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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Original poster

Kitten and older cat - good idea or not

15 replies

TorianaTollywobbles · 22/10/2011 16:53

We are thinking of getting a kitten for DD but already have an older female cat of 15.

The kitten we have seen is 8 weeks so just ready for rehoming and is also a female.

I am completely undecided as to whether this is a good idea. I am of course worried most about our older cat and whether it is fair on her to introduce a kitten at this stage.

Any advice/experience/success stories or disasters would be appreciated.

OP posts:

oopslateagain · 22/10/2011 17:29

We have a 16yo male cat 'Oopscat' and a 7yo male (both neutered of course!). The older cat was 'on his last legs' last year, he is blind and has arthritis and was starting to get thinner and slowing down and really looked old. We were preparing for the worst.

Then I visited the local cats shelter and fell in love with a little female kitten. We brought her home, kept her in a separate room on her own (well, sort of - I slept in there with her! ) for 10 days, then slowly introduced her to the rest of the house and the other two cats.

The 7yo cat is antisocial; he has always completely ignored our old cat and only really gets on with DD -actually he adores her - he 'tolerates' me and DH! He didn't like the new kitten from the start, would actively avoid her. She is 18 months old now, and he still avoids her, and hisses if she gets too close.

Oopscat was a bit bemused by her. She would bounce around him and he would sit there wondering what this little fluffball was. Now they play together - she bounces up to him, he rolls over, and they go rolling round the floor together. He has honestly got a new lease of life. He still spends most of the time sleeping in the sun if he can, but he also has started playing with his catnip mouse again, and seems to be enjoying life more.

I can't guarantee the change is entirely due to the kitten - but he looks and acts younger now than when we got her over a year ago.

HTH!

OneHandFlapping · 22/10/2011 17:35

I would consider getting a male kitten, rather than a female. We were in a similar position, with a 3 year old female, and we got a pair of kittens, one of each sex. The older cat tolerated the male, but it soon became a contest for dominance with the female, and as soon as the kitten was mature, our old cat started spending less and less time and home, went to live with a distant neighbour, and finally vanished completely.

Original poster

TorianaTollywobbles · 22/10/2011 17:39

Aaaah bless him

The trouble is you just don't know until the kitten arrives and then its too late! I would hate to have to either return or rehome the kitten if it didn't work out.

Our older cat is fairly laid back but a bit timid and I think would either ignore the kitten or hide from it. She tends to spend most of her time on or under our bed and I don't want her to be stuck up there for the rest of her life.

On the other hand they may get on great!

OP posts:

Original poster

TorianaTollywobbles · 22/10/2011 17:42

Ah that's interesting OneHand

I had thought that another female would be better, thinking a male would be more dominant and less likely to get on.

I think the more I think about it the less I think it would be a good idea. We have been trying to decide for a while now.

OP posts:

OneHandFlapping · 22/10/2011 17:50

I prefer the males anyway. They seem more friendly, content to just lie on your lap,and hunt less (well ours have anyway).

I got some good advice about introducing a new cat from here.

Original poster

TorianaTollywobbles · 22/10/2011 18:20

Thanks OneHand

Some really good advice on that link.

OP posts:

bamboobutton · 22/10/2011 18:25

our attempt at getting a new kitten with an older cat was a disaster.

older male cat hated the kitten from the word go, we tried everything to make it work for nearly a year but old cat was barely coming home in the end and was turning feral.

had to rehome kitten in the end and chose a rescue that updated the cats on a regular basis so i knew when she had gone to a new home miss my kitten.

Original poster

TorianaTollywobbles · 22/10/2011 19:24

Oh that's sad Bamboobutton

Our older cat is an indoor cat, she only goes out into our garden, so I am hoping she won't run off.

OP posts:

buggerlugs82 · 24/10/2011 13:00

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This post has been withdrawn due to privacy concerns.

haggisaggis · 24/10/2011 13:26

WE had decided we were gettig a pedigree kitten after my rescue cat died. However, feeling guilty about getting a pedigree when there are so many rescues, I spoke to our local rescue and asked if tehy thought gettin an older cat from them AND the kiitten would be a good idea. Oh yes they said - wonderful idea - get the rescue first.
So we had Edgar for 3 weeks before Harry arrived. Edgar went into hiding and only now - about 2 months later - will he come out and see us all. He detests Harry and hisses and growls at him whenever he sees him. Doesn't attack him though. I have to say I really regret getting him now. Have spoken to teh rescue again several times for advice but their attitude is that he will settle down eventually...

buggerlugs82 · 24/10/2011 14:07

This reply has been withdrawn

This post has been withdrawn due to privacy concerns.

LittleJennyRobyn · 26/10/2011 12:11

Some cats take to kittens some dont.

We had a Ragdoll (we got as a kitten), who setlled in fine with the older 2 but when we decided to get another kitten a few years later....hated it with a passion.
He never accepted the kitten in the 6 months he was with us. He sadly had to be PTS.
Fast forward a year, we decided to try again with another kitten, and took it really slow with the intro's, keeping them seperated, letting them approach each other on thier own terms....but it still didn't work.
Ragdoll was not going to accept another cat no matter what. He only just tolerated it, but would growl and hiss if the kitten got too close.

Yet the other cats accepted both kittens not a problem.

We had the kitten for a year before Ragdoll passed away in August.
It can be stressful and i often thought i made a huge mistake but no way could i rehome the kitten, so just tried to make the best of it.

You wont actually know how the older cat will react until you try. It may surprise you.

suzi2 · 26/10/2011 12:35

I would generally say that it's not fair to the older one, but it does depend on temperment. On the plus side, it'll make losing the older one easier if there is another cat there to still look after. Our cat left a hole in my life when he died 7 weeks ago. DS (6) took it very hard too. I think if we had had another focus, it would have been easier all round.

Themumsnot · 26/10/2011 12:42

We got a kitten when our older cat was two, some weeks after his brother had been killed on the road. They were inseperable so we didn't want him to be lonely and thought a kitten would help. Not so much. She loved him at once, but was way too full on and annoyed him. It took him a couple of months to get to the tolerating her stage. A year and a half on and they quite like each other though - they will play together quite happily and even sleep on the same sofa though they never curl up in a ball together like he did with his brother.
In hindsight, I might have got two kittens so they would have played together and not bothered him so much. Is that an option for you?

FannyNil · 28/10/2011 23:15

We have a 10 year old neutered male and acquired a two month old male kitten who is now almost 4 months. Senior cat ignored the LO at first. The kitten bounces around him, bats him, plays with his tail, jumps on him as he walks past etc etc and he puts up with it for a while before administering a whack with his paw. LO keeps on coming back for more, so it can't hurt. They eat out of the same dish without any problem (if I put food in two dishes they finish one then go on to the other together). They have yet to snuggle up together but I think it might happen. The kitten has now had all his innoculations but any hope I had that he would be influenced by the older cat and learn to go to the lav outside has so far been dashed. You can only try but if there are real fisticuffs or the older cat stops coming inside, you might have to be prepared to rehome one of them and that would be very, very hard.

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