Introducing a kitten to an existing cat? Advice needed!

[Jenda]

Looking for a bit of advice on getting another cat, I know there are lots of very knowledable people here!

We have an 8 year old rescue boy who is absolutely gorgeous but quite wimpy and sadly having been bullied by neighbourhood cats, tends not to venture out too much. He is cuddly but on your lap, not getting up in your neck type cuddly. Very playful and loads of energy, nightly zooms around the house with a bit of yowling!

Anyway, we would really like another cat. We would love a rescue, but wonder if we would be better off with a Kitten so our chap as a chance to assert himself. He has a tendency to get under a bed and stay there if there are any big interruptions and I worry that introducing another adult cat would be really stressful for him. I appreciate that an older cat might be calmer though. I'd also thought that it would be best to get a female kitten but having done a bit of research, that might not be the case?

Have had cats all my life and introduced lots of rescues to existing cats, but none of my previous cats were so scaredy! Does anyone have any advice?

Oh, and also we could take a couple of weeks off work to settle the newbie in, do you think that’s enough?

I don't have much to help you but we're going through this too and it's been quite stressful so I'll keep an eye out for any replies!

Our 1 yr old female cat seems very afraid of the new kitten, who's nearly 11 weeks. New kitten wants to play, keeps going up to cat, who growls, bats her, and then runs away and hides! We don't want the kitten to get hurt and did a very gradual introduction over 2 weeks, mainly keeping her in one room.

What we have found useful in the last week is a big dog crate. Enough space for kitten to run about and her litter tray and food not too close together, plus cosy bedding etc. We can have her in there for an hour or two in the same room as us and cat. They are now at the stage of gently pawing each other through the bars so it's less stressful for cat, but when we let them out in the same room for short periods there's still some growling. Older cat seems generally grumpy at the moment but I'm hoping it will pass!! Kitten just desperate to play.

We took 2 weeks off as well, but due to go back next week and a bit anxious about leaving the kitten cooped up in one room alone all day. There unfortunately isn't a way to split our house e.g. upstairs/downstairs.

Dog crate is a great idea! I will get one. You just don't know how they'll be do you?! My cat quite likes babies and isn't too fussed by their jerky movements so I'm hoping thats a good sign!

What if the kitten grows up dominant & bullies him?.

My cat was a timid kitten, you would never have predicted what a bully he turned out to be.

True, but then someone could get two kittens and one could be a bully. My cat can hold is own, I just want to be able to find some kind of relaxed balance!

True, but then someone could get two kittens and one could be a bully. My cat can hold is own, I just want to be able to find some kind of relaxed balance!

I had two kittens, one of which sadly passed away at 18mo, so shortly after I got another two kittens. Less than a year later I introduced another adult cat to the other three (abandoned cat so they all had to get on with it!).

The young cat with the two kittens went really well and I used a large dog crate just to make sure nothing went wrong when they were unsupervised.

The adult cat needed more careful handling. I set her up in her own room, exchanged blankets, did the sock trick with scents, fed them within sight of each other, etc and repeated it all with all three cats. It took a few weeks but they are all fine now.