Advice - introducing new feral kitten to cat

[custardbear]

Hi
We've got a new rescue feral kitten. He's been her two weeks and settling in well, playing and letting us stroke him. He's in the one room and today let him out for a sniff and he was very brave, but hoofed back into his room when there was noise

We've given him and her intro sniffs through blankets so they've sniffy knowledge. They've also seen each other through the bifold doors.

Kitten is still shy and won't let us cuddle (just stroke) - he came from a cat colony so probably wants cat friends - should we introduce him this weekend to
Our cat? She's a 6
Year old girl and is a lovely cat. He's a 4 ish month old kitten
Thanks xx

Pics from today

Bumping

Currently going through similar. Very, very slowly is what I've been advised. Scent swapping until there's no reaction. Then the next stage is a barrier that is see-through so they can see each other but not touch. This bit is proving difficult for me.

@PlatinumBrunette would a pop up baby gate work? Ours was a mesh affair…

@user333334

I don't have any advice on this, but need to say (squeal) Oh MY!!! He's adorable!!!

Aaahhhh you're right he is! I expected Him to be like a Brillo pad as he was a feral cat but he's so soft and fluffy 💕🥰 - we had a feral kitten when I was very young and his fur was always rough 🤣

Oh what a gorgeous kitten . I had my feral boy (adult) 10 years ago, when I already had 2 girls (adults). One of them bossed him about a little bit, to establish the hierarchy, then they settled down after a few weeks. He's outlived them and is the only one now.

Good luck.

[quote DelurkingAJ]@PlatinumBrunette would a pop up baby gate work? Ours was a mesh affair…[/quote]
I couldn’t find a free-standing one. Have got a fire guard and a Heath Robinson set up. But with another three cats and a dog, it’s proving ‘tricky’. 😄

Aahhh @TheCreamCaker gorgeous kitty 🥰
So I'm hearing slowly and gently! He's taken to hiding behind the bookcase again today so I'll leave it today

I'm the odd one out on most of these threads but I've never bothered with slow introductions, scent-swapping etc.

We just introduced the newbie and let them get on with it. We have three unrelated cats now (two males and a female) and have never ever had anything beyond the odd hiss, and that was only in the very early days.

They're pretty much best friends now and they all share food, litter trays and water with no issues. They're now 6, 5 and almost 2.

@icedcoffees

I'm the odd one out on most of these threads but I've never bothered with slow introductions, scent-swapping etc.

We just introduced the newbie and let them get on with it. We have three unrelated cats now (two males and a female) and have never ever had anything beyond the odd hiss, and that was only in the very early days.

They're pretty much best friends now and they all share food, litter trays and water with no issues. They're now 6, 5 and almost 2.

Thanks @icedcoffees -i did wonder if that was the way to go tombs honest

I've had people say we were just lucky @custardbear but I doubt that even 5-10 years ago, people were bothering to scent swap or feed behind baby gates - it seems to be a relatively new phenomenon and one that I'm not really convinced is necessary, tbh.

As I said it's worked fine for us. We got a female kitten and when she was about 8 months old we rescued a male cat who was almost two at the time. He was very nervous with people but fantastic with her. When they were 4 and 5 we got our latest addition, a then-10 week old male kitten.

We've never had a fight break out. They're all indoor cats and share food, water, litter trays, scratch posts and beds with no problems whatsoever. They groom each other, sleep together and seem to be perfectly happy :)

They also live with a dog and again, no issues. I do think sometimes we overthink things and we project our own anxieties and fears onto our animals, which causes issues that wouldn't have existed otherwise.

He's getting so brave now! Much tempting with dreamies.... I'm worried I'll give him too many, or do we just wean them off once you've used them as tempting bait and they're more tame?!

We recently got a new kitten and introduced her slowly to our 1 year old girl. I read two females may not get along and there was alot of hissing and growling from our older girl. We let them meet with the kitten in the carrier (closed) and kept them in separate rooms for 2 days, just letting them say hello with kitten in carrier. The hissing slowly stopped and on day 4 we let the kitten out and the older cat hissed a tiny bit but then stopped and started playing with the kitten 😁 We are 1 week in & this is the result, they have played non stop and the older girl is now grooming the baby

Photo

Aahhh @Cappuccinoandmybook so cute! What breed are they?

We have recently been through this. Introduced a feral kitten to older (ex feral) cats. Actually all from the same mother but different litters.
I would advise brief interactions that gradually build up in length. The problem with chucking them all in together is that the older cats need to be able to have time away from the kitten.
In our case the kitten was bold as brass whereas the older cats were a bit horrified.
Lots of little meetings that end in mutual consumption of a treat (we used sardines in tomato sauce). Then there are positive associations. Gradually build up the length of the intros.
Also don’t panic if they don’t seem to get on at first and they hiss etc. they’ll sort themselves out given time. Good luck.

Nothing further to add in terms of advice for introductions. Just joined to say your cat is absolutely gorgeous (and grey, not that I'm biased).

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats

Nothing further to add in terms of advice for introductions. Just joined to say your cat is absolutely gorgeous (and grey, not that I'm biased).

Aahh thanks he's a cutie 🥰

We had a quick kitty intro today. Kitten was really excited and walked over to say hi. Our older cat wasn't impressed, my DH held her but she did a low rumble noise a few times and wanted to get out of the room so we just kept it brief - we'll try again later and twice a day for a bit and see how We get on 👍

When our surviving dcat was depressed after his db died the dc talked me into getting a dkitten. A feral one was offered via a rescue local to us. Just 8 weeks old. I put her and a bed +bowls +litter tray in a corner of the room dcat slept in.. Hissed twice and by week 2 this was them...

Years ago I had one older cat and got kittens. Our old cat was great with all the kittens and he really bonded with this one.

Aahhh lovely kitties 🥰
@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats - I think you mentioned grey cats earlier ... yours is beautiful too 💕
@Santahatesbraisedcabbage gorgeous cats - the kitten looks like he needs to grow into his ears 🥰💕

@Santahatesbraisedcabbage -- sorry!! Her ears 😆💕