Another kitty intro question

Bear with me here... I posted this on the CatPsyche behavior thread and Kerry recommended asking you all.

Here is my original question.

I have recently taken in a momma and her four babies. The babies are about 4 weeks old. They are residing in my guest bathroom because they all currently have URIs and taking Clavamox. My vet has advised the isolation until they are all symptom free.

I already have a 10 month old male cat that has full run of the house, except for that bathroom now of course! He is hugely interested in that room and will sit and stare and meow (with an occasional hiss). He has been introduced to other adult cats before when we visited with my parents. On that visit, he had more of an issue when the door separated them then when the door finally opened and he could see what was on the other side. There was some initial hesitancy and a few hisses, but then they were all playing with toys etc... within the next few hours and went on to have a wonderful visit. (No all out cat fights at all!)

My questions are: When the momma cat and her babies are all well, do I introduce them right away? Or do I wait for the babies to get older? If so, how old should they be? Should there be an order to the introduction (like Momma then babies) or just introduce everyone all at once?

Thank you for any advice you can give.

Click to expand...

To update to this - there was an incident about a week and a half ago - Pudders (the male) got into the guest bathroom where Gracie and her babies were at the time and a cat fight was on. Got them separated, no injuries - just ruffled fur!

Since that time, we actually moved to a whole new place. Gracie and babies have run of my room and bathroom and Pudders still has rest of house. Well, Pudders got in the room again on Friday night. (He REALLY wants to know what is going on in there!) Anyway - Gracie just came walking out of the bathroom, sat down and started giving herself a bath. Didn't care at all that Pudders was there. The babies were a little leary, but took turns being brave and approaching him. No hissing, fighting etc... Pudders sat there for awhile m then got up and left. Decided not to push it, so I closed off the room again.

Well, since then - Pudders practically lives at the door and Gracie has now figured out how to open the door (it doesn't latch properly) and has gotten out twice. Again, no fights, hissing or anything. Oh and all kitties have completed all the medicine for their URIs and are symptom free.

So, to make a short story too long (sorry didn't mean to write a book) - should I stop closing Gracie and the babies in my room and give them free rein to roam?

I would wait till the kittens are at least 6 weeks perferable 8 weeks and have their first set of vaccinations.

Is there a way to let Gracie out and let her get to know Pudders? Supervised of course. Maybe let her out to explore a little bit and get used to everything. I agree though, the kittens introduction should wait for a while. First, they are so small, you don't want them to have the entire run of the house (god knows kittens get into everything!) and if they haven't had their first shots, it may not be good for Pudders. But, it sounds like eventually everyone will settle in together just fine!