about her eating the adult cat food will it be bad for her?, and him scoffing her kitten food.
And the cat flap, he is a very independent in out cat so can't really restrict it, current carer of kitten says they don't have a flap so she won't know what to do with it. Anyone have experience if this?

Any other advice welcome, thanks all

[CowboyJoeFromMexico]

I've recently got a kitten and the best tip I can give you is to get a large cage or tent type thing that you can put the kitten in with a litter tray, food, water and bed.
Let the kitten out and introduce it gradually to the older cat. My kitten likes to be able to get into his bed and have his own space while he's getting to know the big cats. They try to steal his tasty kitten food but he's not so interested in their food.

[Twotinygirls]

Thanks cowboy. Do you shut kitten away when you go out? I've had a kitten before but never with a big cat. I don't think big cat will be too bothered about her, he's quite aloof.

[timtam23]

How old is the kitten Twotinygirls?

And as far as the cat flap is concerned, you can get microchip cat flaps which can be programmed for individual chips so if it didn't recognise the kitten's chip (or of she hadn't been chipped yet) it would let big cat out but not kitten

[timtam23]

For food - last year I took in a stray kitten & already had 2 elderly cats, it was impossible to separate all the food bowls/feeding times so although we tried to make sure they all started off at the right bowls, it usually ended up with the kitten eating the "senior" biscuits and the elderly ones scoffing the kitten food

I don't think it did any of them any great harm in the long run

[Twotinygirls]

She will be 12 weeks when we get her.

I'm guessing that as long as she eats some kitten food, pinching some adult food won't hurt her, our greedy old fella doesn't really leave a lot in his bowl anyway.

I've seen those flaps and probably will go for one but in reality it probably won't get bought and installed by next week.

[timtam23]

She might be quite bouncy at that age
my kitten was around 7 weeks when we found him, and was very weeny & subdued, but by 12 weeks he was a small furry bundle of energy & used to launch himself off the sofa & Velcro himself to my legs using his claws

he also lay in wait for the old cat & ambushed him, this was not popular!
However - they reached a truce and used to curl up together, things definitely calmed down once the kitten was neutered

[CowboyJoeFromMexico]

I shut the kitten in his cage if no one is in. All the cats are getting more used to each other now but kitten loves the big cats flicky tails and wants to pounce on them . he has so much energy and wants to play all the time, have plenty of bits of string, sticks with feathers on and things to chase ready.

[cozietoesie]

Adult cat food won't harm her. Kitten food is best because it contains more protein, fat and nutrients to aid healthy development but if she's just getting leftovers it shouldn't be an issue.

[NameChange30]

Our vet advised us not to let the kittens out until they're 6 months old. At the very least you should wait until they are vaccinated, chipped and neutered. So the cat flap won't be an issue for a while (unless your kitten works out how to use it and tries to get out before he's allowed to!) I think SureFlap is the one you can programme to let one cat out but not the other?

[Twotinygirls]

Thanks for all the good advice. I'm definitely not letting her out until she's 6 months so fingers crossed she doesn't work out what the cat flaps for!

We are super excited for some kitten fun.

[RubbishMantra]

How long ago did you pick her out Twotiny? We picked MKitten when he was a week old. It was a very loooong 12 weeks until we picked him up. I was literally counting down the days.

Him and resident MCat, are now thick as thieves.

[eddiemairswife]

I feed my cats in separate rooms. When I got the younger one, who was 1 year old she had been living rough, and gobbled every thing so quickly she was sick. So I fed her little and often on less lumpy food, and kept her away from the older cat's food . Now if she isn't fed separately she bolts her own food and then takes over the older cat's bowl. He has better table manners and likes to eat at a leisurely pace, so if I left them to it he'd never get enough.

[ghostyslovesheep]

first 2 weeks my older cats (12 and 6) where kept away from the kittens - now 6 weeks one they grudgingly share the house - and their food - in fact 12 year old girl cat has got very fat on kitten food!

they play together mainly - old girl puts them in their place if they try to play with her - old boy just walks away

[Twotinygirls]

Thanks all. We've only had to wait, what will be 2 weeks but was are counting down the days, getting a bit worried about her shimmying up the carefully decorated christmas tree. Separating the cats isn't really possible as our house is pretty teeny but I think old man will be ok, he's had pals before and she lives with adult cats now. They will just have to get on with it