New Kitten & Older Cats - Advice on What to Do Next

Hi all.

This is my first post to this site and I hope you'll forgive it being quite long.  I've been reading this forum and several others to get advice on my kitten's introduction and now I'm a little confused since there seems to be a lot of conflicting ideas.

Some background:  I have two dogs, an 11 year old rat terrier and a 6 year old greyhound (who is just a little shy of Great Dane size), and two 12 year old cats - both are spayed half-manx cats and are half sisters from back-to-back litters.  All of my animals get along extremely well with the cats sharing territory easily.  The only issue that ever pops up is that the dominant cat is a little cranky and will occasionally haul off and smack whoever walks by, but I believe this is due to some chronic pain issues.  She was born with a missing vertebrae and spinal curvature and is medicated and sees the vet regularly.

So, about 2 1/2 weeks ago, I took in a 10 month old female orange tabby that had belonged to a close friend.  Her living circumstances had changed suddenly and the only other option was to send the kitten to a shelter.  She was not yet fixed when I brought her home (I had her spayed about 4 days ago) and she is very sweet.  She seems cautious but not truly afraid of much.  We suspect that she may be part Ragdoll as she goes mostly limp when anyone picks her up, but there is no way to know for sure.

I introduced her to the home following the guidelines I have read online.  She spent a few days in her isolation room and my cats seemed to not care one little bit.  I then gave them items with her scent on them and they still seemed to not care.  I then allowed visual contact.  That finally got the hisses and growls going, but this only lasted a few days and I soon started allowing the kitten out of her room.  My dogs adjusted almost immediately and rarely show any inclination to chase her.  My older cats didn't want much to do with her and as long as she stayed out of their sight they didn't bother with her.  So, I started allowing the kitten out to explore the house while I followed to supervise.  By the end of the first week, she had wormed her way onto my bed with my less dominant cat and they could lay at opposite ends with no hissing or growling.  My dominant cat still did not appreciate her coming into the kitchen (generally the dominant cat's territory), but I was confident we could all work it out in time.  This went on for about another week and, with the exception of a few days after the kitten was spayed, I have mostly let the kitten have the run of the house and she has been sleeping on the bed with me and the less dominant cat at night.

The problem I am having is that I have noticed some behavior changes in the older cats over the last few days and I'm trying to figure out how to handle it in order to avoid an escalation.  Right now, my house is completely peaceful about 95% of the day and night.  During the other 5%, my adult cats have started to show that they are really not happy with the kitten at all.  It started out with one or both of them camping out in front of her room and just staring and/ or growling at her through the barrier (which is set up for the kitten to come and go as she pleases.  The dogs cannot enter, but the older cats can get in if they want to.  They never go in unless the kitten is out of the room).  The kitten had been regularly moving between her room and my bedroom where she likes to sleep under my bed, but after the older cats started camping out she got more hesitant to move around and mostly stopped further exploring.  Then my older cats started chasing her when she came within a few feet of them (problematic since they spend so much time camping in front of her room).  It isn't every time they see her.  Sometimes they just sit there and let her walk by.  Other times they hiss and run after her.  When they catch up with her, they growl and sometimes yowl loudly  and bat at her.  If she is in her room, they will lean over her barrier and try to slap her around.  They never actually try to cross the barrier though.  After a few seconds of this, they usually back off and them camp out and stare at her for a while before they get bored and leave.  Today the kitten decided to start trying to explore more of the house again and was loudly chased from the kitchen into the bedroom and batted wildly at by the less dominant cat.  Then, shortly thereafter, she decided to come out and try to bat at the less dominant cat's tail.  That cat did not appreciate it and growled and swatted at her.  It may have stopped there, but the dominant cat was sitting just a few feet away and took extreme exception.  She ran over and started swatting the kitten who swatted her back a few times and then ran away to her spot under the bed.  The cat chased her down, basically yowling the whole way, and proceeded to do her best to smack the daylights out of the kitten.  I threw a towel over her to put a stop to it because she was so angry I was afraid she might actually hurt the kitten.  I'm going to have to start confining the kitten again if she isn't sitting with me as I'm afraid the chasing will injure her incision (from being spayed 4 days ago).

