New Cat/Old Cat: 2 weeks in

First off, let me introduce you to the cats.

First, our older cat, Lola, age 6 yrs, Maine Coon, female, spayed long ago, and declawed (we didn't do it). An outdoor cat that learned to adapt w/o having claws pretty much can do anything a normal cat could do, including climbing trees. This girl's capable of anything, and it still shocks us each time. We have a feeling a previous owner was abusive to her, as she is terrified of new people, and has eye twitch fits when she gets nervous. We've had her since she was 2, and before we got her, we were told she had several owners return her for several of her inital misc. behaviours probably due to either the declawing or the theorized abuse. We took on the challenge, and she's grown attached to us. ^_^

Second, our 3 month old kitten, Nobu. Domestic MH, male, neutered before we got him. This guy has all of the qualities a kitten should have. Very energetic, curious, playful. He is currently indoor, and we don't plan on letting him outside until he's at least 1. However, within the first few days of getting him, he had a fairly serious cold and we were concerned, so the following mistake may have been made here.

We originally started off how we should have in introductions. Kept Nobu in the bathroom, secluded from Lola, paid no more or less attention to either, etc. However, after a few vet visits and more concern regardless, Nobu's cold had us far too concerned (congestion was so high he couldn't breathe through his mouth, and this being our first kitten, with the bathroom door closed, we couldn't hear any noises he may have been making, so we were terrified over this), so after about 4 days, we let them meet. I'm assuming that this was probably a mistake, but nothing can be done about it now.

At this point, sick or no, opposite sex kitten was not liked by Lola. We expected as much and prepared for this. However, two weeks in, Lola's still just as agitated by Nobu as she was the first day, still striking out at him regardless of what he may be doing(Nobu on the other hand wants to play with her on occasion, and at that point, I can see he gets what he deserves there ^^; ). Just about every morning will be awakened to Lola taking out some rage towards him because he's on our bed, or something similar, screaming and smacking at him to chase him off, for example. Considering that we probably should have given it more time, I'm wondering if this is a bad sign, and if so, is there anything we should do to ease this along, since I'm assuming locking one off from the other now would be counter-productive. We didn't exactly follow the procedure we should have, so now it's pretty settled in, unless there's something after the fact that can be done. Any ideas? ^^;

It is sometimes possible to do the introductions again, and you may have to resort to that, as it doesn't sound like she is willing to just accept him and avoid him. If you are going to put him in the bathroom though, it does depend on how long you are willing to have a cat stay in your bathroom - I had to integrate a foster this week to accomodate some temporary lodgers, and only had a few days to do it and he tries to get back in 'his' room, so I am not a big fan of it. The other way to do it is to cage/crate the youngster so he wont bug her, and then have a set time where you will either put her outside or in a different room and give him some time. Some people say that method works quicker and better, I can't comment unfortunately.

Hi Cyntalan,
It is possible sometimes to do re-introductions. As already mentioned, crating is one way, but it is also possible to just isolate them keeping baby gates (2 stacked on top of each other). It is important that they smell each other and "know" the other one is there, but that they still have their separate space. If you can, take 2 towels and rub each cat with a towel, and leave the towel someone in the opposite cat's space - not in their space, but just somewhere that they can get used to it.

If you use the baby gates, you should gradually see them becoming more curious of each other over time. When you finally see them "nosing" at each other through the gates you will know that a "limited" introduction is ok. At the first introduction, only allow say 10 minutes, and then separate them again. You can then gradually increase their introduction time as their temperaments will allow.

Good luck to you with your furbabies!

Lora

I would not suggest you put these cats together until the cold goes away. A sick kitty smells funny to other cats,and that could be what is working here. Plus a cold is easily transferable to the other animals, so keeping them apart is wise.

If he is all healed up now, I would leave him out in population and use the vanilla extract trick to get him accepted. Buy a bottle of pure vanilla extract and put some on each cat several times a day. Under their chin, between their shoulders and the base of their tail. Just a small amount don't overdo it.

They will find their way with each other, they just have to figure it out. It could be you have to small a space for multiple cats, so I would really consider not bringing anymore cats into your home. Make levels for them to escape to. They feel so vulnerable on the floor- provide cat posts,cat homes, cat ramps, window perches

The kitten got over his cold a few days later, so that's all well and good. We do have several places where she can get but he can't yet, so she has a few places she hangs out most of her time inside. I did start the vanilla extract trick yesterday, so I'll see how that goes.