When to introduce a baby to the gang?

3angels

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My female cat just had one kitten on Tuesday (7-24-07).
She had it in a cat carrier in the laundry room which is fine. But so the other cats and dog did not disturb her we kept her locked in there with her food, water and litter box. We keep her locked in there with the kitten unless we can watch to make sure the other cats and dog leave the kitten alone. The few supervised visits they have had in the room have turned out okay. They were not interested and the mother just layed in the carrier purring. However the other cat is big and lazy and layed on the kitten once. (thankfully we say and moved it) My question is at what time am I able to leave the laundry room door open full time without watching?
 

abymummy

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I personally wait after the first vaccination to introduce the new ones to the older ones and even that, it's timed intros. I rarely leave the littles alone with the adults too long just to be on the safe side!
 

goldenkitty45

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I agree - get first vaccinations then introduce. However, I've allowed the other cats to have contact with my rex kittens when they were 5-6 weeks old - just about a week or so before 1st vacs and nothing ever happened.

If your adult cats have all their shots and do not go outside to bring in fleas, etc., then its probably safe to introduce them around 5 weeks old. With one kitten, its better to have socialization with other animals at a younger age since they don't have any siblings to play with and need more socialization then a litter of kittens.

If you are not keeping this kitten, please wait till 12-16 weeks (longer the better) before rehoming since its an only kitten.
 

callista

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A note: Sometimes only kittens don't learn to sheathe their claws when they play; so be absolutely sure you don't encourage him to play with your fingers!! I am having this problem with my foster kitten, and I constantly keep a cat toy with me, so I can distract him...
 

beandip

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Originally Posted by Callista

A note: Sometimes only kittens don't learn to sheathe their claws when they play; so be absolutely sure you don't encourage him to play with your fingers!! I am having this problem with my foster kitten, and I constantly keep a cat toy with me, so I can distract him...
That's very true.


I have found that giving the baby a suitable well-behaved adult cat playmate helps them learn about claw retraction. I guess ideally the mom-cat teaches that.
 
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3angels

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Thank you all very much for your advice. I guess I will continue to keep mommy and baby seperate till baby reaches 5 weeks. Thanks again!
 
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