Multi cat questions,,,

Hi all, I just brought home a nice 4 month old kitten, He is doing great. We have 4 other grown cats, The kitten tries so hard to be friends and get close to the other cats. Panther is the only one who does not get aggressive when Cozmo gets near him. I knew Missy wouldn't like him but thats just Missy, Angel is OK with him as long as he don't get to close to her, and Rusty has always been a loaner. Panther has always been the one to come up to the others when he wants to be close, and when Tuffy was with us Panther and Tuffy were real close buddies.

So my question is,,, Is it normal for cats that live together but were not together when they were real little to be not so friendly towards each other? I thought that cats that live together will build real strong ties with each other.

It makes me sad to watch Cozmo try to just lay next to one of our other cats on the bed and they always chase him off. I think real soon he will be able to do that with Panther, like Tuffy used to, but I don't see it happening with the others.

Originally Posted by Tom W

I thought that cats that live together will build real strong ties with each other.

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Some do, some don't. Remember that it's still early days yet because a strange kitty has come into " their " territory and he's yet to be accepted. I was lucky, it only took Rosie 2 weeks to accept Sophie, but she didn't like sharing her house with her in the beginning

If you -just- brought home the new member of your family, I'd say give them some time. They will probably need to adjust to the new situation, but I would expect them to start getting along soon.

In my experience, cats seem weary of change.. they will first make sure their own 'position' isn't in danger and then they will - carefully - adapt to what's new and relax again.

I know it's not fun to see your cats not getting along too well, but I'm confident your kitten will be adopted by the gang soon

Hi, I didn't explain well enough I guess, Other than Panther none of our grown cats have been friendly with each other even before Tuffy showed up and now Cozmo. They all get along in there own way, I mean not fighting all the time, but they are not real close other wise. I think if they had all been little kittens who grew up together they would be much closer to each other than they are now.

But they do seem to watch out for each other if one has a problem or gets stuck someplace or that kind of thing. Tuffy somehow got his foot caught in the shower curtain and he couldn't get loose. I never would have known it but all the others were acting strange, they would run out of the bathroom and to me and "talk" to me and run back, So I figured something was up so I went in there and Tuffy was stuck with his front foot all wrapped up in the shower curtain to the point he was hurting himself trying to get loose, I had a heck of a time getting him loose because he must have been thinking he was going to get punished for doing something wrong, so he was still stuck and trying to pull away from me and hide the best he could. I picked him up and had to turn him upside down a few times to get the curtain unwound off his foot, he was so affraid I was going to punish him he wanted to run away, but I just hugged him and petted him and said it was OK till he calmed down. If not for the other cats running to me I would have never known because Tuffy was not crying out at all.

some cats are more accepting of new members and some are not, I've had many cats over the years and my oldest girl Sapphire has NEVER become friends with anybody she tolerated them, but never snuggled with another cat sounds like your cats are the same way, if Cozmo gets to be friends with Panther, that should be good enough.... or you could always get another kitten

They certainly do look out for each other, because the other night i never saw Rosie and accidently knocked her back paw when i was closing the door She let out a slight cry, and Sophie went running over to her and started sniffing her all over until i gave her some cuddles

I think in a couple of weeks you'll see a bigger change in them once they know Cosmo isn't a threat

I'll tell you something - once he's more mature, he'll be looking to dominate the others - the youngest male always does (well, usually, anyhow), and they'll be running from him. I wouldn't worry a whole lot now, it's only been a couple of days!

We had seven cats at one time and they weren't all friends.
Connor liked Molly sometimes & kinda played with Lucky. He hated buddy.
Lucky loved Molly & adopted her son has his own. He liked Princess but she hated him. Cello was the largest and last cat and soon took the alpha male position from Lucky.
Princess didn't seem to like anyone. She was a loner and hid a lot. Once Buddy past and I took Molly & Lucky she is now more playful and loves Cello.
Buddy only liked me. He was an old man and liked to play by himself.
Spunky liked Connor(who tolerated him as a kitten), Cello & Lucky. Once he got older he was better friends with Cello than Lucky.
Molly was the alpha female & liked everyone. She less liked Princess & Buddy but was cordial to them.

Originally Posted by Larke

I'll tell you something - once he's more mature, he'll be looking to dominate the others - the youngest male always does (well, usually, anyhow), and they'll be running from him. I wouldn't worry a whole lot now, it's only been a couple of days!

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I was thinking this, this morning, They better be nice to him now or he will grow real big and kick all there butts for them.