need some serious help!!!

hey everyone my names justin and im in need of help. Me and my girlfriend are afraid we are way in over our heads. We have a cat that is 1 1/2 yrs old and we just moved out of town and at the same time our friends took in a stray mom and her 3 kittens so we decided to take the female to help them out and save the kitten and we thought hopefully give a friend to our cat. we brought both the cats to the new apartment today, We have the kitten in the bathroom with all her essentials, and for the most part she hides from us, and the time that our cat did see the kitten she hated her, she never hissed before but she was hissing like crazy. the house that we moved out of had an older male cat about 6 yrs old about 20 lbs and they never had a problem. well sorry for the long story but i just need some advice please !!!!

Welcome to TCS, Justin!
Awww, it's the "Toddler In The House Syndrome" Isn't it amazing how kittens set off the hissing in the older cats Sounds like you have TWO projects going on - both very workable and EXTREMELY rewarding... I know that you'll get some great advice, so let me be the first to congratulate you on your new beginnings, both in your new home & new additions to your family. Your new little cat must be very insecure - if she was removed from mom too early, she'll be more timid at first - but don't worry, with lots of TLC she'll quickly develop that confidence that is so well defined in the song "Stray Cat Strut". As for the Senior Resident cat, you might try giving her lots of strokes, reassurance, and a nibble of catnip when she sees the kitten, so she focuses on the pleasurable things and not so much on the "interloper". Please keep us updated and remember - at TCS, we LOVE pics
P.S. If your budget allows it, you might try a Feliway diffuser or spritz some Feliway spray in the kitten's area and about the house where the older kitty likes to hang out. Susan

Forgot to add - since the place is new, I'd hold off kitty introductions and give your Senior Cat time to adjust to the new place. And I know it sounds silly when overheard, but "kitty" talk, such as imitating "mama-kitty" sounds go a long way in calming and taming cats, including adult cats

I thank you for your reply. We decided to make more room for the kitten so we put her in half the apartment, the living room and the kitchen, and put the older cat in the bathroom and the bedroom. I slept out on the couch with the kitten and Brooke, my girlfriend, slept in the bedroom with the older cat. Whenever the kitten would crawl onto the couch with me, i would move and she would run away and hide.lol. I had to switch with Brooke at 5 30 in the morning because the kitten would not stop crying and meowing, which is another question that I have; what could the kitten be crying about? I also found out that the kitten is 12 weeks old, and I should also mention that both of them are female and are not spade yet, but we are working on getting them both fixed in the very near future. Any more advice that you have to give would greatly be appreciated. Thanks again.

Originally Posted by sharno

I thank you for your reply. We decided to make more room for the kitten so we put her in half the apartment, the living room and the kitchen, and put the older cat in the bathroom and the bedroom. I slept out on the couch with the kitten and Brooke, my girlfriend, slept in the bedroom with the older cat. Whenever the kitten would crawl onto the couch with me, i would move and she would run away and hide.lol. I had to switch with Brooke at 5 30 in the morning because the kitten would not stop crying and meowing, which is another question that I have; what could the kitten be crying about? I also found out that the kitten is 12 weeks old, and I should also mention that both of them are female and are not spade yet, but we are working on getting them both fixed in the very near future. Any more advice that you have to give would greatly be appreciated. Thanks again.

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The kitten is crying for it's mom and siblings....you need to be patient with it. EVERYTHING is new to it....new place, new strang people, new cat...no wonder the little girl is scared. Just be patient with her....and over time, hopefully your cat will come to accept the kitten and the kitten will come to trust you.

Katie

Katie thanks so much for your reply, its funny i was looking at another thread that you replied to and someone said that you always gave great advice and she didnt even have to reply after you did so i said to myself "well dang it reply to my thread ! " lol and then you did haha. well last night the kitten ( im gonna start using her name) Pickles was playing around and crawling around on the couch and tables and chairs and we were both sitting there and she actually let us pet her a few times so that was a good sign for us, her favorite spot is under the couch so i put her food and water right behind the couch so she doesnt have to go far to eat cuz i dont want her to not starve cuz shes afraid to walk to the kitchen.

