Advice for introducing new cat won't work for me

[ontarah]

So I just got two cats.  I got them about 1 week apart.  The first is 3 months old and I got him from a breeder.  The other is 8 weeks old and I basically just got her from a woman who had kittens and wanted to get rid of them. 

So the first cat had already settled in and adjusted nicely over the course of the first week and I am taking advice I have read and that the breeder told me on how to introduce two cats, which is to give the new cat it's own room and feed them on opposite sides of a door for a few days as they slowly get used to each other.

I have tried this and it is *utterly* failing for the simple reason that these are both basically kittens and they completely lose their mind if they are confined to a room for more than a few minutes.  Whichever one is in the room will just wail and wail for *hours* if I don't let them out.

They also fight and hiss at each other when I've tried to just fast track things, but the slow approach is also failing utterly becaues now each cat just associates the other withe the stress of being locked in a room!

Advice from anyone?  How can I introduce kittens who hate being locked in a room?  

 

[ontarah]

Okay, some followup.  At my wits end, I tried something I wouldn't normally do.  I put the new, smaller kitten in a crate and just brought her out to the living room so the other cat could see her.  She stopped wailing to be let out and after some initial hissing/spitting through the walls, they have both since mellowed out.

They seem to have anxiety when left completely alone, but having the new kitten confined to the crate lets the old cat know she isn't just willy nilly taking over everything.  It also reassures the new kitten who is smaller because the big cat can't physically get at her.  Old cat is now trilling a lot which I think is a good sign.

I think I will swap them out inside the crate for a bit where they both see me and each other.  Seems to be working so far.  

 

[talkingpeanut]

I think you came up with a great solution! Make sure to feed them while one is in the crate and the other is right outside so they associate one another with yummy things.