Can our 2yr old indoor cat help socialize/comfort semi feral kitten?

misstruffles

misstruffles

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We adopted a semi-feral kitten 4 days ago, he has been in human care since he was 7-8 weeks and is now around 12 weeks. He is in a safe room, and has come to the point where he will eat baby food by licking it off my fingers, but he still hisses a little and we haven't been allowed to pet him yet. Even if he was socialized completely, this would probably still be normal as he is natually nervous about the new home, so we don't have a full picture of his social skills yet. 

In the mean time, our 2 year old, fixed cat is dying of curiosity to meet her new baby brother. I have carried her in to see him twice, and no one hisses, they just watch each other. Kitten even gives her some nice slow blinks :-D We temporarily housed an older stray cat some weeks ago, and she was the same with him - they came face to face and she is no doubt friendly, curious and would likely flee rather than fight. 

We know that our new boy has come a long way and still has a lot to learn, but can our grown cat help him or will her company just enhance his "wildness"? Are there any special things to consider when introducing an indoor cat to a semi-feral kitten or should we just go ahead on his terms? (everyone has their shots/tests in order).
 
stephenq

stephenq

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misstruffles said:
 
We adopted a semi-feral kitten 4 days ago, he has been in human care since he was 7-8 weeks and is now around 12 weeks. He is in a safe room, and has come to the point where he will eat baby food by licking it off my fingers, but he still hisses a little and we haven't been allowed to pet him yet. Even if he was socialized completely, this would probably still be normal as he is natually nervous about the new home, so we don't have a full picture of his social skills yet. 

In the mean time, our 2 year old, fixed cat is dying of curiosity to meet her new baby brother. I have carried her in to see him twice, and no one hisses, they just watch each other. Kitten even gives her some nice slow blinks :-D We temporarily housed an older stray cat some weeks ago, and she was the same with him - they came face to face and she is no doubt friendly, curious and would likely flee rather than fight. 

We know that our new boy has come a long way and still has a lot to learn, but can our grown cat help him or will her company just enhance his "wildness"? Are there any special things to consider when introducing an indoor cat to a semi-feral kitten or should we just go ahead on his terms? (everyone has their shots/tests in order).
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Your cat won't make him wilder and so long as they get along you can proceed, but the risk is the kitten develops a bond so close that he ignores you, so if it were me, i would only allow brief interactions until the kitten is fully domesticated.

You are doing excellent work, the next step is to get the kitten to accept gentle touch while licking the food off your finger.  If she won't, pull the food away and continue to encourage the co-petting eating idea.

See this great link on taming ferals.

http://urbancatleague.org/TamingFerals
 
msaimee

msaimee

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It depends entirely on the personality of your older cat. My oldest cat, Chablis, a Siamese, has nurtured every new cat I've brought into my home during the past 14 years, except for Mia (in all fairness, Chablis has some kidney issues now and isn't feeling all that well). When I took in a feral kitten last summer, Harry, he buddied up to him and was very patient (and still is) with this young cat's antics. My other geriatric, Leo, is also very caring and peaceful towards other cats. I've had very good experience with bringing new cats into my home because of these two senior cats. I say there's no harm in allowing them to begin having contact with each other. Even if they hiss or swipe initially, they will work out their differences. If they become aggressive, you can always separate them again until they become used to each other. Playing with both of them at the same time with a wand toy and giving them food treats side by side will also help.  
 
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