Introducing a mother and kittens to my household.

christfawk

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First, if this is the wrong forum please let me know.

I'm fostering a mother cat and her two remaining kittens. They were born on August 24th, so they're too young for any introductions yet, but everyone is living in my bedroom and eventually will have to be able to roam free. Mom is very social with people despite being a stray. I have two cats myself, both nuetered males. One usually warms up to my foster animals within a few days and does wonderfully with kittens. My other male however is not nearly as sociable, but generally is just grumpy about kittens and yells at them from across the room. I also have a dog who is wonderful with cats.

I want to socialize these kittens as much as possible as they age so they can transition into their new homes as easily as possible. I have no idea how to go about introducing mom and kittens to everyone safely. I do have a baby gate available if I wanted to open the door but keep everyone out of contact with each other. These kittens will be with me at least a full 8 weeks before they are rehomed. Thank you in advance for any advice.
 

red top rescue

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Welcome to TCS!  This is a fine forum for your question.  There are quite a few articles about introducing cats to cats, cats to dogs, etc.  If you go to the blank Search space at the top of the page, just below the top brown bar, and type in "introducing cats to cats" you will pull up a list of threads discussing this and I'm sure you will find some helpful suggestions there.

My personal SHORT form would be to leave mama cat in the room with the kittens and start introducing the kittens to the other animals one at a time.  Carry the kitten, present his rear end to your resident cat and dog and let them smell him first, then if they are not upset, you can turn the kitten around, from a distance, to see the new animal.  The kitten will likely hiss if he's scared but if you calm him, he will get over it an take his cues from you.  Mama cat would most likely be very protective which is why you need to get the kittens comfortable with the other animals first.  After that i accomplished, you can put mama in a carrier and let her watch from there while the kittens happily interact with each other and whatever other animals are present.  Once she sees all is well, then you can handle her introductions.  Slowly is always the best way! 

As for your grumpy male, since these kittens are not permanent, it might be kindest for you to just give him his own private room while the kittens are out, with his food, water and a litter box.  I've seen this work very well in foster situations.  If the grumpy cat knows he has a safe place to be where the kittens will not go, he will be calm.  In my rescue home, the senior animals have the bedroom.  They can come out and mingle but mostly they retreat to the bedroom and I close the door when they are in and they sleep on the bed, in peace.

I do think it's a good idea to get the kittens socialized with cats, dogs, kids, whatever you can provide, as they will be a lot more adoptable as they will be calmer and more outgoing.  In my rescue experience, kittens and cats raised with other cats, dogs and kids are the calmest and most "bombproof" kittens there are, and they settle into their new homes with no problems at all.
 
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christfawk

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Thanks for all the advice! I will start slowly introducing the kittens to my cats in the way you reccomended, my grumpy guy may even bit a bit calmer seeing as they're just squirmy babies, my last foster were a group of 7 week old ferals, so they needed time to socialize with people much less the cats. I'll try to make a space for my cat, maybe even the kitchen since he spends most of the day in there anyway.

With mom, would you reccomend I wait until these kittens are actually mobile? There really won't be a lot of interaction going on beyond a sniff and some mews.
 

red top rescue

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Yes, I would definitely leave mom's introductions until later because when the kittens are this young, most mamas will attack almost every other animal in order to put the fear of the Cat Goddess into them so they won't get near her babies.  As they get bigger and are playing with the other animals and nothing seems to be going wrong, she will be calmer.  Again, though, I would start with her being confined and watching the others because she will probably worry for awhile.
 
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christfawk

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Okay, awesome. :) I already tried a butt sniff with Dubs, my grumpy guy, and he was not happy, though I do think kittens he's all talk and no action, but I think I'm just going to build him a fortress of solitude in the kitchen. It's unfortunate because he's a lovely cat with other people, but seems to only accept his brother and my dog as a suitable friend so far as other animals go.
 

donutte

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Congrats on the additions to the family! I brought in two little guys about... 10 weeks ago now? Time flies so fast. They were both 8 weeks old. I already had a 16-year-old boy and two 13-year-old girls (all fixed). Lucky (the oldest) seems to tolerate them a bit better now that they aren't quite so crazy. Luck's pretty possessive of me so he doesn't like them interrupting on his time. Otherwise, I occasionally catch him being all lovey-dovey with them. I really love those moments.

I think my little old man has finally forgiven me though. Not sure he's forgiven me about bringing the dog home (the day before the kittens), but at least he's forgiven me about the kittens.
 
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