Introducing a New Kitten

I just picked up my new 8-week old male DSH, Rooney, and brought it home to live with a 1 1/2 year old female, Pucker. As I have never owned two cats before, I spent plenty of time researching the best way to introduce the two and have heeded the suggestions (e.g. created a safe area for Rooney in the bathroom with all the essentials, food bowls on opposite sides of the door, etc.).

The problem is I feel absolutely awful that Rooney is stuck behind a closed door. He came from a home that had children, another cat that never came out, a dog which made for plenty of activity. I have been visiting him throughout the day to make sure he knows I'm still here.

It just pains me to think I have to do this for at least a week!!! Any advice anyone can provide me to make this easier on Rooney - and, selfishly, me!

Thank you!

Kathy

I just went through this a few days ago when i adopted my 7 week old kitten Kinsey to come home with my 12 week old kitten Isis....welll the first 2 days didnt go well, Isis (older kitten) hissed and hid from Kinsey... i didnt seperate them i just let them sniff each other then let them have free run of the house. Now 3 days later they are best of friends chasing each other grooming each other everything! I like you couldnt keep Kinsey locked away from the rest of the house for a week or so...even with frequent visits from me...so i went against the advice and let them meet each other on their own.

Thank you for your advice. I'll see how things go tomorrow...I'll try giving them more time together. The hissing just scares me; Pucker has never been aggressive before...but I'll take it slow.

Thank you again!

My kitten and cat didn't get along at first, my kitten just wanted to befriend our cat but she wouldn't have anything to do with it and would hiss and bat at him, claws retracted though. Our cat at the time was living with my girlfriends parents however so we tried to introduce them time and time again with the same results. One day when we were trying to clip our kittens claws, he was howling like mad and our cat came to see what the problem was and started batting at us for hurting him. After we were done our cat goomed him and they were the best of friends. Every cat will deal with a new addition differently but most will finally come to enjoy their new friend, it just takes time and a multitude of approaches to find the one that works for your babies.

I tried the isolation thing too but after a day the new cat (Monty) busted out when I opened the door to see him, strutted right up to Bootsie and sniffed her. After a few seconds she decided to hiss at him. At this telling-off he walked away and started to check out her things: her food dish, her scratching post, her window perch, her litter box, and her viewing spot in front of the fish tank. The whole time Bootsie followed him growling. Then he approached me and she attacked him and there was chasing and rolling around on the floor.

At first I was worried about this but they weren't making any sounds, later I realized that this is what kitten wrestling looks like. I don't know if a week would have made things any better, but just enough time to get them used to each other's smells (do the blanket-swap and the room swap as well). I had my doubts about having two cats for a while but now they are happy and inseparable.