New kitten (Salem)

Welp,
Girlfriend and I got a kitten. We already or more exactly our roommate has a cat (He's 1 year and 1 month old). The year old was abused by previous owners and is kind of a wild cat (left living all by himself in an empty apartment for several weeks at a time). It takes time, but he's slowly warming up to us. Which is nice, we give him space and all the time he needs to fully recover.

Still a girlfriend really wanted to get "her" own cat, so after a long discussion we decided what the heck. I used to have a cat, she did too. Sadly both of our pets passed away, mine from liver cancer, hers from old age.

We've been searching for the right kitten high and low and she couldn't decide which one she wanted. Personally I loved all the cats we saw and given opportunity I'd adopt every single one of them, my heart just breaks when I see so many abandoned pets.

I really loved the female cat, about 8-9 months old who was abandonded. She was black and VERY friendly, not fond of other cats. As soon as I entered she ran directly towards me, started rubbing at my legs. As I sat down she climbed into my lap and started giving me kisses....Say I was heartbroken...
I feel really bad that we didn't choose her as I know that older cats are harder to adopt, but her reaction to other cats made us think hard. We wanted a buddy for the other cat, so they had to get along.

That's when my girlfriend saw a 5 week, fur-ball. He was a sleep, hugging his grey-haired sister. So we decided to adopt him...and we did...
I love him to pieces, he's a nice little kitten, very, VERY bright... It only took him several hours to learn how to use bathroom and since then we only had 1 accident and I'm sure it's only due to his upset tummy.

So I present you Salem.
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/8455/dsc01839jz1.png

People in shelter were not sure and tell you the truth I'm semi lost too. Some think he's medium haired, others say that he's short haired...Any clue? He's such a fur-ball and LOVES to purr. He purrs everytime we pick him up.

PS: A lot of folks at work looked at me like I'm crazy, because we chose a black kitten. So what?! Girlfriend and I met each other for our first date on Friday the 13th...the only thing we were missing is a black cat, which we have.

PPS: My girlfriend is Jewish, she decided to go with Salem. A) She loves Sabrina the Teenage Witch I Believe...and B) because Salem in Jewish means "Peace". Which hopefully he'll bring to us.

Oh wow, what a cutie! He looks like somewhere between a short/medium to me. He could grow into his hair maybe, or it could stay the same, who knows? Genetics are weird!

=D I've heard it's hard to adopt out black kitties; and then they're singled out on Halloween and stuff by mean kids/cults or whatever. Hope you're planning to keep him inside, especially around that time!

Yeap, he'll be an indoor only cat. No declawing too, a friend of mine told me it's a must..I told him to go ahead and break his own knuckles and call me when he want his nails extracted without anaesthesia. *sighs* Some people...

Salem and my girlfriend, snuggling
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/9113/dsc01840dg4.png

OMG I might have to steal him...

the name fits perfectly......

thats funny i have a black cat to named church and i almost named him salem. hes 8 weeks. i love black cats i dont think any thing is wrong with them.

He is gorgeous!!

Oh he is a darling! I have a little black fluff ball. I think black cats are very cool.
I don't know about hair length. I am curious about mine. Seldon looked like that as a kitten and ended up between short and medium.

Hmmm, noticed an odd behavior from the cat of our roommate.

We let the kitten out of the room from time to time, as we want him to get used to the place before letting him roam the apartment freely. Still the little guy escapes from our bedroom everytime we open the door up. He runs all around the place at the speed of light...or pretty much close to it, then runs back into the master bedroom and hides in either bathroom or under the bed. Kinda fun to watch him do that.


But speaking of the older cat. Not sure if I mentioned earlier, but the older (1 year old) was abused and was allowed to stay by himself as long as 4 weeks in the apartment by himself: No furniture, just a bowl of food, water and a toilet. So that made him a little tough to get along with as he's scared easily, doesn't like to be petted unless he wants/allows you to do that.

So the older cat been sitting under our door, he makes "purring" sort of voice, then a slight meow in a high-pitched tone. Not an aggressive, but more of a "Who are you?" sort of way.

Everytime we let them get together they try and sniff each other. Little one tries to go around the big cat and sniff his butt But the older cat doesn't like when someone approaches his rear-side so he hissed once.

I also saw them run around the room chasing after each other, touching each other noses and running in different directins. Also big cat pawed at little guy once or twice, the claws were retracted when he did that. I think he kinda bit the little guy once too.


As this is the first time I have two cats at home, can anyone from the behavior perhaps describe on what is going on? Are they getting along or what? Will appreciate the answers!

aww how cute...I have a little boy named salem too..and yes he's a black cat...
he'll be 2 in 15 days!

what an adorable little fluff ball! he looks so cute and little. sounds like the cats will be ok since theyre not fighting now. give them a few weeks and i bet theyll love each other, just my guess

As far as resident cat meeting new cat--I'm dealing with that now.

We brought Harley home last friday and by saturday we had him meet Jack the resident cat. Harley is older than Jack by about 5 months. There was a lot of hissing but 99.9% of that has subsided, the boys are even playing together now. However Jack is showing Harley that he was here first and he's in charge. Jack has smacked Harley in the head a few times, claws in.

Leslie

sounds like they are getting to know each other in a normal way-salem is gorgeous BTW

What a darling! he looks just like my Dude did, he turned out to be short haired, you'll just have to wait and see.
Sounds like he's doing a good job of introducing himself to the resident cat, it might be an idea to leave your door open a crack (when you're about) so they can get to know eachother without either feeling threatend by physical contact, might be worth using the vanilla dab too, that worked a treat for me

Originally Posted by laureen227

Salem is adorable!
i think your older cat is just making sure Salem knows who's boss. Cable whacks Chip quite often - ensuring he remembers she's the boss [she's 1/2 his size, but she was boss before he got here!

]

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I agree this sounds cautious, curious and a bit playful, but also a show of dominance... esp. if the older cat kinda pinned the baby and had his mouth open on the baby's neck... as long as it's pin and release. Actually, since your kitten is really VERY young to have been separated from mom and sibs, not a bad thing to have an older cat show him the ropes.