Resident cat hates new kittens

[toomuchhappyland]

I was expecting introductions to take a long time, but I’m getting worried now that they’re not really improving. Resident cat is 2. She has lived with another cat before, who died a few months ago (we already had him when we got her as a kitten. They just used to ignore each other). We got two littermates, 8 weeks old, five weeks ago. From the start we separated them - kittens in one room, cat in rest of house. Fed her near their closed door so she could smell them. All fine. Did the scent swapping with blankets and scratching posts, got the plug-in. Everything seemed ok so after a few days we progressed to a baby gate so they could see each other but not touch. She was scared at first, wouldn’t go near the room, but got braver so there was a point when she wasn’t bothered. That was about three weeks ago. Since then we’ve tried gradual introductions and it seems so hit and miss. If she’s asleep the kittens can be in the room with her and it’s generally OK. They are wary of her and tend to have a wide berth. But if she’s awake, she’ll chase them, swipe at them (knocking them over) then hiss and run off. Obviously we immediately separate them if this behaviour starts. We have loads of litter trays, beds and two cat trees, so there’s no competition for resources. She has a cat flap so comes and goes at will (we shut her in at night). Do you think she’ll eventually accept them? I’m just worried as I’ve read once they’ve started chasing kittens round, it’s hard to ever make it work. We never leave them unsupervised together and as soon as she looks spooked we do split them up, but I’m worried this isn’t going to work out. They can climb the baby gate now so we can’t go back to that stage and there’s nothing else we can use to separate them physically but so they can still see each other.

I was in this situation a year ago.

Did kittens in one room, oldlady in rest of house. Then kittens alll over house when old lady was out. Much scent swapping and swapping of blankets.

Initial introductions through the door were a disaster but they did get better by bribing old lady with snackies.

We did much reading up about slow introductions but it gradual became clear no length of time was going to be slow enough for old lady.

One day we just gave up and mixed them up together.

Having 2 kittens helped as frankly they were far more interested in each other than old lady. We also made it clear that old lady was the boss but bullying would not be tolerated. House was drowned in Feliway (not Feliway Friends - waste of money on ours)

A year on, and we wake up with all 3 of them on the bed with us

It's incredibly rare for things to not work out eventually as long as the owners don't lose their nerve and give up. And your resident cat isn't a total cat-hater as she previously lived with a cat. I'm pretty sure it will eventually be ok.

Thanks both, that’s encouraging. Interesting about the plug in Anna, we’ve been using Feliway Friends but not noticed any impact so I’ll switch to the other one.

Thanks. I cannot recommend Cosmas Snackies highly enough - our cats would sell their souls for them and they regularly solve cat related problems here

Tried giving them Dreamies once and they were unimpressed.

Five weeks is still a very short period of time for her to get used to them, and she's had a lot of change, the loss of her cat companion and then the arrival of these two.

I had one cat that I thought would be fine with kittens as he was okay with other cats as long as he was top dog (or cat!) I had taken in a stray feral that had kittens and the first time he saw them he bolted and then became stressed and started going for the other cats.

I can only imagine that they see the intruders and think that their mother will protect them against intruders and they are in trouble!

Lots of pet remedy and feliway was used and we used to try to make meetings positive, so feeding together, offering treats and best of all is playing together if you can, things like the flying frenzy that they can all join in with.

I do think that sometimes it just takes time, and they won't be kittens forever. I'd try to make sure she has somewhere she can retreat to indside if she wants to, as I wouldn't want her to be pushed outdoors and possibly leaving home; but I don't know if I'd continue to keep them permanently separated as they do need to get used to each other. Once she realises she can put them in their place she may settle,

Only time will tell how things will work out, the one positive is that your cat has lived with other cats before so it isn't impossible, but it might take a while to get to that point.

I know it's difficult, but it's important that you stay chilled and relaxed and acting normally when they are all together, it can be easy to get stressed and hover over them when you anticipate trouble, but it is amazing how quickly they pick up on this and it just exacerbates things.

I'd continue with kwwping them together and see how things pan out.

We did this at the end of August. Our old girl is 16, the kits were 11 weeks.
We thought she was lonely as we had her litter mate pts in April.
Did all the recommended intros, she was OK but not keen. They are now at the stage where they all have the run of the house when we are home. Kits are shut in the living room when we are out and at night, mainly so the big cat can use her cat flap.
She mostly ignores them, but still hisses at them and has swiped at them a few times but generally only if them have been a pita (they love following really closely behind her or watching her in the litter tray - just like a small child lol). I reckon as long as she isn't hurting them all of this is what their mum would have done. Our vet agrees. Stick with supervised meets and don't let your older cat get cornered by the kits, also give her some time with you on he own and alone with you, would be my advixe

Oh and feliway has never made any difference to our cats so I haven't bothered this time