Mylo arrives !!!

Our new kitten arrived on Friday and we have named him Mylo (Male, 10-12 weeks old). He's a great little chap, eager to explore and play with anything that moves. So far he's doing great and has one of the loudest purrs I've ever heard. We've had to lock him in our bedroom with his toys, tray and food as we already have another cat (Millie, Female, 18-months old) that has the run of the house.

Now I know introductions are supposed to be done slowly, we've bought some feliway to ease the situation and I've done the vanilla essence trick. Anyway, Millie is generally a timid cat and runs off when anyone visits our house. We nick named her 'proximity Mills' as she loves to be in the same room as you, but hates being fussed over. If you pick her up or stroke her, she normally wants to be released within about 2-minutes.

Anyway, we have let both cats see each other with the door open and it went surprisingly well. Mylo doesn't seem bothered and more often than not, Millie goes unnoticed as he is too busy playing. Millie on the other hand stands and watches him intensely (about 6 feet away) and she won't go any closer. When Mylo sees Millie, he normally walks towards her (very friendly), Millie growls, hisses and retreats. It's like a reversal of power. Millie is about 8-10 times bigger than Mylo, but seems threatened for some reason.

What I wanted to know was, at what point do you let Mylo out of his room and how can I help Millie realise that he is only a kitten and isn't a threat?

On another note, Mylo is supposed to be 12-weeks old and had all his inoculations, although I suspect he is probably nearer 9-10 weeks old. I'm concerned that he might catch something off Millie if he hasn't and therefore wanted to know if he can have another dose of injections, just to be sure?

Sorry, just trying to BUMP this thread to get a response on the vaccination question - does anyone know if it is safe to give a kitten a second dose of injections? I'm not 100% sure if Milo has had them already and i'd rather be safe than sorry. I suppose asking the vet is a good start, but just wanted your opinions.

Congratulations on your new kitty . Sounds like it is going great. I introduced a new cat to our resident cat on Thursday night, and was only able to keep the new cat locked in the bathroom for an hour, then they met. It is going so well, and as I speak they are curled up fast asleep on the same chair! As early as day 2 I was able to leave my 'pack' together in the house for a while, and they are all very content and comfortable.

No idea about the vaccination... I don't think it would be a good idea to over vaccinate.

Actually I think it's ok to have double vaccs., but check with your vet to be sure.

Thanks for the response.

On another note, the introduction seems to have taken a turn for the worse. Millie (the resident cat) has started to get more aggressive towards Mylo. She seems to be fine for most of the time, just watching him and occasionally getting close to sniff him. However, every 30 minutes or so, she will chase and pounce on him, then pin him to the ground, this appears to be quite violent and it looks like she is biting and scratching him. At this point I have to try and step in. So far Mylo hasn't had any actual cuts, but he doesn't seem to be happy about the encounters.

What is even more bizarre is she tends to leave him alone when he uses his litter tray or when he is eating. In fact, yesterday he ran straight for her when she was eating her dinner and dived right into her food bowl. Millie just stood back and let him feed. She seems to attack him most when he is either running around or playing on his scratch post (which is Millie's old one that she used to use) and early in the morning when it's hunting time.

She won't really stay in the same room as him for long periods and tends to wander off and sit on her own. If I try to get close, she edges away and I haven't heard her purr once since Mylo has arrived. Is this normal behaviour

I keep Mylo separated in our bedroom during the day, but I think Millie must be trying to get at him when we aren't there, as the carpet in the corner near the door is pulled up. Has anyone experienced this, is it better just to let Millie and Mylo sort it out between themselves? Mylo is so small, he can't really defend himself yet, but I'm sure when he gets a bit older, he will. He doesn't seem to be affected for too long and gets back to playing and exploring within minutes, but I'm just concerned she is going to do some real damage.

My personal opinion is to restart the intro phase. Slowly. Especially because as you said, he's too young to defend himself if Millie does attack - or even if she's just rough housing. I know it seems dreadful, keeping them separated. But it must be done. Rather a short term heartache for years of happy living.

Another reason to keep them separated is so Mylo can adjust to his new surroundings. And if he does have an underlying cold or something similar, it will expose itself within a few days to a week of being in a new environment because of the stress caused in moving. And this way, Millie does not catch anything the new guy may have...

About the additional vaccination...I would advice against it (but I'm not a vet) only because the vaccinations seem to weaken the kitties for a little bit - causing diarrhea, lethargy, slight loss of appetite - because it is a lot for their little bodies to handle. So the less vaccinations he needs to receive, the better.

Always be sure to lavish Millie with attention and let her know she is still the boss. You should greet her first. Pet her first. Feed her first. She needs to know that this guy is not a threat and things will be better for her.