Ok now heres some pics of both the cats.

here is my older cat kali, the reason we picked her was because her color pattern is so odd. when we had her checked up by the vet she was classified as a tortoise shell because a lot of her back is tortoise shell but she also has full orange and black spots which is like a calico and she also has some tiger stripes on her lower body and especially her front left leg which you can see in this pic. No brooke wasnt trying to eat her LOL she was trying to get her to stay still for the pic and she was getting ready to eat.


heres the other side of kali


another thing i loved about kali was her half black and half orange face, she doesnt really like to be held as you can tell. lol


heres the funniest picture ever of kali!!


here is pickles sleeping while i play xbox 360.


heres pickles laying on my friends legs sleeping


heres a cute one of pickles, you can actually see her face good in this one.

your cats are both really pretty. I love the picture of Pickles with her little legs crossed. She's so cute, and Calli is marked very pretty.

I hope they will learn to get along.

congratulations to you and Brooke for your new home, and your new pet.

Hi, I'm sure everything will turn out fine once everyone gets settled in! Kali (thats my cats name too but its spelled Kalli) and Pickles are both very beutiful, I bet they are a joy to have. Good luck with the introductions.

Have you seen this thread specific to introducing new cats to your household?

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

I particularly like the vanilla extract trick.

Your babies are adorable!!

thank you all for your kind words and encouragement, Pickles is doing very great and its only been 4 days! she is running around the living room and jumping on the couch with us sitting there and letting us pet her and pick her up and she falls asleep on us all the time . we just have to worry about introducing the 2 lol. but i think we will wait til pickles trusts us fully first before we do introduce her to another stranger. suprisingly enough as i was typing this kali was on the other side of the bathroom door that goes to our kitchen looking under at us and pickles went into the kitchen and pickles is the one growling and hissing and kali was being nice and just meowing and didnt hiss one time lol.

oh and heres the pic that was supposed to be the doubled one, i cant edit my post for some reason but oh well here it is :


another thing i loved about kali was her half black and half orange face, she doesnt really like to be held as you can tell. lol

Hi! How are things going with Pickles and Kali? What a sweet little kitten - and Kali is a lovely tortie! Keep up the good work and welcome to TCS!

Both of your cats are beautiful, and it looks like you are doing a wonderful job with the new kitty.

hey everyone, i have been meaning to give the big update, so here it is. We had them separated for a few days and then we decided to try and introduce them and pickles would hiss and growl etc. and they would scuffle but nothing serious, and we supervised but over the next few days pickles stopped hissing and they play fight and chase each other around the house and pickles loves to sleep on us. Im gonna put some pics of her sleeping and then a surprise at the end which shows the end result of all this. I want to thank everyone for their great advice helping us through this time ! Justin and Brooke



excuse the nipple and pasty white skin LOL








these last 2 pictures are in a pretty small cat carrier that kali barely fits in



On friday we were getting ready to leave and brooke looked over and saw this and we could not believe our eyes it was so cute !

YEAH! Buddies! it is just too sweet when they finally become buddies. They are both beatiful kitties and look very much loved.

YAY! I love a happy ending (beginning). Please do stick around and give us updates on your girls. They are both just adorable

i sure will stick around, pickles is still acting kinda scaredy cat like she still runs away when we walk towards her or try to pet her or pick her up but im hoping she will come around !

Sounds like, rather then being scared, Pickles may just be trying to coax you into a game of tag, lol.

Binx will do that sometimes. He will run away from me and arch his back and tail, then, if I don't play with him he'll lunge at my legs and attack them, lol!

Next time she runs away, you should suddenly drop to the floor and flatten yourself. Then, once she looks in your eyes, start blinking.

I know that sounds crazy, but it really drives my little binxers up the walls! He loves it! He will flatten himself, shake him butt, and them pounch on top of my head, it's so funny!

Anyways, sounds like you're doing great and both of your kitties are getting along wonderfully. Good job and keep up the good work.

thanks i will have to try that. we love pickles she is sooooo cute she actually has made me move down the bed a little bit and now my feet hang off the edge of the bed because she has a pillow right against the headboard that she sleeps on and then my pillows are in front of that haha. your binx sounds very cute. thank you for your kind words.