A new member to the family

rane-kane

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Nov 26, 2006
Messages
8
Purraise
0
Hey guys, I'm here because there are future plans to bring a new kitten to our household. My friend's cat is going to have kittens soon and once it's done being cared for by her mother I'll officially take the cat home with me. There is one thing though, I have a cat. My beloved cat is now 11 years old and is a happy loving cat. She and I are best friends and nothing has seperated our love, so to say =). Now in her life we have lived with 2 dogs and though it took time she eventually adapted to these dogs. But not once has she lived (or interacted, much at least) with another cat. So I'm worried how she'll take a new kitten. In a way I'm excited because who knows, she might accept the cat and they can be friends and everything, but is that too much to hope for? Basically the question is, how will a cat that has lived alone catless respond to a new kitten to the house? Any advice and opinions will be much appreciated. Thank You!!

-Adam
 

x-ta-z

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Aug 24, 2005
Messages
410
Purraise
14
Location
UK
Hi Adam,

I just got a young kitten as a companion for my 1.5yr old resident cat. you can view my thread under 'behavior' ("How long does it take?")

I thought it would be a piece of cake, because I assumed that Singa is the best cat in the world and will love everything that I give her, but she proved me wrong. Though I do not think it is impossible (anymore), it sure is a hell lot of work (as you can see in my thread).
One of the members just posted in my thread, that she finally got her two cats to interact 'peacefuly' after about 2 weeks. So it gives me hope


Good luck!
 

cheylink

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 31, 2005
Messages
8,259
Purraise
102
Location
queens, new york
I completely share the same relationship with my cat now, and in the past. It is great that you have this concern for her feelings toward this situation. Sometimes they take a new pet as a threat or punishment. I think the most important thing to do is to talk to her first, sounds retarded and crazy, but just trust. Talk to her about it, when you do introduce the kitten, make sure that she feels control, still gets attention if not more then usual, and has her own space from the kitten. It may take no time at all or a bit more, just allow her to have that time.Good luck!
 

proudkittiemom

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 11, 2006
Messages
5,037
Purraise
12
Location
Pittsburgh PA
each cat is different and reacts different I know that first hand
but be sure to do the introduction right, I am sure someone will send u the link for it, See when we only had 4 cats we thought because stormie is still a kitten it would be easy to introduce her well I was wrong
but now she is best buds with them and it took her some time, a little less than a month and everything is good but she still picks on midnight who was here first
and well bella just lets them now she is the boss same as willie although he is 11 years old as well we werent sure on how hed take to more cats because as he aged he wants all the attention to him no one else
but he surprisingly isnt as mad or as mean as he was towards the other kitties now, and u often see them sitting by each other (not to close tho willie aint having that) So just remember it is goin to take some time and make sure u do read the thread for introductions which I am sure someone will give a link to!! And well all of our cats ages range from 6 months to 11 years so we have a lot here but for the most part they all get along, welll bella puts up with it somewhat and stormie likes to bully midnight...also my brother has a cat that he rescued and he was the only cat for a good 3-4 years and within a month my brother brought home another rescue about a year old and a kitten a few weeks later and they all get along great and his oldest cat is 13 years old i do believe so really i think it just depends on the cat and the introduction!!!
 

urbantigers

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
2,175
Purraise
7
Location
UK
How lively is your 11 year old? Unless she's very kittenish for her age I'd be wary of introducing a new kitten. It may work but kittens want to play a lot more than the average 11 year old. I recently introduced a kitten to a 9 year old and that went well but my 9 year old is an extremely lively, playful and social cat who grew up with another cat (his brother died the previous year). Even then things sometimes got a bit tense when Mosi would jump on top of Jaffa wanting to play and Jaffa didn't want to. It might be better to get an older cat. Alternatively you could get 2 kittens so that they have a playmate are less likely to bother your 11 year old
 

alleygirl

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Messages
11,814
Purraise
24
Location
hiding in the bathtub
It really does depend on the cat and also on the cat you bring home. I could have brought home a tiger and my Alley would just ignore it like she did every other animal she ever came in contact with!
She never fought with them, never had a problem if they wanted to sleep next to her, to her, they just didn't exist! Not everyone is that lucky though and it can sometimes take a lot of work and a lot of time and patience but there is a lot of wonderful information on this board about introducing cats. Just read through some of them and you find tons of helpful info.