Throughout all of this no one has been hurt and the kitten seems to not be all that upset.  She still walks around with her tail straight up in the air and was trying to play with the terrier earlier today.  The only thing I've noticed is that she's a little afraid to explore the house.  She still comes out of her room, but mostly just goes to her spot under my bed unless I am with her.  To be fair, this may also be partly because she is intimidated by the size of the greyhound who is an inside dog.  I've done some supervised play with cats and they all sit there in a little circle and politely wait their turn for the toy without fighting.  Which is really weird when you consider that the older cats have no patience for the kitten otherwise.

Right now I'm wondering if A) I should interfere with the aggressive behavior or not?  I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is simple territorial aggression of straight up bullying.  And I've read in some places that interfering with non-bloody disagreements just makes it harder for the animals to come to an understanding.  In other places, I've read that all aggressive behavior should be halted immediately in order to keep it from becoming a habit.  Which is it?  And B) should I step back in the introductions?  Maybe to the just visual contact phase?  How long should I do that before I start physical introductions again?  And C)  I ended up just letting the kitten roam around the house instead of doing short meetings because my older cats don't really care to be around her that much.  There simply was no putting them in her room together to see how they would interact because the older cats weren't interested.  They would either just lay there and growl or get up and leave.  So, instead I took the kitten to where they were and let her play in that room and try to make friends.  Is that OK or is it a bad idea?

Thanks for anyone who actually read all the way through this monster post.  It's just been a long time since I've had to introduce cats and back then it was 6mo and 2mo sisters, not much of a challenge.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

First, I would say y vets strongly advise keeping a newly spayed cat in a small room where she cannot run or jump for 2 weeks to allow full healing, so I think a lot more isolation time is in order.  She should have her own litter box with dust-free litter so it will not irritate the i cision  (i.e. paper based or corn cob based).  You can bring her to your bedroom to spend time with you with the door shut and the other cats out.  That will not only give her time to heal but will give your other animals time to get used to the fac that she is there although not challenging their territory at all.  We usually advise adopting two kittens of the same age together because they will keep each other company and not bother the older cats out of being lonely and wanting feline company.  Usually the older cats then ignore the kittens or just watch them play.  You may not want to add one more kitten with a household that size, but it might actually work better that way, especially if you can find one about the same age and already used to dogs and other cats.  Many rescues have fosters and you can actually ask for a kitten who has grown up with that situation -- or with kids, rabbits, ferrets etc.  

Aggressive behavior should be avoided -- these early intereactions can set the stage for how the relationships will go in the future.  Instead of putting the kitten WITH the other cats, I would suggest keeping them separate.  It sounds  like your older cats are telling her to stay in her own territory (the room with the gate) and punishing her when she disobeys.  She seems to be a strong-willed little thing and not easily cowed, but still she should not have to put up with that.  She was just trying to play when she batted the other cat's tail, so a playmate would be goood for her.  I would suggest a neutered boy however, becase the females are territorial and you already have three of them.

I don't know if you have watched any of Jackson Galaxy's shows "My Cat From Hell," but several episodes have been devoted to making it posible for two cats who are enemies to live together in peace.  One thing he suggests is to make sure there is always an escape route, so the cat that is being persecuted is never cornered.  He often des that by having people construct ways to make another level of height available to the cats.  You can find videos of some of the shows on YouTube to get some ideas.  Do keep the conflict to a minimum and give that spayed baby time to heal in peace.  Let us know how it goes, and thanks for caring and not just letting all the cats be miserable.

Thanks very much for taking the time to read and reply!

I think I will go back to keeping the kitten totally isolated for a while and take your suggestion to bring her into my room by herself for cuddle time.  I had considered the possibility of getting a second kitten around the same age, but I was afraid that it would just double the problem.  I'll reconsider whether it is realistic for me to try to add another cat.  The issues really just come down to space and expense.  My house is a fairly small three bedroom and with 5 animals I've got my hands full with food and vet bills.  I already feel like I'm pushing it with just adding the one kitten.

