Introducing 3 kittens

[mzkitty1971]

I have 4 resident cats, 1 kitten(female), 3 older cats (1 female, 2 males). I rescued mama and 3 babies which are in my back room. My BFF is going to take mama. What is best way to separate mama from babies is 1st question. 2nd, how do I introduce the 3 kittens onto my house? I thought of 1 at a time but worry the others will be nervous and lonely. Someone suggested I just open the door and let it be?? Not comfortable doing that at all.

 

[Ms. Freya]

Nope...open the door and let it be is probably not the best plan.

How old are the babies? If you can keep them with mom until around 12 weeks, it will actually be easier on all of them as they won't be reliant on her anymore and that's when they would have gone anyway. When we fostered Sybil and her babies, we re-homed them all at 12 weeks and she honestly didn't care. We picked up the kittens, crated them and left and she curled up and was asleep before we left the house.

As for introducing the kittens to your household, there are some great suggestions here: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-successfully-introduce-cats-the-ultimate-guide

By keeping the kittens together, they'll likely stay bonded and be able to keep each other busy during introductions, possibly making their transition easier on the older cats.

 

[mzkitty1971]

Well, the babies are about 5 months old now. Mama had total of 4 babies middle of October. She abandoned one, Squirt who I rescued when she was about 10 days old. She has been integrated with my older cats already. We trapped mama and the 3 remaining kittens in January when they were about 14 weeks old, I'm guessing and the 4 of them have been in my one back bedroom ever since. My girlfriend is taking mama into her home but she can't take her until May. This is why I need advice. I am keeping the remaining kittens and want to integrate them with 4 that are in rest of house. What are your thoughts on putting a screen door up on outside of 2nd bedroom door so they can all see and smell each other without physically interacting?

 

[talkingpeanut]

Are all the cats fixed? That will make introductions much easier.

After that, I think your screen idea is great! That way you can feed them on either side and your cats will start to associate each other with food and positive things.

 

[Ms. Freya]

The screen door is a great idea! Often people use large crates or baby gates, but if you can do a screen door, that would be much better.

 

[mzkitty1971]

I don't have a screen door. Was going to have husband make one but was thinking the baby gates would be easier to do? All of the cats are fixed except my resident kitten. As for feeding them. My resident cats have a routine and it may be hard to feed them all at one time so I was going to try with treats as the rescued cats & kittens love them as do my resident cats.

 

[Ms. Freya]

If you get a few baby gates you can stack them up the wall and make the equivalent of a screen door. 

I think treats will work well to start. Eventually everyone will be on a similar schedule, but treats should work for basic introductions.

 

[mzkitty1971]

Thanks for all the advice. Any suggestions on separating mama away from her babies? Like I've said, babies are about 5 months now and they're in the room with her but my girlfriend is taking mama at end of May, beginning of June. Worried about mama and babies not handling the separation well

 

[Ms. Freya]

At that age, they'll likely be fine, but you can start by taking mama into a room on her own for a bit of time, just to see how everyone reacts, then extend the time away as they all get comfortable with it.

when Sybil's kittens went to their forever homes at 3 months, she honestly didn't seem to notice at all.