Introducing a new kitten to an older cat

[Pipstelle]

We are getting a new kitten in a few weeks and currently have a 6 year old female cat. Any advice on how to best introduce them?

Does your cat actually like other cats? If not they may never get on. I think long and hard before bringing the kitten into the house especially if your cat is used to being the only cat in the house. I really hope it works out for you but question if you've made the right decision

She had a brother who died two years ago that she adored. She doesn't like other cats in the neighbourhood but do any cats like random cats? I'm not sure how I'd trial knowing how she will react? I assumed she'd be ok with it and hopefully enjoy the company.

There are lots of guides on cat introductions online, basically the best way is to start with initial separation and then gradually introduce, without overwhelming the older cat, over several days/weeks depending on how your older cat reacts. Some hissing, avoiding and general grumpiness is to be expected especially from the older cat.

Kittens are generally easier to introduce and are seen as less of a threat by an older cat. Still, there's no guarantee they will become best friends but they might! It might take time or be quick, you just need to go at their pace and not force anything (i.e. never force them to sniff or touch each other).

And obviously be careful the kitten can't escape if your older cat goes out!

Cats don’t generally ‘enjoy company’. Be prepared for your older cat to fuck off and live with someone else.

It’s best done slowly, it can take a few weeks of scent swapping etc before their ready to meet.

Living up to your name nicely there @Puta.

Older cat liking her brother doesn't mean she will like a kitten. My older cat behaved as if I had ruined her life when I brought 2 kittens in.

There are a lot of websites with advice about keeping the kitten in one separate room, doing a lot of scent swapping, opening the door tiny amounts for little introductions where you give the older cat treats and taking it really slowly.

Apparently this is supposed to be successful.

In my case it wasn't and after about 8 weeks we gave up and just let them get on with it. They soon learned to avoid old lady cat and they kind of get on.

2 years on, she will still duff the younger cat up if they are annoying but old lady and surviving kitten are sitting on my bed 6 inches apart so it can't be all bad.

I’ve done this on several occasions. I’ve introduced and then given them space to get used to scents. Kept kitten segregated initially. Plug in felinway.

Sometimes there hAs been a bit of hissing but they’ve always shaken down ok and sometimes become friends.

I'm an ex vet nurse - I rescued one of ours from work. Couldn't leave him.

We had two 2 year old sisters at the time.

This worked well for us :

Keeping kitten in one room only, so feed, litter tray etc in there. What we also did which I think really helped is bought a large dog crate and popped kitten in there for half an hour or so at a time throughout the day and opened the house completely up so the girls could then come in and out as they pleased, sniff etc.

It took about 3/4 days and then they where totally used to him and comfortable and they all live harmoniously now!

It can be done, but you need to give it time and patience.

I am a month into getting dkitten and have a 4 year old female cat. Yes, she acts like we have ruined her life, but in the last week she was becoming a bit more tolerant. Then he has become much more confident with her and will bound over all of a sudden while she is minding her business and jump on her head which as you can imagine she is finding upsetting.
Be prepared for older cat to need lots of TLC and to be hissing and swiping army everyone and wanting to constantly leave. I do now start to see glimpses of the light at the end of the tunnel because they were both sleeping on my bed the other night.

Feliway and the dog crate are good ideas - thank you!

We did it. Similar circumstances to yours, new kitten and 3 year old female cat who had previously lived with her brother and got on well with him, but hated other neighbourhood cats.

They are now good friends, lick each others faces and sleep in the same bed. It took a lot of patience at the beginning though - first introduction involved lots of hissing and spitting, and general disgust by the older cat. We followed the advice on the Cats Protection website, which was excellent: separate rooms, 5 minute introduction every morning and then physically separating them when it looked like getting heated, and swapping old towels in their beds every morning.

We were told to be prepared for 2 months of this routine but it actually took 8 days! Good luck!

@TuttiFrutti - that's really encouraging! Thank you! Do yours go out?

Yes, but at the beginning we kept the kitten in for 3 weeks.

We took in 3 twelve week old kittens when we had a 14 year old cat. Her sister had recently died suddenly. We worried terribly about whether it was a bad idea, especially since Aggie had never really got on all that well with her own sister for 14 years. But guess what? After about 4 weeks of sulking and hissing, she started to tolerate the kittens and now (after nearly a year) she gets on better with all 3 of them than she ever did with her own sister. They eat together, sleep near each other, and even touch noses often. It seems to have made her younger in spirit too. So sometimes they can surprise you. Do it carefully and slowly though if you go ahead.