have a 6 month kitten, add a new younger kitten?

[fromwesttoeast]

I have a kitten who is just turning 6 months. He is very confident and playful. He likes running round the garden with the neighbour's pair of two year old cats. Whenever he sees them he wants to rush over to them. He is very sociable. Indoors he is very active too.
A friend has had three kittens from her cat, they are currently about 3 months and she is struggling to rehome them. I am thinking of helping her out by taking one of her boy kittens.
Do you think this will work out and my first kitten will accept the new one?
Should I get the older one neutered before introducing the new one?
Thanks

being as he gets on with other cats it sounds like he wopuld accept a kitten quite well hes only a kit himself i would say go for it, as you are getting a boy kitten i would still get him neutered as with a newbie in the house he may spray to mark his territory

Thanks for your help. I had wondered about the risk of spraying. I've never ventured into multi-cat ownership before! I should get the first kitten booked into the vets asap then.

Neutering won't absolutely remove the possibility of conflict/spraying etc but it's a good first step and something you should do anyway with a pet male cat. I'd book him in directly.

Hello again, just updating here. We had our 6 month kitten neutered last week and today we brought home the 3 month old.
At the moment we are keeping them separate. Older one has heard younger one meowing and had been to investigate the door the other one is behind. He showed no sign of aggression, just curiosity.
Younger one has had a flea problem, so going to treat him tonight and may introduce them tomorrow.
Any tips? Am I going about this the right way?

sounds positive that older one isnt hissing, mine are all different ages except two who are brother and sister i just plonk the newcomer in the middle of the front room and let them get on with it, you may find that instead of hissing your older boy may run from the kitten, i have fostered little ones for a charity and my lot reacted like i had brought a huge rottie into the house not a tiny ickle bundle of fur lol

Thanks issey, and thanks for replying on my other thread about the newcomer's flea issue too.
The older one escaped back up to the bathroom door for another sniff round and started rolling and making chirrup sounds. I think he want us to release the hostage so he can play with him. Can't wait to bring newcomer out, but must deal with the fleas first :(

awww sounds like the meeting is going to be good and your welcome im not an expert on cats but have 4 of my own and have worked for Haworth cat rescue for 5 years so you pick up a fair bit of info as you go

So, having been cleared of the fleas it was time to introduce the two cats. This is how it went:
We brought the new one down in the carrier and let the older one have a look. He growled a bit, but in between growling he would just go off and do his normal thing for a few minutes.
Later we had them both free in the room. There was some growling but also some nose touching. Then there was something that looked like playing and some friendly sounds. (Our older kitten play fights with the cats next door every day, he rushes out to them and starts wrestling.)
He started batting at the newcomer, which was ok for a while but then I think the new comer got scared and spat. We separated them after that but the older one was still going crazy for ages doing the whole mad kitten thing, which he is very prone to anyway, but he was leaping and skidding everywhere.
How do you think it went?

sounds like it didnt go too badly growling and batting is the older ones way of showing the kitten hes top cat, the nose touching is encouraging and my six year olds still have thier mad half hour where they rush round like loonies and they are brother and sister and still have spats

Yes, thanks issey. We have spent the day bringing them together for a while, then separating them for a cooling down then back together again. Right now they are having a game of hide and seek with the tablecloth. It all seems friendly, even a few chirrup sounds and a lick from older kitten. He is the annoying older brother though, loves to play swipe and bat with anyone. Younger kitten seems confident.
Hope I'm not speaking too soon, but I think this could be a friendship in the making. :)

:) think your right sounds like everything will go well enjoy am jealous mine are all grown up