- Joined
- Oct 15, 2009
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Hi,
I was wondering if I could get a bit of cat advice. I just recently got a kitten (born late June of this year). I am having a bit of a problem introducing him to my resident cat (who is 6 years old).
Actually, I don't know if it's a problem, that's for you guys to judge. I am not sure if I should be freaking out about what's going on or not.
I did the whole introduction thing. I didn't do it exactly the way the internet says to do, but I did it relatively slowly. The kitten kept breaking out of his safe room and wanting to explore the house.
My resident cat is deaf and seems to hate this kitten about 80 percent of the time. I think. They will sit together, right next to one another, but if the kitten gets too close, the older cat will hiss and swat at him. Sometimes he will pin the little one to the ground.
Sometimes they are wrestling and playing together, other times the older cat is trying to tell him that he doesn't want any part of his kitten antics, but the kitten doesn't seem to care at all.
The little one does some troubling things like ambushes the older cat in the litter box and while he's drinking. So far, they're both using the same litter box without incident and they seem to be both eating in the kitchen (where I have their food). I tried two litter boxes, actually, and the cats would just go in one and ignore the other one, which is really weird.
They often get so excited about food in the morning that a fight will happen. I am alone in the morning, so I don't really have a good way to separate them when they are already together. It's very frustrating.
I have also been trying to give them treats when I see them together being nice to one another. The other day I caught the older one grooming the little one, but it quickly turned into a wrestling match. It didn't seem violent, it was just that they were rolling around on the floor nipping one another.
I'm wondering if I should be doing anything differently. Should I separate them at night so the older cat can get a break? Right now they are just together all the time. The fights that they get into are really stressing me out. I fear that they're stressing the older cat out, too. He seems on edge all the time. He hisses when I pick him up. Otherwise, though, he seems completely fine and comfortable around the little one. So I can't figure out what to do and if I should just leave it be or try something different. I really don't want to keep changing things because I know that cats really don't do well with constant change.
Anyway, should I be worried about any of this behavior? And if so, what do you guys suggest? I am not sure if I'm worrying about nothing or not right now. It's kind of wearing on both my husband and myself, though. There has been talk of rehoming the kitten, and I don't really want to do that if this is something he's going to grow out of. My older cat seems to be angry a lot lately, though, and I don't want this experience to make him mean. He's old, deaf and doesn't deserve that.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I was wondering if I could get a bit of cat advice. I just recently got a kitten (born late June of this year). I am having a bit of a problem introducing him to my resident cat (who is 6 years old).
Actually, I don't know if it's a problem, that's for you guys to judge. I am not sure if I should be freaking out about what's going on or not.
I did the whole introduction thing. I didn't do it exactly the way the internet says to do, but I did it relatively slowly. The kitten kept breaking out of his safe room and wanting to explore the house.
My resident cat is deaf and seems to hate this kitten about 80 percent of the time. I think. They will sit together, right next to one another, but if the kitten gets too close, the older cat will hiss and swat at him. Sometimes he will pin the little one to the ground.
Sometimes they are wrestling and playing together, other times the older cat is trying to tell him that he doesn't want any part of his kitten antics, but the kitten doesn't seem to care at all.
The little one does some troubling things like ambushes the older cat in the litter box and while he's drinking. So far, they're both using the same litter box without incident and they seem to be both eating in the kitchen (where I have their food). I tried two litter boxes, actually, and the cats would just go in one and ignore the other one, which is really weird.
They often get so excited about food in the morning that a fight will happen. I am alone in the morning, so I don't really have a good way to separate them when they are already together. It's very frustrating.
I have also been trying to give them treats when I see them together being nice to one another. The other day I caught the older one grooming the little one, but it quickly turned into a wrestling match. It didn't seem violent, it was just that they were rolling around on the floor nipping one another.
I'm wondering if I should be doing anything differently. Should I separate them at night so the older cat can get a break? Right now they are just together all the time. The fights that they get into are really stressing me out. I fear that they're stressing the older cat out, too. He seems on edge all the time. He hisses when I pick him up. Otherwise, though, he seems completely fine and comfortable around the little one. So I can't figure out what to do and if I should just leave it be or try something different. I really don't want to keep changing things because I know that cats really don't do well with constant change.
Anyway, should I be worried about any of this behavior? And if so, what do you guys suggest? I am not sure if I'm worrying about nothing or not right now. It's kind of wearing on both my husband and myself, though. There has been talk of rehoming the kitten, and I don't really want to do that if this is something he's going to grow out of. My older cat seems to be angry a lot lately, though, and I don't want this experience to make him mean. He's old, deaf and doesn't deserve that.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
If the older cat seems overly annoyed you could let him (or the kitten) have some alone time in the bedroom (or other room with a door). Young kittens are very annoying to older cats, it's just a fact of cat life. He'll settle down a bit when he gets older.
