Hey all
We got a new member of the family a couple of weeks ago, a little girl from the pet shelter. I kept her separate for about a week and let them meet each other a couple of times, at first there was a lot of hissing and growling but they very quickly settled down and they seem to be playing with one another now, they chase one another around the room, I don't believe this is agressive as they both have their ears forward and there is no hissing... however, sometimes Minty, the older one, can get quite heavy handed and will sit on top of the baby and bite at her, which sometimes gets some yelps from the kitten.
Earlier while Foggy, the kitten, was laying in a basket, Minty came over and sat right on top of her and started biting her, which didn't seem at all like play, Foggy was growling and meowing a bit, and Minty was putting her ears back... should I be concerned about this? They're playing with each other fine now... I've personally had problems with Minty biting, that stopped since I got the kitten but now she seems to be doing it to the baby, is it a dominance thing?
I understand that integration into the household is supposed to be done over a longer period of time but keeping the kitten in a room isn't very feasible, as the only place I can do that is my bedroom, my four year old daughter has easy access to all the other rooms, and I can't keep my bedroom shut all the time as my workstation is there also and that means I would be shutting myself in the room as well, shutting the older cat out.
So any advice would be really appreciated
We got a new member of the family a couple of weeks ago, a little girl from the pet shelter. I kept her separate for about a week and let them meet each other a couple of times, at first there was a lot of hissing and growling but they very quickly settled down and they seem to be playing with one another now, they chase one another around the room, I don't believe this is agressive as they both have their ears forward and there is no hissing... however, sometimes Minty, the older one, can get quite heavy handed and will sit on top of the baby and bite at her, which sometimes gets some yelps from the kitten.
Earlier while Foggy, the kitten, was laying in a basket, Minty came over and sat right on top of her and started biting her, which didn't seem at all like play, Foggy was growling and meowing a bit, and Minty was putting her ears back... should I be concerned about this? They're playing with each other fine now... I've personally had problems with Minty biting, that stopped since I got the kitten but now she seems to be doing it to the baby, is it a dominance thing?
I understand that integration into the household is supposed to be done over a longer period of time but keeping the kitten in a room isn't very feasible, as the only place I can do that is my bedroom, my four year old daughter has easy access to all the other rooms, and I can't keep my bedroom shut all the time as my workstation is there also and that means I would be shutting myself in the room as well, shutting the older cat out.
So any advice would be really appreciated