Good luck!
 

urbantigers

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
2,175
Purraise
7
Location
UK
Originally Posted by PaulaS

It really does depend on the cat and also on the cat you bring home. I could have brought home a tiger and my Alley would just ignore it like she did every other animal she ever came in contact with!
That's true! It is, however, difficult to ignore a cat that's jumping on top of you! I think Alley would have had a hard time trying to ignore Mosi
 

pee-cleaner

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jan 6, 2006
Messages
469
Purraise
12
I like the idea of getting 2 kittens. I have a similar situation in my home. An almost 16 year old who wants nothing to do with other cats (but likes the dogs) and then 2 young cats who hang out together. Works well.
 

persi & alley

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 27, 2006
Messages
6,313
Purraise
15
Location
Farmers Branch, Texas
Originally Posted by Rane-Kane

Hey guys, I'm here because there are future plans to bring a new kitten to our household. My friend's cat is going to have kittens soon and once it's done being cared for by her mother I'll officially take the cat home with me. There is one thing though, I have a cat. My beloved cat is now 11 years old and is a happy loving cat. She and I are best friends and nothing has seperated our love, so to say =). Now in her life we have lived with 2 dogs and though it took time she eventually adapted to these dogs. But not once has she lived (or interacted, much at least) with another cat. So I'm worried how she'll take a new kitten. In a way I'm excited because who knows, she might accept the cat and they can be friends and everything, but is that too much to hope for? Basically the question is, how will a cat that has lived alone catless respond to a new kitten to the house? Any advice and opinions will be much appreciated. Thank You!!

-Adam
If you would have been on this site a month ago, you would have seen me raving and ranting about my two cats hating eatch other. (The same two cats that are laying at my feet right now touching each other.) In my case I had a 9 month old male established cat (Persi) and adopted a 2-3 year old female cat. Exactly the opposite of what everybody expected happened. Persi greated the new cat (Alley) with open arms. Persi would continually approach Alley to be hissed at and clawed at. Since I talked about this so much already I will tell you that Persi's persistence won out and now they are the best of friends. No matter how he was rejected, Persi just kept after the love of his life and won her over.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

rane-kane

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Nov 26, 2006
Messages
8
Purraise
0
Thank you everyone for your responses. So I'd have say more than not it will work out right? See my friend's cat, Booger, hasn't even had her kittens yet. She doesn't know exactly when they're supposed to be born but it seems they are do anytime now. While they are nursing with their mother she's going to let me watch 'em until I can finally take the cat home (I want a girl and I'm thinking of the name Stanzi, named after Mozart's wife Constanze, thus shortly named Stanzi =D) so there's a lot of time to research, save up money for vet expenses and other types of planning. But I have an idea which ya'll might be able to answer. As I said before I won't be able to take the cat home for a while since one, they're not even born yet and two they need the 6 to 8 weeks to nurse first. But while my friend let's me visit the cats I should try to get the cat's smell on something (me or something else maybe) and when I come home get my cat used to the smell before I actually bring the cat home. Will that work so that by the time I get the cat that my cat (her name is Luna by the way) will recognize her smell and not be so............so surprised? I don't know if that's the best way to put it but hopefully ya'll know what I mean.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #11

rane-kane

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Nov 26, 2006
Messages
8
Purraise
0
Well she does seem pretty "kittenish" for her age but probably not enough to match an actual kitten.

Originally Posted by urbantigers

How lively is your 11 year old? Unless she's very kittenish for her age I'd be wary of introducing a new kitten. It may work but kittens want to play a lot more than the average 11 year old. I recently introduced a kitten to a 9 year old and that went well but my 9 year old is an extremely lively, playful and social cat who grew up with another cat (his brother died the previous year). Even then things sometimes got a bit tense when Mosi would jump on top of Jaffa wanting to play and Jaffa didn't want to. It might be better to get an older cat. Alternatively you could get 2 kittens so that they have a playmate are less likely to bother your 11 year old
 

jellybella

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Messages
2,314
Purraise
3
Location
UPNY
Originally Posted by urbantigers

How lively is your 11 year old? Unless she's very kittenish for her age I'd be wary of introducing a new kitten. It may work but kittens want to play a lot more than the average 11 year old. I recently introduced a kitten to a 9 year old and that went well but my 9 year old is an extremely lively, playful and social cat who grew up with another cat (his brother died the previous year). Even then things sometimes got a bit tense when Mosi would jump on top of Jaffa wanting to play and Jaffa didn't want to. It might be better to get an older cat. Alternatively you could get 2 kittens so that they have a playmate are less likely to bother your 11 year old
This is exactly what I was thinking. A very young kitten can be a lot for a senior kitty to deal with since they want to play all the time and then some. Would you think about getting two kittens, so they can play together?
 

x-ta-z

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Aug 24, 2005
Messages
410
Purraise
14
Location
UK
The smell issue is a big thing and I think you should start as early as possible to exchange smells. But nonetheless keep them seperated.
For Singa it was more the sight of the new kitten that scared her off and sent her hissing and hiding.

And as for age and behavior: Singa is 1.5 yrs and was the most playful before the new kitten arrived. Very active and all. Now she hardly plays at all and is really irritated with Soleil always jumping on her and wanting to play. So if I see she had enough I have to send Soleil to her room again else I think it could end up in a fight..
 
Top