Be sure to read all you can about introductions and just start over. Better late than never.

Are you saying not to vaccinate your cat because of a little temporary reaction? Is it better that they develop fatal diseases? Ridiculous.

Is Millie an outdoor or indoor cat? I say, check with where you got Milo, and find out who the vet was. If he's had his Vaccinations, he should have a book with the stickers in for the vacs.

If Millie is an indoor only cat, then I would say not to worry too much. The main worry for me in this situation, would be if Milo ended up an outdoor cat and mixed with strays, who could potentially have diseases. Also, is Millie up to date with her vacs?

As for the intro. Start again. Millie feels threatened because someone else in in her territory, females are actually more territorial than males.

i'd ask the vet about vaccine's. who come you aren't sure what he actually got? besides, the vet can give you an idea as to how old he is also. and if you are concerned he is sick, go to the vet. whenever you adopt a new animal the first thing you do is call the vet and make an appointment.
as for the fighting, millie is making it known she is top cat. i am currently going through into's myself. i've had my girls for about 10 days now. my millie still only has supervised run of the house even though there are no more fights and she is completely comfortable with the house. sophie is still a shy nervous kitty, so she gets out less, she needs to at least be comfortable in my room where she is kept. she is doing better, i was greated this morning by a hard headbutt by her, shocked the heck out of me! there are no fights going on here, the girls are best friends after only 3 days together. the slowness i'm moving at is for the other two boys in the house. the 8 year old could care less about the girls and they never bother him either, but our 6 month old boy is still trying to figure this all out. sometimes he gets jealous of the girls playing together and wants to join in, but at other times will still hiss. he mainly just stands there and watches them.
so this long winded post is just to say that different cats need different intro times. i would start over. make sure you give millie lots and lots of love also. my damian is still a little mad at me after two months and i also didn't hear him purr for probably close to 3 weeks after we brought max home.

Where did you adopt him from? Do you have vet papers on when his vaccinations were given?

Sounds like a typical introduction. I'd have your vet check him out and record when the shots were given and set up a neuter appointment as soon as you can. Sounds like they would be ok together SUPERVISED for a few hrs, but separate them from time to time and during the night for a few weeks.

Be sure to clip all nails on both cats and trim as necessary. Don't interfer with the two unless one really is in trouble - its normal to his or swat at each other and kinda ignore for the most part. Females tend to take a lot longer to accept a new cat, but since the kitten is male, she should take to him a little quicker.

Post pics when you can

Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s a bit complicated, but basically my younger brother is in the armed forces and is based in the South of England. One of his colleagues had a cat which I believe he found as a stray and took care of. The cat became (or was already) pregnant and gave birth to a litter. This was approximately 10-12 weeks ago, but I am unable to get a clear answer. Unfortunately the mother was run over and killed , so basically the kittens are now orphaned.
We said we would take one in and last Friday evening my brother drove 250 miles north and left Mylo with us. He came with no vets papers and my brother was unable to confirm the exact birth date. At my request, he asked the guy who he got him off and whether he had been vaccinated and he said yes, but had no proof. Here in lies the quandary? I'll try and get him checked out at the vets on Friday or this weekend.

Millie is fully neutered, microchiped and vaccinated. She is a semi-outdoor cat, in the sense that she spends the days indoors and goes out in the evening, although due to the adverse weather conditions at the moment, she isn't going out that much.

An update on this evening - I came home and let Mylo out of his room and Mille was fine for about 45 minutes. She then did her usual run/pounce trip, but this time held him down and started licking him. She has done this 2-3 times already this evening and she doesn't seem to be actually attacking him. Except for once where she grabbed him around the neck and started to claw. No physical wounds, yet !!!

I'll get Mylo checked at the weekend for sure and try and keep them separated for the time being, although its difficult when we are in the house as if we lock one of them away, they just constantly mieow.

P.S. Mylo's poo is mainly runny, not really solids yet.

The poo thing is likely to be a change in diet, unles you are feeding him the same as the previous carer was. Or it could be worms.

I feel that since you can't get a straight answer, Milo hasn't had his vacs. He has maybe been wormed, but that may not be definet either.

Good luck at the vets. Hopefully they'll give you the answer you need about the vacs. oh yeah and get him treated for worms again.

Just another question;

Mylo is currently in our bedroom during the day and sleeps with us at night, he's very friendly and likes to stay close.

Millie has rarely slept with us before, but has had access to our room until now, but because of the constant fighting we've had to lock her out of the room at night. Do you think this might have contributed to the situation, creating an environment where she feels unloved or rejected? I try to comfort her and play with her, but she's just not really interested in cuddles etc