new kitten in the house

i just got a new kitten off a friend and is about 8 weeks old, and i have another kitten that i bought 2 months ago, and is now 4 months old.. i just brought the new kitten (ahh choo) in the house but the old kitten (simba) keeps hissing at it, so i decided to seperate them.. so now ahh choo stays in my room and simba just walks around the house..

but for some reason simba does not seem like he wants to walk around anymore, but he just sits at the door and sticks his hand under the door to get ahh choo's attention... well.. then they just start to jump on each other's hands.. what am i supposed to do?? i feel like they're just gonna fight if i let them see each other...

What you are describing is perfectly normal behavior!

Please click here to read about how to best introduce a new cat to a resident cat.

Good luck!

ok... i have read the article... they both stand right at the door
whenever i go outside, they both jump onto each other and start biting and fighting... but neither of them yell... its like they want to literally kill each other

but simba just hugs ah choo and starts to bite her neck and stratch her... while i ran in and grabbed simba.. he started going psycho and cut my finger open...

simba is being very violent and whenever i push him off he always comes back for more... it is getting very irritating

There are safer ways to separate fighting cats. But am not sure if what you are describing is actually a fight. Besides hissing, is there growling, yowling, fur standing on end, ears back, teeth bared, claws out from BOTH? It may just be aggressive play.
Anyway, if it is a catfight, you should try throwing a towel over them, or put a chair between them. The cats will separate and the losing one will run away and hide. The aggressor may chase after it and this is the time when you can grab him/her for some time out.
Oh, and by the way, ask the vet when they can be fixed.

maybe they are just play fighting i dunno.. coz i've never seen a cat fight before

Basically cat play is just chasing, some hissing, nipping and swatting.
Cat fights are more serious, violent and cats get hurt if they are not separated.

As long as their not causing each other to bleed along with what Yayi's said i wouldn't worry. And my two do the paw thing under the door as well even now and it's cute

Do they look like my two in this picture because their having one of the many daily fun fights

ummm... i just let them see each other...
and the fight started... and one of them yelled out really loud... so i seperated them... it was pretty frightning...

now simba is just stating at the door yelling for ah choo... its freaking me out how they fight...
is it really safe that they fight as long as theres no blood... coz the way they do it is pretty freaky and simba is like 3 times the size of ah choo... =(
i want them to be best friends.....

ah choo looks like she has no chance if they fight...
btw, how can i tell if the cat is a male or female?

From what it sounds like, you haven't given them enough time yet to get to know each others scent. If you just brought the kitten home this week, then (correct me if I'm wrong fellow members), you need to keep them seperated for some time and go through the whole ritual of swapping scents, etc over a period of time. It's a fairly lengthy process and you need to have patience.
Try taking items from both rooms where the cats are that they have slept on or rolled on excessively and swap them. (i.e. - give each cat the thing with the others scent on it) and let them get use to the smell. Also swapping actual rooms they are in is great as well because the whole room is covered with their scents. This helps get them use to the smell of the other which is probably what's setting off these little battles.
Over time (a few weeks or so) you should be able to let them start seeing each other and watching each other. If the out breaks or stress continues try feliway (sp?) to help relax the household.

Originally Posted by lisasha3

From what it sounds like, you haven't given them enough time yet to get to know each others scent. If you just brought the kitten home this week, then (correct me if I'm wrong fellow members), you need to keep them seperated for some time and go through the whole ritual of swapping scents, etc over a period of time. It's a fairly lengthy process and you need to have patience.
Try taking items from both rooms where the cats are that they have slept on or rolled on excessively and swap them. (i.e. - give each cat the thing with the others scent on it) and let them get use to the smell. Also swapping actual rooms they are in is great as well because the whole room is covered with their scents. This helps get them use to the smell of the other which is probably what's setting off these little battles.

Click to expand...

I used to exchange their blankets everyday so they got used to each others scent.

I was lucky, it only took my two 2 weeks before they became friends, but if you have patience and try and not get stressed about it because cats can pick up easily on this

Normally the male has those little fluffy pouches between their hind legs

Originally Posted by rosiemac

Normally the male has those little fluffy pouches between their hind legs

Click to expand...

Typical male....

We kept Bijou and Mika separated for one full month. After the first week we allowed supervised visits but if things got rough we separated them again. They are now best buddies. Sometimes they play rough and I worry about Mika as she is 1/2 the size of Bijou but often she is the aggressor. They run and chase each other and the next minute they are curled up together, grooming each other and then fall to sleep together. It's a beautiful sight.

