Have any of you introduced an older cat to kittens and if so, can you tell me how long it took for them to be able to co-exist in the same space without supervision?
I've read the advice online... swap their smells, then intro slowly through the cat basket or a glass door or wire mesh screen. But I don't have any glass doors or wire mesh screens!
So far we've...
- Put kittens in basket and allowed big cat to come and sniff - much hissing and growling from big cat, slightly less aggressive second time.
- Allowed big cat to sniff at door to room with kittens in. Kittens put their paws under the door. Big cat growled and hissed and ran away.
- Yesterday had kittens on our laps on sofa and allowed big cat to come and see. Big cat jumped on sofa and looked like she might eat kittens, so we stood up and backed away from big cat.
- This morning allowed big cat to sniff at kitten door - she sniffed then ran away.
We got the kittens last Sunday so they've been with us just under a week, I haven't documented every interaction. Big cat seemed worse at the start, with more hissing and growling, and in general she seemed calmer, until the sofa intro yesterday that didn't go very well.
Where do we go from here? I'm keeping them separated as don't trust my big cat not to kill the kittens. I'm not sure if I need to wait for my kittens to be fully grown to adult size so they can defend themselves, or if I need to accept that the big cat doesn't like them and keep them permanently separated, or even to go drastic and sell the kittens and give the older cat her peace and space back.
I've read online that some older cats never accept kittens, but I'm not sure how long to wait to see if this is the case.