New cat/old cat issue

Hi,

I've had my new 6 month old female American Wirehaired kitten (born smooth, tho) for 2.5 weeks. She was spayed 8 days ago and is fully recovered. I also have an elderly female (almost 16) calico and a 2.5 yo male "tuxedo." Two 30 pound mutts round out our family!

The transition has gone well. The dogs accepted kitty quickly. The old cat tolerates her, but does not embrace her and I doubt she ever will as she only seems to like dogs (was separated from her mother too young and never socialized properly.) My male, who I was really hoping would become buddies with the new kitten also tolerates kitten, but does not yet play or "hang" with her. If kitten tries to share a bowl, etc with him he will hiss, but not strike. Kitten quickly submits to my male cat.

What I'm wondering is: What is the longest period of time did it take your cats to become "friends" and play, etc? Just kind of wondering if it will ever happen and when I can be reasonably sure it won't.

Thanks.

Cally

If all he's doing now when she's trying to eat his food is hiss at her, you're just about there! I find it's usually 10 days to 2 wks or so, depending on the cats, but you're doing great!

I think it depends on the cats.
I have two that are Sisters that we got when they were very young...5 weeks old (Gracie and Lizzie )... they get along with each other great,there has never been a spat of any kind between the Sisters.
They're 6 years old.

Then 4 years ago we brought in another stray female ( Annabelle ) the Vet believes she's the same age as them...maybe up to 2 years older.
Lizzie took to Annabelle right away, Gracie.. even 4 years later just puts up with her.
She never hisses or swats at Annabelle, but never makes any effort at all to play with her or groom her.
Annabelle has tried to groom Gracie but Gracie won't have it, she just gets up and walks away.
No bloodshed, but they aren't friends either.

Added to the mix almost 2 months ago was Elliott also a stray and the first Male cat we've ever had.
He's about 20 months old.
At first it wasn't good, everyone hated him.
He wanted to play with them put didn't seem to know how.
He'd stand on his hind legs and swat at the girls or hide around corners and pounce on them.
Needless to say the girls were not happy with this.

It's much better now, Annabelle and Lizzie will play with Elliott.
Gracie on the other hand still hates the sight of him.

So like I said I think it depends on the cat.
In my case it would seem that Gracie loves her Sister Lizzie but will only put up with other cats.
Since it's been 4 years I don't think she'll ever be overly friendly with Annabelle and I have the feeling she'll be the same with Elliott.
Yet Gracie is the most affectionate with humans.

Gracie was very sick as a kitten and I spoiled her rotten so part of Gracie's attitued is probably my fault...I treated her like a little Princess and now she thinks she is one

Mosi has just turned 1 (24th December) and I've had him since he was 14 weeks. He's always been ok with Jaffa (although things got a bit rocky when Mosi was about 5 months - hormones I think as he wasn't neutered til 5 months) but in the past few weeks they've become noticeably closer and have been curled up together on the bed. I left them in a cattery over xmas and was worried how they'd get on confined in a small space together - in fact I booked 2 pens and had them separate initially with them being put in together for a couple of hours at a time to see how they got on. When I went to collect them I was told they'd been inseparable, had been in together all the time after the first day and were frequently curled up together. That has continued now that they're home and they seem to be really bonding. Hopefully as your 6 mo old grows up they will bond a bit more like mine have.

We just got Charlie on Wed. He and Keno are fine - only took 2 days to get used to the dog. Ling on the other hand is curious but still hisses if Charlie gets close.

He's getting a little braver and sorta chases her. But they are not yet friends - I don't expect them to be for several more weeks; maybe longer.

I would say it depends on the cats.

We introduced a kitten to our 2 year old cat Thor, and it's been 4 months and they still don't get on.

However, things will get easier over time. Thor tolerates Loki more as time passes, she gets annoyed because Loki is so playful and disturbs her sleep!

I don't think they will ever be "friends" and I have come to accept this. Thor is still very angry with us for bringing the kitten into her territory, we feel that we have lost a part of her personality due to this. All we can hope for is that in time things will get better and as Loki grows up she will annoy Thor less!

Good luck x

Don't give up hope! It took my older cat about 8 or 9 months to truly accept Hannah. Now they play together like crazy, but still don't sleep together. I took Hannah in on Thursday for her annual checkup and shots, so she was a little puny and not her playful, curious self for a day or so. Callie went berserk because her playmate wouldn't play with her! So cute! I tried explaining to Callie that Hannah would feel better in a day or 2 and would be ready to play again, but she didn't listen to me! Callie continued to check on Hannah throughout the day to make sure she was okay. She laid NEAR the spot Hannah was sleeping, but not WITH her. I'm okay with that!

Stephanie

Well, looks like Felix and Sheba tried to play this morning. Felix was running around on the dining chair seats under the table and reaching down toward Sheba. Then one of the dogs decided to interrupt them....sigh. Thanks for giving me some more hope, tho. If it happens it happens and if it doesn't, we'll deal with it.

Thanks,

Cally