New kitten with 2 year old cat

[Princesssparklepaws]

We have a lovely just turned 2 year
old cat who we adopted as a rescue when he was 5 months old. He’s a very sweet, gentle, playful boy but quite easily startled and frightened of new people (he was a stray when we adopted and the rescue had no idea of history) He seems quite friendly with at least one of the neighbour cats, so I’m fairly sure he would be accepting of a kitten. I’ve just been offered one (applied to a rescue after falling in love with photo on FB page) and I’m so so torn. I’m worried it will upset our current cat and I’d hate him to feel uncomfortable in his own home after he had a tricky start to life….but also he might love a little friend and it might improve his life! I know no one can tell me what would happen but wondering if anyone has successfully introduced a kitten to a 2 year old?!

Photos of current cat and potential troublemaker!

Our situation is very very similar to yours, except our rescue is 4. He is also long haired and the kitten is tabby!

We got our boy from the RSPCA and he also was abandoned and is very skittish, scared of people etc and only really trust me. I always wanted another cat but would worry that it would disturb his lovely life after having such a rocky start. However he seemed to get on with neighbours cat ok when she came into the house so I took that as a sign he would be fine.

At first he was very scared of the kitten. His behaviour changed, he hid a lot (even though he couldn't see kitten as we kept them separate), the mere smell of her caused him to cry and make these long wining noises and he wouldn't really let me touch him. He wanted to spend more time outdoors. Anyway, that's passed now and he is back to his usual self. However, as he is so timid and was never socialised as a kitten, he does not know how to play with the new kitten and takes her playing as an attack. All she wants to do is play with him and keeps diving on him and he HATES it. He really just wants to be left alone. I know he will tolerate her if she ignores him, but right now all she wants to do is wrestle with him.

So I would say if your cat is like mine and won't want to play, I would either get an older cat that is already calm, or be prepared to put in a lot of effort and potentially keep them separate for a long time. It can take months. It hasn't ruined my rescue cats life, like I was afraid of haha but I think he would be a lot more stressed if I wasnt separating them. So I'd just consider if you'd be able to do this if it came to it

Get lots of felloway plug ins. Make sure your adult cat has places they like to sleep where the kitten can’t get to and expect it to take weeks/months not days. Cats are considered the most adaptable mammal so they’ll both adapt. Our cats always find the first time accepting a kitten the hardest (we are always given the Abandoned feral kittens found near death to take on so we’ve done it many times now!) but they all get used to it and some of them end up loving the kittens. Even if they don’t love them, they all end up happily sleeping on the same bed together. The plugs ins do really help. I was skepticsl but I can tell when I’ve missed that they’ve run out as the cats get more grumpy with each other. in your situation , I would definitely go for it.
We use a dog crate in the lounge. When we’re home the kitten is out and about with free access to the house (although we have some units that the cats can sleep on top of that the kittens can’t get to) and when we’re in bed or out the kitten(s) goes into the crate with bed (we put cat soft toy into the bed do the kitten to snuggle/suckle) , litter tray and toys, food and water. Always worked well for us.