new kitten..but the other cats...

misskitty0901

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are hissing and growling at him.

my friend brought home a kitten from the
shelter today and she already has one cat
who is 10 weeks old in the house and
my cat who is 13 weeks always goes over
to play with the other cat.
These two get along fine but when she
brought home the new 3 week old kitten
both of the cats are hissing at it
and getting very defensive.
can anyone tell me why the cats are acting like this?
also, does anyone know is this behavior will die out.


all of your help is appreciated!! thank you
 

yosemite

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http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67321

Read the above thread. When introducing new cats to currently owned cats, you often have to separate them and do the introduction slowly. When Mika came to live with us (our daughter moved back home with Mika), we kept her and Bijou separated for one month with supervised visits nightly and on weekends when we were here to ensure neither of them got hurt. If they started growling/fighting, we immediately separated them again and gave them time outs. There was a 1 inch space between the door and the framework as we were renovating so they could see each other, smell each other and reach in/out with paws to touch each other. Now they do still play rough sometimes, but Mika can hold her own even though she is half of Bijou's size. If Bijou gets a bit rough we intervene and firmly say "No, Bijou" and he backs off.

Patience will be a virtue, but eventually they should all get along quite well once they've sorted out the alpha status. Bijou is alpha and ensures that Mika is well aware of it.
If we are playing with Mika with the cat wand and Bijou comes over, Mika backs off, sits down and waits until Bijou isn't interested any more.
 

cheylink

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This is an age of exceptance, though the new kitten may have a very strong scent that is causing the tension. Agree with above post, yet make sure a vet check is done ASAP!
 

clixpix

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Are you sure the new kitten is only 3 weeks old? Is she fostering it for the shelter? A kitten that young should still be bottle fed. If that kitten is really that young, I would think it would need to be kept separated from the other kittens until its older. 10 & 13 week old kittens can be very rough & tumble. Introductions can be done later.
 
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