Bad feeling about new kitten, need advice

Have you gone through an introduction routine or just put all the cats together on the first day?

When I broght Kasey home on the spring of 2008, she was an 8 year old tortie from a tough background.

I went through the introduction process often mentioned on the forum; keep them in spartate areas for a few days, then let them "experience"each other under the gap of an interior door (there was hissisng and noises), followed by a slow set of supervised introductions.

It took a while, but she and the otyher two cats, Taz and Morgan are OK now.

I wouldn't base too much on earlt introductions; Taz didn't like Morgan when they were introduced to each other years ago, not they are just like litter mates.

I would make sure you do the proper introductions and give them time. Tumbles has been here since mid-July and Hannah still hisses at him, frequently. She hasn't hurt him, but she still wants him to go back where he came from.

Cats are all about territory, and you're right - what you are describing is actually completely normal. I don't know what your bad feeling is about... she has a clean bill of health?

But cats aren't social like dogs and normally take some time to work out their spaces, who's who, what the hierarchy is...

I'd just start over and follow normal introduction process. It's recommended to isolate the new addition to the family in his/her own room for at least a few days. When we added our new kitty this summer, we made introductions over three weeks before allowing him out full time. Things go much more smoothly when you give the new member of the family her own space. I mean - especially if she's from a rescue situation, she needs time to adjust to the new scents and smells. Having a room to make her "safe" space helps her as much as it helps your resident kitties.

It's normally suggested to start scent swapping first. Rub your kitties all over with a couple of wash cloths or clean rags - get all their scents all over them. Rub the new kitty with several clean rags or wash cloths or whatever. Put one of the "resident" kitty scented rags under new kitties' food dish. When you have interactive play time with her, when you're done, put treats down for her on the other rag that smells like all the other kitties.

Same in reverse for your resident kitties - put a rag that smells like new kitty under their food dishes (make as many as you need!). When you play with them, put treats down for them on a rag that smells like her.

The idea is to help the kitties associate each other with "good" things - things they love - before they even meet. They associate the smells with food and fun.

Let them smell each other through the door - crack it open a bit. If they're still hissing after a few days, go for a few more days. When they're more curious than upset, bring one kitty at a time into the room for a supervised introduction. Don't force them to interact - just let them do their own thing, for like 15 minutes. Keep an empty can with coins in it handy - if there's an actual fight or anything, you shake that can. If there's hissing - then it depends upon the body language.

If it's just hissing, let them work it out. But if ears are back, someone's back is ridged - then they mean business, and just remove resident kitty from the room.

But when introducing, using a wand toy for play, and making IT the focus is a good idea. Focus on the resident kitty - they're the ones that have to accept the new cat into their territory.

Give resident kitties extra love, play and attention - especially when new kitty is around (once things are calm enough to let her out).

The idea is to make your kitties think having new kitty around is a TOTAL PARTY - she means fun and attention and treats!

But do NOT scold her for hissing! She is doing nothing wrong.

And if you're going to discourage any behavior - don't do it with a water bottle. This will only make her scared of you or dislike you. They can see you're the one doing the thing that's nasty to them. Apart from that, if you get any in her ear, it can cause problems. If you want to stop a fight, do it with noise (the coins in the can).

But it doesn't sound like there's any fighting - just normal "hey, you're in my face" kind of thing.

I'd also consider investing in some Feliway (Comfort Zone) - either plug-in or spray. This will help everyone feel a little calmer. You can also purchase Bach's Rescue Remedy to add drops to their water dishes.

Have you added an extra litter box with her addition? Having enough litter boxes helps too. The rule of thumb is that you should have one more litter box than you have cats.

There's lots of articles that may be useful to you in the "Cat Care" (http://www.thecatsite.com/Cats/Cat_Care.html) and "Cat Behavior" (http://www.thecatsite.com/Cats/Cat_Behavior.html) sections.

If your new kitty is anything like our Spooky, it'll take her a full six months to stop being so hissy at the other cats.

So far my record is 2 yrs......

Your house sound s very normal...

Well, it does take her a full year to fully accept that the "new" cat is staying.

I had the same feeling you described about bringing Lilly home. I wanted a kitten but she was not the one I wanted. My husband was the one who picked her out. He likes her because of her tenacious personality. She's pretty much a monster kitten. She picks on my cat and it angers me. It took me a while to fall in love with this kitten, but she does have her sweet moments. She will snuggle when she's sleepy, lookout though when she's not! After about 4 months the cats are starting to settle down. I hope that it keeps getting better. Pandora is starting to stand up for herself more. I think that it just takes time.

You have multiple cats, and you're bringing home a new one. Of course it's going to take a while for the new cat to learn its place in the heirarchy of your household. Hissing and some minimal fighting (which is what it sounds like Autumn is doing) is to be expected until Autumn finds her place on the totem pole.

It can take weeks or even months for a new cat to truly fit in and stop all dominance struggles. You're only one week in, and from the sounds of it you're doing just fine. autumn doesn't sound too overly aggressive, it just sounds like you haven't had to deal with a dominant cat. If I read correctly, you have two cats that are the same age and one who is older. Did you happen to get the two cats together? That explains why there were never struggles before, because they always had each other to bother or be close to if the other cat didn't want any part of it.

you want this to go as smoothly as the last cats intro, but you are taking a lone, scared animal and putting it into a house that reeks of "foreign" cats. It will take time and patience, but it sounds like you will be fine.


When I brought my new kitten home, I put a little bit of baby powder on him and my other cat so they smelled the same. That got them started with a lot more sniffing as opposed to hissing, and I think it helped out a lot.

Spraying water at cats to stop them from fighting is the WRONG thing to do.

I will tell you right now, it will take weeks or months before they get along. Females tend to resent new cats (whether or not they are the resident cat or the newcomer). My female hated my first Ocicat (male kitten) for 6 months before she decided to tolerate him. The 2nd Oci that came in the house was tolerated in about a month.

Its just something you have to deal with and let them get to know each other over time. Clip nails and be sure you have more then one litter box to prevent fighting.

I'm assuming everyone is spayed/neutered in the house - if not get them done; it will help a lot.