New kitten hiding, should I intervene?

[Ghasha]

I brought home a new kitten on Thursday, he is 9 weeks old and very sweet and loveable and confident. I got him from a friend who raised him in her house with another 5 cats, 2 dogs and 3 tortoises and some teenagers so he is a good well rounded kitten. I've had him in a bedroom and also let him explore the upstairs hallway, using litter tray, eating lots - all good.

I always intended to get two so today I picked up his new "brother" he's a Mainecoon x ragdoll. He was sold as 8 weeks but he seems a lot smaller. I'd estimate he's more like 6/7 weeks. He came from a litter of 5 and I get the sense he has been in a room with his mum and siblings and hasn't experienced much chaos so he's extremely shy. He's just been hiding the entire time. I was planning to keep the kittens separate but in the same room but my older kitten is too rambunctious so I've removed the younger kitten and set him up his own room with everything he needs. I've been sitting in the same room as him for 3 hours and he hasn't come out of his little bed box yet. He looks terrified.

I'm worried I've done the wrong thing. Will he warm up? Do I need to be getting him out and handling him?

Mine hid for a whole week under the sofa, he only came out at night, after a week he came out and smelled my hands and was okay from then on, just leave a litter tray food and water but make sure there are no soft surfaces for him to use as a litter tray if he isn’t trained. I learned that from experience. It’s very overwhelming for them to move so they just need to adjust at their own pace I have read. I thought I had made a mistake too, but sox months on everything is purrfect. Good luck !

I think you need to stop waiting for him in the room and leave him to it for a bit. It's very overwhelming for him, he's also rather young to be separated

I got 2 kittens at the same time and they promptly hid under the sofa. I waited a few hours and they still weren't coming out and I was fretting a bit. I felt they needed some food and water at least.

Anyway, I read online that if you play a video of kitten sounds they will respond. I was sceptical but within a minute of starting the video, they were peeking out from the sofa and they came over all curious. From then on they were fine. It was quite amazing!

Thanks everyone. I’m going to leave him be for the rest of the day I think. Hopefully he’ll be able to relax a bit.

I'm going to go against the grain a bit and say that with kittens, you need to get them used to you and to being handled ASAP. I've raised two underage kittens and both had "forced socialisation" from us - it sounds horrible but it only took a couple of days before they accepted us and they both grew up to love people.

Mine used to go and hide a lot when we first got her too, she’s 4 now and very loving and sociable. Just give him time to get used to things

It's part of them getting used to their new surroundings. When I got my big boy, I was heavily grieving my previous boy so kept on seeking the poor little fella out. Desperate to always know where he was.
But he was always just sleeping somewhere quiet. When I got his brother I was much more relaxed so he was able to just be whatever he wanted.

He will get used to his big siblings soon enough I'm sure.
So leave him to it for now!

@BillieWiper that is exactly what I did, I then kept beating myself up for thinking I’d got him too soon as a substitute, but all is fantastic now, but at the time I had so many regrets and felt so sad for him too.

That's so sweet and understandable and I'm glad to hear you felt the same. I am glad I did It that way though. As soon as I saw his gorgeous little face my heart was mended. But I'll never forget the previous one. He was so clever! X

@BillieWiper thank you for those kind words, im actually tearing up a bit now thinking of him, I lost him Jan 16 and got the ‘nutter’ Feb 13 but I wouldn’t change a thing now. But we never forget our lovely past friends do we ❤️

Exactly. They're all different but beautiful in their own ways! Xx

I am also going to disagree with most pps and say you need to intervene with the new kitten asap.
First though, have they seen a vet, because this all sounds like quite a dodgy setup - you have a kitten that’s too young that hasn’t been socialised, you need to check if there’s any other issues.
My advice would be to borrow or buy a puppy crate and keep them in there for a week or so, this is what rescues do with feral kittens to transform them into happy domestic cats. You need to either hand feed them or stroke them while they eat. After a few days, start to pick them up and hold them, starting with only a minute or two and increasing it. Gently stroke them, keep them calm, don’t let them out and onto the floor until they are happily coming to you. After a few days you can let the other cat into the room with the crate so they can start to smell each other and get used to each other. But you need the new kitten to be ok with you first.

You do know adorable kitten photos are mandatory don’t you. 🤣

You have dine the wrong thing by getting the second kitten too young! I have Maine Coons and they were not ready to leave their mother til 13 weeks. Sounds like where you got it was not a responsible breeder at all.
I’ve never had a kitten hide. I wouldn’t bother keeping them apart either. I’d put them both in the kitchen or wherever you spend most of your time. And let the kitty just get on with it.

I foster cats and some of them won’t come out while I’m in the room for a good 3 weeks and will hide if I enter. Nothing to be worried about and don’t force him to socialise yet he’s a tiny baby, probably too tiny to be away from his mum but that is done now. I would try and do some slow introductions to the other kitten though. he’s probably very scared as he is away from his mum and siblings. I would probably crate the kitten and cover the crate with a towel or blanket. Give them a smaller space to feel safe in. Then slowly work on socialising