Older cat wont accept new kitten...

Hello everyone.

First I'd like to say I am new to the forum =)

Second I's like to get to the important stuff. My parents went to the Poconos a few months ago. There was a stray mother cat with a litter of kittens outside, everyone at the hotel was trying to catch the kittens so that they could all have better homes. After a while there was one left, she ran up to my parents so they took her in, she has now lived with us for 3 months.

One of our cats, a recently fixed female (only fixed about a month ago), is very territorial. At first she was just a little iffy about the kitten, watched her, etc. but for a few weeks now she has been attacking her. We've tried keeping the kitten in a kennel with food water and a litterbox so that she could stay in her space while Isis (the female) had time to investigate her and hopefully get used to her, this has had no effect on Isis whatsoever. We've tried having them in the same room, holding the kitten on the bed and trying to get Isis to come up on her own but she just attacked the kitten in our hands.

Isis will do anything to get to this kitten, she's actually jumped on us and attacked the kitten while we're sitting on the couch holding her. Now, we know Isis is territorial and protective, all of our other animals actually wait for her to go her way when they see her. This is the first time ths has actually caused a problem in the house, she usually never tries to hurt the other animals, she's just like the leader and the other animals know this.

There is one cat that actually stands up to her, our (fixed) male max. She attacked the kitten once and he went in batted at her, no claws involved ofcoarce, but he obviously likes the kitten and is protective over her, as is everone else in the house. We just don't know what else there is that we can do to solvethis. Some people say to find a new home for the kitten but this is her first hme, we all love her and she is comfortable with us, we don't want to just give up on her and pass her on to someone else, we are trying to do everything we can to try to fix the issue so that we don't have to give her away, but if it comes down to that we will because we know it will be best for her.

Does anyone have any advice on what we can do?? all advice and help is welcome and greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance.

Separate the kitten to her own room. It sounds like you rushed things. Get some feliway diffusers for the home - not just 1 diffuser, but multiple ones. You need to use them in more than one room, after all.

Follow the directions here

Now, it sounds like you may be a bit slow at getting some of your cats spay/neutered. Is this new kitten spay, yet? If not you need to do this. Her maturing and going into heat can cause issues in the household with the other cats. You want to avoid this because it can undue anything you accomplish and then you'd have to start over.

I suggest spaying her while she's separated because spaying will make her smell like the vet clinic, which can upset other cats even when all cats do normally get along. Get her spay, let her heal up and work at the introduction guide in that article. Here is a thread about it, as well.

Oh, and FYI, adult female cats can often be difficult at getting along with other cats. Some of us are lucky and when introducing an adult female to other cats the female cat gets to the "tolerate" stage.

We will definately try the Feliway, I've never hear of it but I just looked it up and it seems pretty neat.

The kitten is about 12 weeks old now so we haven't gotten her fixed just yet. For the first few days we had her in the kennel and have repeated this on and off, it has done nothing. At this point it isn't possible to put her in her own room, do you know what we could do instead?

Thank you

Why is a separate room impossible? You have a bedroom of your own, correct? A bathroom even? That will work.

Was she ever treated for roundworms? Has she even been to the vet, yet?

In addition to what strange_wings has already suggested but a dab of vanilla under everyones chins might help too. I used that when introducing 2 new kittens to the older cats. We are barely a week into having the new kittens in the house but my male accepted both of them easily and my female while having some little attitude tiffs here and there is slowly warming up to the older kitten....she still wont go into the catroom where the 5 wk old is but I dont push the issue with her. I let them go at their own pace. I did make concessions though for the older female, she has a feeding station set up on the counter where she sleeps and watches birds and I added a litter box into the living room so she didnt feel forced to go into the catroom.


If you can seperate the kitten into a bathroom or bedroom that would probably be best in your situation, especially since Isis is physically attacking the kitten and not just being stand offish and hissing at her. Doing scent swapping might help, rubbing a towel on the kitten and putting it near Isis food or bed so she can gradually warm up to the smell of the kitten and doing the same thing with Isis (rubbing her down with a blanket or towel and giving it to the kitten). Also if you are giving most of your attention to the kitten that could be making Isis feel jealous. I go out of my way to give a little more attention to the older cats in my house so they dont feel left out, every time I pass them or they walk past me I give them little scritches, a little extra brushing time, lounging in bed with them. Just that little extra loving so they dont feel like they are being replaced or feel as though they need to defend the affection they are used to getting.