When is it safe to introduce kitten to adult cat?

[Belepheron]

Obviously very very slowly.., but my new kitten had her first jabs today and I'm not sure when she might have enough protection to "meet" (sniff? Hiss? Lick? Who knows) my lovely resident adult boy.

She's in her own room at the moment and settled in well. I'm sooo tempted to let my boy go in there. He's been chirping at her door since she arrived three days ago!

[Belepheron]

Oops forgot the bribe photos ..,

[SantasBritchesSpelleas]

If resident boy is chirping rather than hissing and growling, that's a good sign. I try to let the two cats see each other at a distance first, keep the initial introductions brief and needless to say, supervise constantly.

A Feliway plug in can help if there are any signs of stress when they meet.

What a beautiful little kitten!

[Belepheron]

Oh Feliway damn I should have got that. Will get some tomorrow. .. She is indeed cute. She hasn't a name yet. I want something light and that reminds me of thistles or dandelions.

[Santaisironingwrappingpaper]

Due to having ddogs and other circumstances too boring - dcat and dkitten went in the same room on day 1. Separate food stations /litter trays and beds.. Hissing on day 1 and the odd time that week. Week 2 sitting watching /quite near No aggression from dcat. Dkitten quite feisty!
Week 3..

[SantasBritchesSpelleas]

Santaisironingwrappingpaper Kitten snuggled at the back of tabby is just too cute for words!

[ranoutofquinoaandprosecco]

Can I ask for those of you getting a Dkitten and a DCat what sort of age is your DCat?
We unfortunately lost a cat nearly 2 months ago and DCat who's left behind seems ok (she's 4) but I do think she's sort of looking for her sister. My DS is still devastated and has asked Santa to bring the DCat (deceased) for Xmas. I've explained to him that Santa doesn't bring animals to our house a d that we can never replace a pet. However, I think as a family we would be open to more cats if we thought it was the right thing to do for our DCat.
Ps sorry got derailing the thread.

[SantasBritchesSpelleas]

Our girl was about six when we got our second cat a couple of years ago. He was an adolescent rather than a kitten - about 6 months old. Our previous elderly cat had died and we like to have two, but I don't think our girl was bothered either way.

[Belepheron]

My resident cat is 6. I fostered him from a charity who had 35 cats to rehome from one household - a cat hoarder. He was so withdrawn and traumatised they wanted a foster to see if he would ever relax and "be happy". We fell in love :)

But he's so friendly to other cats I thought he might like his own "friend". We will see!

[SantasBritchesSpelleas]

My younger cat came from a cat hoarder. He was incredibly shy when we first took him home because he'd hardly been socialised with people at all (though he was very confident with our other cat and the dog). Now he loves a fuss and a cuddle, and he's very chatty - but still hides away if a strange human comes into the house.

[Santaisironingwrappingpaper]

Resident dcat was 8 in April. Just weeks before his dbro was pts...

He had become very stressed and sad... No way did I really want a dkitten!!
It has worked a charm and obviously we all love dkitten!!
Just need to convince her ddogs will also love her...

[coastergirl]

She's beautiful! How about Clover for a name?

I lost one of my boys a few weeks ago. The other one seems lonely. I swore no more pets because the heartbreak when they die is unbearable, but I'm wavering...

[Belepheron]

So I came downstairs this am to find resident cat and visiting friend cat kissing and licking in the kitchen. All good and normal.

When visiting cat left, Iet kitten explore the upstairs ... resident cat looked horrified, sat in the "I'm cross" pose and gave her the evil eye as she pranced and played. When she slowly approached him he got up and left through the cat flap.

I put her back in her room and resident cat and I went on our normal morning garden tour. I swear he was checking out potential places to move in to. He's definitely fed up.

But honestly... scabby old visiting cat (who is a total gent) gets chirrups of welcome and kisses. Cutest kitten gets looks that say "god I want to eat you".

It's going to be a long haul. But at least no hissing or swiping (yet).

[Belepheron]

wrapping if I can arrive at that friendliness - and how cute they look!- I will be very happy.

[Belepheron]

coaster- it is absolutely heartbreaking. A genuine grief. When my dog died years ago I thought, "ah she'd have wanted me to be happy", and rescued a couple of old cats. When the old cats eventually died I thought "no way would they want other cats in their old house!" And that's the difference between cats and dogs. I never dared get another dog because she was frankly my soul dog :(

[Beamur]

My resident was 5 when her pal died and we got kittens. I wanted boy cats but fate gave us 2 girl kittens. Not ideal to introduce more girls to an existing female.
It has been a long haul to get them to live peacefully. There's never been fighting, but there has been staring and chasing and the odd biff.
We kept them completely separate for a few days and then supervised mixing for several weeks. Sleeping in seperate places overnight for quite a long time - mostly to give the older cat a break from the kittens. They don't sleep together or groom each other but they're more relaxed around each other.

[IamMaz]

'Thistle' is a lovely name!!!! Choose that?

[miccoops]

We recently introduced a 8 week kitten to our 5 year olds rescue cat. It was a bit rough to begin with and kept apart with slow intros. Now at 6 weeks in they are lovely together. They face rub, play and even sleep together sometimes. I think if you follow advice and take it slow then it can work but you need to be committed as it wasn’t easy (for us anyway).

[Belepheron]

Thistle. That's pretty darn good. I'll see what she says to it.

Today resident cat took me outside for a quiet word - which was either she goes or he does. He's very upset. Ive explained we have to take this slowly, but he's pretty shocked that I'm prepared to put him through a minute's suffering.
She's absolutely bonkers and squares up to him like a raging lion then runs away squeaking.

I'm taking it very much a day at a time and letting my panic feelings of omfg what have I done, pass over me in as zen a manner as possible. That, and beer.

[Belepheron]

Look at the misery on his face:(

[SantasBritchesSpelleas]

Looks like an eye-roll to me! 'FFS' he's saying, 'what's this?'

[Beamur]

Poor little sausage! He looks most disconcerted.
It's early days. Don't panic.