Aggressive Kitten

[serenity]

I know there has been quite a lot of threads on introducting a new cat to the current resident cat(s) but, my situation is a little bit different and I haven't found anything similar discussed on the forum, but, if so please link the thread for me.

We got a 12-week old kitten on Saturday. Our current cat, a spayed female is 16-months old and has a very mild and docile personality.

The new kitty is a female and she has been spayed also, at least that is what I was told. I do have the kitties separated. There is a little space under the door that I have kept blocked most of the time but, occasionally I have unblocked it so that the kitties can start smelling each other. They have! The kitten (Angelique) has hissed and growled at the regular cat from under the door! The old cat (Claire) hasn't growled or hissed at all! She tries to peek into the room to see the kitten and she has and she seems like she just wants to meet the new pet.

This morning they were playing "pawsies" under the door. The reactions went as follows: Angelique (the kitten) would hit Claires paw. Claire would just try to sniff Angelique's paw.

I am so surprised the kitten seems to feel as if the cat that was already there is the intruder!

Any advice/comments?

Thanks!

 

[yosemite]

Only advice is to take it slowly and patiently. We separated Bijou and Mika for a full month but with supervised outings in the evenings and on weekends after the first week. If they got rough or nasty they were immediately separated again. With some cats it may take longer than others.

 

[hissy]

This is common behavior. The kitten is unsure of herself and is sending out "watch out for me" signals. Chances are good your new kitty has stronger alpha tendencies than your resident cat.

 

[serenity]

Originally Posted by hissy

This is common behavior. The kitten is unsure of herself and is sending out "watch out for me" signals. Chances are good your new kitty has stronger alpha tendencies than your resident cat.

Hissy,

Should I be concerned about this? My "Cat Lady" neighbor said the same thing when she came to see the kitten.

Do you think the two cats will become buddies?

 

[serenity]

Originally Posted by Yosemite

Only advice is to take it slowly and patiently. We separated Bijou and Mika for a full month but with supervised outings in the evenings and on weekends after the first week. If they got rough or nasty they were immediately separated again. With some cats it may take longer than others.

Great ideas! Thank you.

 

[sar]

Originally Posted by Serenity

Should I be concerned about this? My "Cat Lady" neighbor said the same thing when she came to see the kitten.

Do you think the two cats will become buddies?

I wouldn't guarantee that they will become buddies, but they will learn to tolerate eachother!

I am still in the process of adding a new kitten to the equation (Willow arrived in October) and Molly and Willow are still working things out. It just takes a lot of time and patience with some cats!

Good luck with it and do let us know how it's going!

 

[pombina]

We had this happen too, Nismo our baby came in and took over everything and was more agressive than Sleeves. Unfortunately it wasnt easy for me to keep them separated because of where we live but despite this, we now have 2 cats who adore each other. We only introduced Nismo in December so everything is still new but I am AMAZED at how well they get on.
You have to watch them constantly to begin with because there WILL be fights but, sometimes I was frightened by these but they soon calm down. Good luck with it.

 

[serenity]

Well they met! It wasn't even the way I thought it would be. It was unexpected how they met. They had been smelling each other through the door, playing pawsies, and seeing a view of each other briefly.

This morning I went to feed the older cat (Claire) and then when I went into the room to feed the kitten (Angelique), soon as I opened the door she dashed out and ran by the kitchen where Claire was eating. Claire stopped eating and stared at Angelique who stared back. I lured Angeliqe back to her room with her food. Claire followed us to check out stuff. Angelique began eating but, Claire kept trying to check out Angeliques's food and then she went to check out Angelique's litter box. Since she kept disturbing Angelique while she was trying to eat, I had Claire go back out. After Angelique finished eating. We opened the door and watched them check each other out while we supervised with a water bottle on hand if needed.

Claire actually was trying to defend her home against the kitten. She watched her like a hawk and tried to bat her away when the kitten tried to rub against her. No hissing by either cat. Claire did try to hit Angelique a few times but, for the most part she seemed to be entertained by her.

Before we left for the day we put the kitten back in her room. We won't leave them out together unsupervised for awhile.