I will continue what I have been doing with aggressive behavior -- trying to catch it before it starts and redirect the cat to something else to do.  Once it's already in progress, I usually wave a towel or something in front of the aggressor's face and tell them "No" quietly but firmly.  This usually heads them off.  I had been a little concerned that my interference was making things worse, but it sounds as if they just need more time and that it would be helpful to separate the kitten for a while longer.  I will also see if I can find some episodes of "My Cat From Hell" to watch.  I will put the second gate back up and let you know how it's going in a few days.

Thanks!

I placed the second gate back up yesterday after my post and my older cats immediately became much calmer. I decided to leave things so that the cats can see each other all the time as things have gone from the Cat Glare of Doom/ growling/ batting at the kitten over the bottom gate to the older cats just sitting there and looking in curiously. There has been just a little mild hissing, so I'm very pleased that my older cats are much more comfortable now. The kitten isn't thrilled with being locked in the room all day again, but she wasn't getting to explore the house much without getting chased anyway so I don't think it makes a huge difference.

My plan right now is to leave her completely separated until the Friday after this one since that will be over 2 weeks since she was spayed. What I wondering now is how, after that time is up, will I tell when they are ready to start having short visits again? Right now their behavior makes it looks like they are ready, but I know very well that if I were to let the kitten out it would immediately devolve back into growling and chasing. Any tips on how to tell when they are ready to try again?

Hi, I agree that back stepping is the right thing to do.  I got a new kitten more than a month ago and they are just now at the visual phase. I have been following this website:

http://www.wvcats.com/integrating_cats.htm

I wanted something really, really detailed as it is my first time doing an introduction.  However, I know everyone does things differently, so you can probably change it up a little. The website says that you will know when to move onto the next step when the cats seem comfortable with the current step (no growling, hissing, etc.).  If they react really badly to the next step (excessive hissing, attacking) then just backtrack for a few more days.  Everything I've read says to take it slowwww.

My kitten seems to be getting bored in his room and is becoming more destructive.  I wish they would just hurry up and get along!  I do lock up my resident cat once in a while to let the kitten get some exercise.  Good luck!  I think your intro is going faster than mine because your cats are used to other animals.  My resident has been an only cat for her whole life.  

Thanks for sharing the link!  I will definitely look it over and see what I can use.  I think my main issue right now is that, with the kitten back in her room full time, my adult cats really don't seem all that put out.  Just a little bit of hissing once in a while.  But I'm pretty sure that if I let her out again they'll just start the growling and chasing right back up.  I'm thinking it will be best to keep her in her room at least until next Friday and then maybe give it another go just to see how it works out.  I think a sticking point is that my dominant cat really, really doesn't want the kitten coming into her territory (kitchen and living room).  I foresee that being the main challenge going forward.  I'm planning right now to stay on the short introductions step for a while and then gradually give the kitten more run of the house to see how they do.  Maybe once she's more used to the kitten, the dominant cat won't be so ticked off about it, lol.

You're probably right about my cats being more used to animals.  They definitely are that.  In fact, for the first week or so they really didn't seem to care about the kitten that much.  Almost like they were assuming that I wasn't serious about this and I would soon get rid of it.  I guess in the week after that reality set in and they started to get mad about it.  Maybe they'll be over it in another week?  I guess we'll see.

My kitten is also very bored in her room and is starting to get into things.  I feel bad, but I stop in to play with her regularly.  It's hard to wear her out right now because she is recovering from surgery and isn't supposed to be too active.  If your cat likes it, the best tool I've found for wearing them out is the laser pointer.  Maybe if she gets tired enough she'll be less inclined to wreck her room.

I think the good thing about taking baby steps is that it allows you to find that line that pushes your resident kitties from okay to aggression.  Then you can stay just a step behind that threshold and get your kitties used to it.  A few weeks isn't that long, tbh.  I've heard of intros that took up to a year!  Hang in there!  They've made so much progress already.