Introducing kitten

[bonzo77]

I have just brought home a kitten. Not going to deny it, she came from someone who did not neuter their pet. Anyway, she is clear eyed, clean round the bum, nose, mouth, genitals. Coat is fine, she’s very well socialised and litter trained. 17 weeks old. Booked for jabs and check up this Friday.

I was planning not to to introduce her to our 11 year old cat till at least after a week of keeping them apart, and possibly not till she’s been spayed (hopefully ASAP).

Any tips for introducing them? She came from a house full of cats or various ages, but my current cat hasn’t lived with another cat since she was about 7 months old. She’s not a big fighter (despite being an outdoor cat in a terrace with several cats).

Photos for cat tax. She’s hard to get a picture of as she’s either asleep or moving about!

Keep kitten in one room for now, let them play paws under/through the door.

Put a towel in kittens room and one where older cat sleeps, after a few days swap them over so they get used to each other’s smell.

Feed them at the same time on either side of the door (you’ll need two of you to be able to do this of course!) as they’ll positively associate being fed with the other cat.

After a week or so put kitten in a cage/carrier and let older cat see and sniff them. Do this a couple of times a day for a week.

At the end of that week if it’s gone okay (not constant hissing!) then open the kittens door and let them meet properly. Make sure you supervise them and keep the kitten in their own room still at night for the first month or so.

Softly softly and gradual will make sure they get on better eventually- don’t rush them!

Probably worth getting one of those feliway plug-ins too.

Caveat with: If they seem to get on well from the first cage intro then you can move faster and if issues arise then go back a step and try again.

P.S. SO CUTE!!!

That’s very helpful. Thank you.

Has kitten had all the appropriate jabs, flea and worm treatments?

Nope. Nothing. Booked in to start this and to arrange spay on Friday. Was planning to keep them separate until at least then, or longer if the vet suggests. I’m washing hands between handling them at the moment just in case.

Not much to add to the excellent post above! From experience, trips to the vet for vaccination and spaying can cause a temporary relapse in the introduction process, as the new cat comes back smelling different, so be prepared for this.

And what a beautiful black girl you have! Black cats rock!

So cute! I'm a month into this process with kitten and two 7 year old cats ( who had to be similarly introduced as one came to me as a kitten, the other aged 3) and have been pretty much doing as @nurserysearch111111 suggests. Three cats now mixing pretty well... the kitten still has "her" room where she goes at night and/ or if we're all out for a longer time (which is rare)... I suspect this will continue till she's neutered at least as the other two can have access to cat flap when she's in her room...