new kitten

I have an older cat that has been here forever. I just brought in a kitten and it does not seem like they will get along. Any tips to help them get along

First of all allow me to welcome you to TCS. You will get a lot of great advice and input here. I have been reading another thread about problems integrating new and old cats, and I can tell you that do it slowly - allow space for each and don't force the issue. Other members who are much more knowledgable about this will help you more.

I know that there have been quite a few threads on introducing cats recently. If you want to search for these threads, use the Search button on the top of this page and type in your keywords that you want to search for. This will display all the threads that talk about what you're looking for. It's a great feature, and I use it all the time. I think you'll find a lot of helpful information that way.

Good luck!

how often should i put them infront of each other. the kitten is so small shhe is just discovering the world. I am afraid the older cat (8yrs)will think its a rodent of some sort. does rubbing thhe loder cat with the younger cats blanket work?

I merged the thread to keep them together. When you are posting replies, just use the same thread and hit the reply button.
How old is the new kitten, that would give me a better idea of which route for you to go.

the kitten is 9 weeks old

I think you should base it on how the older one is taking to the kitten. At 9 weeks, they aren't too fragile. If your older cat is not making any real aggressive moves, then I would let the kitten run around as long as you are near by. If your older cat is real aggressive with the kitten, you can rub a blanket on the kitten and then give it to the older cat to investigate. I would also take the kitten out of the room and let the older cat come in to explore. I would do this a few times a day for about a week or two until you see some signs of a truce. Usually older cats will let the kitten know whos boss a few times by hissing and then they generally decide the kitten is too young to take over the territory. Just make sure if you have a large house that there is an uncovered litter box accesable to the baby, they tend to get busy and don't have time to travel a ways to the box.

Just want to welcome you and wish you luck with your new baby.

We just went through this in the past 10 days. The folks here generally concurred on their opinion and, I must say, things have worked out well. We introduced an 8 week old female kitten (Sassy) to our 1 y.o. neutered male (Striker). He was unsure at first, then became outwardly aggressive toward the kitten. We separated as suggested and heavily supervised togetherness time. As my wife is a housewife/mother, the cats were able to have more association time, with her only intervening when it seemed Sassy was in danger of being hurt. We kept them separated overnight (to keep peace in the house).

It's been a little over a week and they get along very well. We've quit separating them since Striker seems to be assuming the role of "big brother/parent". They still chase each other and wrestle, but Striker now seems to know where to draw the line. Your results may vary, but the separation and supervised play time worked very well for us.

P.S. Soon I hope to have a few pics to show to all of you.

Bill

Hi all, I have a one year old female cat and am planning on getting a second kitty soon. My question is....should I get another female or a male? Tabatha is quite a small cat and she is also an indoor cat. We've decided to get another cat as she is left alone for about 7 hours a day and thought it would be nice if there were two so they can keep each other company. Any thoughts???

Either way, should be fine. Most of the fighting in multi cat households comes from having quite a few males. Either way you baby is going to be upset at first. I would use the suggestions that you read here on the site. I guess maybe get a male and then you have one of each.