Crazy Cat Conundrum

Hi,

I have a 4.5 month old male kitten named Arnie, who got rather lonely whilst my partner and I were at work, so we decided to foster another kitten so he could have a friend and they could have a home other than a cage at the cat haven.

Except the cat haven told us that we needed to take two kittens as we couldn't take just one, and they didn't want to send us home with a cat lest they fight.
And so came about Lily (4 mths) and Jasmine (3 mths).

But they haven't settled in as well as I had hoped, especially not Jasmine.
Lily and Arnie seem to get along okay, except Arnie keeps smacking her. Constantly. I'm not sure why this is happening or how to stop it, but I feel horribl for poor little Lily who just sits there and gets beaten up. I do pick Arnie up and take him away when he starts on her, but it doesn't stop him doing it later.
Any advice would be great!


Also, Jasmine has refused to do anything other than sit under my fridge. We've had them for a fortnight now and she leaves the fridge once a day, late at night to eat. She can't handle humans near her and she doesn't even particularly like Arnie around her. I'd love to help her to be more social but she's so so timid. Please help on that too! Thanks in advance

Congratulations on fostering. Did you do any sort of introduction for them?

Whoa, that's crazy that they made you take two kittens instead of just one. Now you have to work to associate them both instead. I'm sorry about your situation.

That's what I thought! I was a bit concerned about them from the beginning when they were essentially trying to talk me into taking a kitten with FIV, then when I refused because I don't want Arnie exposed to that they suggested Calicivirus, then ringworm, until I pretty much told them that unless I get a kitten that won't pose any health risks to my own kitten, they can keep their kittens.

Yes I did, I had the girls in a sanctuary room for 4 days, then took a blanket from arnie's bed and a blanket from theirs and let the others sniff it. Then I opened the door slightly whilst I was there so they could all get a look at each other. Arnie and Lily walked up to the door and after a few initial hisses, started bopping each other through the crack in the door, until they ended up chirping at each other.
After about 3 days of doing this twice a day, I took Arnie into my room and opened the door to the sanctuary room, and Lily slowly and cautiously wandered out and explored, but Jasmine ran straight out and under the fridge.

I probably should have waited a bit longer to let them into the rest of the house, but I live in Western Australia and we're currently having a week of 42• C (107• F) days and there's not really any air conditioning in the sanctuary room, so I wanted them out of there and into the cool lounge room before the heat made them sick.

Yikes. Yeah, If it's your summer down there, the shelter might be trying to dump kittens asap. I hope the kitten with FIV gets homed. I guess just backtrack and keep it slow until you see results. Hopefully someone else can come in here and give you some helpful tips. The scent exchange is always helpful, but I'm thinking they don't need visual contact yet.