Old cat with kittens introductions

I have just been reading "How long does it take?" and I'm so relieved to hear someone else going through what I am!! I sympathise totally.

Although I have a question as I'm doing it vice versa. I have two kittens, (8 months) and I have recently had to take in my Grandma's old cat (age 11 roughly). Molly, the new cat, is not at all impressed with the kittens. She hisses and growls at them.

We have kept them separate for a week or so, and done the scent things, which all went perfectly fine not a problem. So we are now letting her out, however every time she sees the kittens she hisses. She has taken to defending the upstairs of our house! So kittens are downstairs and she is upstairs.

I am still feeding her upstairs as well as having her litter up there. Does any one have any hints or tips about how I can bring her slowly downstairs. At the moment she's refusing to come down, or do I just leave her to it?

Poor kittens don't really know what to make of this grumpy older cat! How long will she hiss and spit for?? It's terrible, and she's such a pleasant cat otherwise!

I would just Molly explore and come down on her own. It may take longer than a week. That's a bit soon. Another trick you could try is to dab a bit of vanilla extract on every cat, one bit under the chins, base of the tail and neck. This will help them to all 'smell' the same and might be less hissing. You could also try the Feliway diffuser which can be found at the Petstore. Does Molly like to play? You could try to play with her and the kittens at the same time. Just a few suggestions.