Old Cat, New Kitten

We have an female spayed cat that is about 10 years old, just before Christmas my daughter brought home an 8 week old kitten. The kitten (Pickle) stayed in my daughters room until just about 3 weeks ago, believe it or not Belle ( adult cat) nor our two bloodhounds knew that Pickle existed until she made an appearance. I would have thought that at least Belle would have given some indication of knowing that Pickle was in the house but she didn't. So now Pickle is this lively 5ish month old kitten who loves play and just really wants to be friends with Belle but Belle hates her with a passion. I have read some of the other posts about intoduction kittens and cats, being a scent thing etc. etc. With Belle it is more of a sight thing, out of sight out of mind. As long as she doesn't see Pickle she is great. Belle has the basement as her area, Pickle is not allowed down there. Pickle has my daughters room but I don't think that it is fair to keep either of them locked up. Belle will hiss, growl, slap and chase Pickle and Pickle will hiss and growl at dogs but never at Belle, she really just wants to be Belles friend.

We have one room that is blocked off with baby gates because that is Lucy ( my bunny's room) Belle will lay outside of the gate while Pickle and Lucy are inside, if Pickle gets really close to the gate Belle will hiss otherwise she just lays there. I can sit inside of the gate with Pickle on my lap petting her then reach out and let Belle smell my hand, she will rub on my hand like she wants me to pet her she doesn't wig out about Pickles scent being on me. Since it took her seeing Pickle to even know she was in the house maybe Belle doesn't have a scents of smell anymore, I don't know.

Should we just keep one or the other of them locked up all the time? Should we just leave them both out and see how it plays out? Belle is very fat so Pickle can out run her with know problem plus she can get into much tighter places.

HELP!!! PLEASE!

Joy

Being an old cat, Belle is not into Pickle's playfulness. I do not think you should worry too much. It sounds that Pickle knows how to avoid trouble. You can leave them both out but supervise them and be ready to step in if there's a problem.
I would suggest though that you avoid Belle seeing you pet/cuddle Pickle until their relationship improves. Belle may feel she is being replaced so it will make it more difficult for her to accept the youngster.
Also if Pickle has not been spayed it is good to do it now.

Agreed, get her spayed. Then try proper introductions.
Better to get the spay out of the way instead of possibly having to go through it again after when Pickles comes home smelling like a vet office.

I doubt your cat Belle has lost her sense of smell. Offer her any smelly treat and you'll see she hasn't. It may be likely that she just doesn't make a big deal of the scent that you can see because you have other animals in the house mixing with the scent. One on one that will be different.

Originally Posted by yayi

Also if Pickle has not been spayed it is good to do it now.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your replies! Pickle was spayed before we got her, it's one of the rules of our Humane Society. She was spayed at 8 weeks.

Thanks again!

Great! Move on to proper introductions, be patient and good luck.

i wouldn't separate them anymore. they need to find their 'place' with eachother. good luck!

Originally Posted by tab

i wouldn't separate them anymore. they need to find their 'place' with eachother. good luck!

Click to expand...

Yesterday I found Pickle downstairs in Belle's basement, the basement has always been Belles place, it's where her litter box is, her food is on the landing etc. There really isn't any way that we can keep the door open to allow Belle to come and go without Pickle going down there to check it out. Yesterday Belle luckily was upstairs and I just had a feeling that Pickle had gone down there so I went looking for her. Do I assume that Belle will take care of telling Pickle to stay out? I can't watch them both 24/7.

That sounds a lot like my 2 cats, Matilda and Chloe. Matilda isn't very old but she doesn't like our 7 month old, Chloe. Chloe is super playful and really annoys Matilda.

I have a room that I try to make Matilda's safe space. I feed Matilda in there, Chloe isn't allowed in usually. If I'm not home, Matilda goes in that room otherwise they will fight. If I'm home, I just try to keep an eye on them (easy to do since it's a small apartment). I did a slow introduction with them when Chloe first came home at 3 months old, I'm wondering if I should re-introduce them.

Originally Posted by Sakura

That sounds a lot like my 2 cats, Matilda and Chloe. Matilda isn't very old but she doesn't like our 7 month old, Chloe. Chloe is super playful and really annoys Matilda.

I have a room that I try to make Matilda's safe space. I feed Matilda in there, Chloe isn't allowed in usually. If I'm not home, Matilda goes in that room otherwise they will fight. If I'm home, I just try to keep an eye on them (easy to do since it's a small apartment). I did a slow introduction with them when Chloe first came home at 3 months old, I'm wondering if I should re-introduce them.

Click to expand...

Yep, that sounds just like us. In fact I just put Belle down in the basement, I hate locking her up but she really does like to be down there so I don't loose sleep over it. Pickle is a kitten, she is up all night playing if she is playing and Belle is upstairs they will fight. During the day today we left them both out all day and just watched. Belle hisses and carries on and today for the first time Pickle looked a bit annoyed by the hissing, she looked sort of ticked. I actually thought at one point she was going to jump on Belle, thankfully she listened when I told her "no". I don't want to take any chances over night and since it is easier contain Belle thats just the way it's going to be until they start getting along. Tomorrow I will let them both out again because I will be home all day. We are making progress, I think.