Just take your time introducing them and be patient.

Don't forget to have the new kitty checked out by the vet before you introduce them just to get a clean bill of health for the new kitty and to introduce your kitty to the vet.

Having recently introduced a new kitty to our resident cat, I can totally understand your stress and anxiety. The most important thing to remember is to take it nice and SLOW. Once the resident cat gets used to the new kitty being in your room, the resident cat will give up laying in front of the door. If he doesn't that's okay, but follow the advise in Hissy's article. It really does work. Also, your resident cat is probably picking up on your anxiety and that could be making him a bit more anxious.

We introduced our new cat about the beginning of January and they are just now starting to really settle in and be totally comfortable with each other. We still have hissy fits several times a day and they are not grooming each other and sharing sleeping space, but we've got the dominance issue mostly taken care of and we are on the road to peace.

Stephanie

thanks for all the advices... i'll try to keep them apart at the mean time...
just today, when i went into the toilet.. thats were ah choo is kept atm.. coz simba seems like he misses my room
when i went into the toilet simba just jumped over me and jumped right at ah choo...
and he seems to be getting pretty voilent these days...
should i take him to the vet and have him checked up?

should i even let them see each other at all, coz sometimes when i open the door they see each other and then run at each other for a fight

Simba is making sure that Aachoo knows who's boss, who's house it is and how to behave around him. Once Aachoo gets it (or Simba stops bothering - just as likely) they'll be fine. When Aachoo is older, he'll try to become 'king' and it'll start all over (could be years though), but it's the way cats are and I wouldn't worry too much. Also, I never did the separating/scent exchanging thing with any of ours (lots) except for our latest really small kitten, and they hiss and fight and all that for 10 days and then it's overwith.

I recently visited a breeder that showed me a cat that was tossed into the mix and the resident cats beat the crap out of it. It went on till the purchaser had to bring the cat back because it was in danger. She added that the poeple wanted the cat back to try again. Her position was that the cat would not go back because the introduction ritual was discussed and not followed. She said that the cat would never be the same. This really opened my eyes and I can remember some of the incidents where we brought home new cats only to let them sort it out themselves. I guess we were lucky. When our new Beau comes home were going to pay particular attention to this. I looked around the web for articles on this and have found some good info. We are going to use the proped door method. We have an isolation room that the cats don't have access to all the time (storage) that we think will work well. .

What you are describing is the way Rocket and Mica play together. When I first got Mica she hissed and bit Rockets neck and he did the same, I think of you examine them you will see that neither has any marks on them. They ar just trying to figure out who will be the dominant cat of the household. Esp if they are both kittens they will be best friends soon, Rocket and Mica still play fight but they lick each other afterwards and fall asleep cuddled together.

yeah, neither have marks on them, but ah choo looks very scared and keeps screaming, simba doesnt even make a sound!!
when i try to seperate them, they were just biting on each other!! even when i try and distract them with the cat candy... they didnt even care!! and simba usually goes nuts about it

I would keep them seperate completely. It's too early for them to be together and it sounds like it's stressing them. You really need to push the "scent" factor on both of them. Bring things into their spaces with the others scent and continue to do this. Eventually as I said, swap them in their spaces, but don't let them see each other. Once they are use to the scent and seem calm, no hissing, comfortable around the smells, then you can let them see each other through a very small space in the door. As most have said here - it takes a long time. Unfortunately because cats are so territorial, you can't just bring a new comer in and plop them together. It's grounds for some serious fights in most cases unless you get really lucky.
It takes me from 2wks minimum to over a month sometimes to get mine use to one another. I"m still having a problem with my new one. No more fights, but she's afraid to come out of hiding so I'm still being very careful and I still seperate her when she seems stressed.
Just be very very patient.
And rule of thumb - don't ever try to seperate a cat fight with your bare hands! They are so stressed that they will attack anything. Speaking from past experience - a stray I brought in who was pregnant and we didn't know. I tried to seperate one fight and got bit so hard my hand blew up like a balloon. It was very painful and I had to go to the hospital, antibiotics, etc. I still have the scars. If a fight ensues in the future that worries you try making a loud noise (clap, or hand on the counter), or if you can before they tumble - drop a towel between them. I've found that sometimes I can easily wrap one up in this towel safely and get them apart.