Our local feral mama cat dropped off another kitten in our backyard almost a month ago. We didn't think she would survive on her own (she was so scrawny and flea-bitten) so we took her in as well. She's probably around 3 months old now, healthy, has filled out well, has socialized with us, and shows interest in exploring the rest of the house. My concern is our other two kittens.
We have two other rescued feral kitten (brother and sister) who are around 7 months old. The newest kitten in is the guest room, isolated from the others. So far, we have introduced the kittens to each other's scent with towels. We progressed to baby gates across the doorway of the isolation room for a week. There were no problems (no hissing or growls), and all the kittens were playing with each other through the gate. We've fed them together with the older kittens on one side of the baby gate and the new kitten on the other side, again with no problems.
Because everyone seemed to get along, we decided to allow a face-to-face meeting. We played with one of their favorite toys. Our boy played with the new kitten; they played with each others tails and play wrestled. Our girl didn't want much to do with the new kitten, and she hissed and low growled at her. Ears were up the whole time and there wasn't really any contact (just a soft swipe that I saw). She seemed most upset when our boy was playing / wrestling with the new kitten. The new kitten didn't look stressed out by our girl's hissing and growling, but she did keep her distance most of the time.
This is the first time in my life that I have introduced cats to each other, and I'm nervous. I love all the kittens and juse want us all to be one big, happy family. I know that it's normal for cats to establish dominance, but does it sound like our girl will eventually accept the new kitten and stop hissing and growling at her?
We have two other rescued feral kitten (brother and sister) who are around 7 months old. The newest kitten in is the guest room, isolated from the others. So far, we have introduced the kittens to each other's scent with towels. We progressed to baby gates across the doorway of the isolation room for a week. There were no problems (no hissing or growls), and all the kittens were playing with each other through the gate. We've fed them together with the older kittens on one side of the baby gate and the new kitten on the other side, again with no problems.
Because everyone seemed to get along, we decided to allow a face-to-face meeting. We played with one of their favorite toys. Our boy played with the new kitten; they played with each others tails and play wrestled. Our girl didn't want much to do with the new kitten, and she hissed and low growled at her. Ears were up the whole time and there wasn't really any contact (just a soft swipe that I saw). She seemed most upset when our boy was playing / wrestling with the new kitten. The new kitten didn't look stressed out by our girl's hissing and growling, but she did keep her distance most of the time.
This is the first time in my life that I have introduced cats to each other, and I'm nervous. I love all the kittens and juse want us all to be one big, happy family. I know that it's normal for cats to establish dominance, but does it sound like our girl will eventually accept the new kitten and stop hissing and growling at her?
You'll need to supervise their time together and be sure that no one gets hurt. The hissing and swatting is totally normal. Until they work out the hierarchy, there will be hissing. It sounds like it's going well, though.
