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Introducing a new kitten to our 6 year old cat

12 replies

Fedupwithpeople · 19/10/2020 11:58

Just wondered if anyone had some advice on the best way to introduce a new kitten to our existing 6 year old cat.

The 6 year old cat, is a very placcid cat, he did make friends with other local cat until it got knocked down.

I was thinking of setting the kitten up in one room initially with litter tray, bed, food etc and introducing them gradually. How long do you think this process would take?

I was thinking of putting a stair gate (if I can borrow one) across the door during initial introductions so they can see each other through it.

Any advice would be great. I pick the new kitten up on the 30th. He will be 10 weeks then approximately.

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jobnockey · 19/10/2020 14:01

Place marking as we are in a very similar situation, collecting our little one 1 week before you but will be the same age.

We've been watching the Jackson galaxy videos. We has one on how to introduce cats which we're going to try to do. he does recommend a stair gate or similar as one of the stages. I'm not sure how we'll manage that in our flat but i'll try to work something out...

I feel excited and nervous?!

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wineandcheeseplease · 19/10/2020 14:06

We got a new kitten 3 weeks ago. My cats are 10, 9 and 7. We just let them all get on with it. Kittne had tray food and water separate but just let them get used to eachother.

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fantasmasgoria1 · 19/10/2020 14:32

I only currently have 1 cat 18 months but with my previous cats if I got a new kitten I would separate it at night with food, water, litter and bed and let it sniff its way around. I found that kittens being so young love to snuggle with you. But they find their own way. If I had a doubt about one of mine I would have taken it very slowly.

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OutrageousFlavourLikeFreesias · 19/10/2020 14:38

Keeping the kitten in one (separate) room initially is a great place to start. Make sure your cat has their own resources (so double up on food, litter trays etc). Give them a few days before you start letting them actively meet (they will know the other one is there, just as we would know if there was an extra person in another room!).

There will probably be a certain amount of hissing and fluffing and posturing, but give it time and they will generally settle down.

Your big cat may need to tell the kitten off when it gets too boisterous - keep an eye on this, but don't intervene unless there's clearly a massive fight going on. My grown up cat tells her annoying little stepsister off with a big hiss and a single smack of her paw. They both seem to understand this and get on pretty well (share food, occasionally play and sleep together).

Good luck. Don't forget to share kitten pics!

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Fedupwithpeople · 19/10/2020 16:04

@jobnockey

I will be very interested to see how you get on!

Please update us with the progress report!

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Fedupwithpeople · 19/10/2020 16:06

@wineandcheeseplease

We got a new kitten 3 weeks ago. My cats are 10, 9 and 7. We just let them all get on with it. Kittne had tray food and water separate but just let them get used to eachother.

Tempted to just go for it too!

But think I will plan for a slow introduction and just gauge it myself xx

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Fedupwithpeople · 19/10/2020 16:07

Here's a pic when he was only about 3 weeks old

Introducing a new kitten to our 6 year old cat

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jobnockey · 19/10/2020 17:20

Yes we can share notes...

He’s gorgeous!

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thethoughtfox · 19/10/2020 17:23

We got one of those Feliway plugins. It's supposed to mimic the hormone produced by mama cats to promote bonding between kittens. We had mostly seamless introduction. Big cat did stalk kitten for a bit but they get closer and closer to each other over the course of the day till they were sleeping back to back.