Behavior issue with 4yr old and new kitten

hey everyone,
i am new here =-D. welp about 20 min ago i had an issue with my cat. here is a little run down. We just got a 10 week old tabby and we are trying to introduce her to my 4 yr old black cat named "Rocky". everytime he looks at my wife or myself he will hiss at us. We were trying to get "Rocky" to open up and welcome the new cat "Precious" , Rocky began to growl at us and hiss, so i went over and picked him up to try and calm him down a bit. But i have never seen him flip out on me like this before , kicking and scraching his way out of my arms. We are now both worried about him and the new kittens future. on a side note, we found rocky at 2 weeks old , almost dead. Both of us felt compeled to nurse the critter back to a heathy status, we have done this but his deminer has always been the same, he basically does not want to be bothered with other than the early hours of the morning when its feeding time. what can we do for the future, i dont know if we should medicate him if he is depressed or what can be done with out that. I have been a dog and rabbit owner since a young boy ( old english , basset hound) so my cat knowledge is very limited.
anything experience would be great
thanks again

mike

For best results, you need to separate the two cats for a period of time. That amount of time will vary depending on your cats. For instance, with Bijou and Mika they were separated for 1 month but allowed short supervised visits in the evenings when we could watch them. They need to get used to each other's smell and they will still have to sort out "alpha" status as they start being together.

You can also buy Feliway to help calm them both. Another trick I've read here is to put a touch of vanilla at the base of their tails and on their heads so they both smell the same and perhaps interchange their bedding occasionally to get them used to each other's smell.

It's rare that you can introduce a new cat into a household by simply placing them there with the resident cat without this separation period.

Hissy, our guru here, has amazing knowlege and advice and I'm sure she'll be around with some of that good advice fairly soon.

Good luck with your new addition and hopefully a wonderful friend and playmate for your resident kitty.

Don't despair! If Rocky's had you all to himself all this time, it's bound to take him awhile to adjust. He's angry at you for letting this interloper into "his" home! :-)

How are you going about introducing the two? If you haven't been following the generally-accepted method of gradual introduction (there's an excellent article about it here on the site), you may need to separate them and start over. It really does make a huge difference to do it by the book...

thanks for your help !

=D

hows the introductions going?

Also, your cat may be growling and hissing at you because the other cat's scent is on you. Picking him up won't calm him down when he behaves like this, it'll just make him fight to get out of your arms. Try changing clothes so you smell like you again. Be patient. He's been an only at for four years, so it may be a while before he adjusts.