Introduction gone wrong or right??

[yoyleflavored]

I know the title is a bit vague so i will give more clarity here. Recently i’ve adopted a 5 month old kitten as a playmate for my 2 year old resident cat. When the kitten was brought home It was during the night so I let heer sleep and stay in my room so my reaident cat wouldn’t get scared and try to attack her. All I could think about was how I could pull off the introduction phase when I had school and the only person who would be in the house has no interest in the smell and site swapping since that was my responsibility and the only thing he would do is going in occasionally to check in on the kitten. The kitten was also restless and was not scared at all, she just wanted to explore the home. It was terrible leaving her in there for the day. To my surprise I got the day off and was told to introduce them quickly. Obviously I didn’t throw them out together but I tried to get my resident cat to go towards the door where the kitten was behind and smell the kittens belongings (blanket and toys)
My resident did not seem to care and just tried her best to ignore the problem, like running away when she heard a meow or paw at the door. I decided to give it a few more hours and gave my resident cat even more attention than usual to let her know she wasnt getting replaced. A few hours had gone by and my mom had told me I needed to speed it up because I can’t keep on running around the house to grab the kitten and put her back in the room. So I brought the kitten out while holding her so they could meet face to face. I know, basically on the same day the kitten came home I had them in the same room together. My resident cat came up to me while I was holding the kitty and then hissed and went into hiding. I wasn’t surprised. There were about three people in the room i brought the kitten in (really big room) so we decided to put her on the ground to explore since the resident cat was hiding high up. I decided to do this every day after school and in the mornings while I get ready since resident cat wasnt attacking at all just hiding.
Yesterday was when I noticed they started getting way closer than before. My resident cat and kitten were sitting on the same chair!!! Only for a few seconds but there was not hissing or swatting at all. They also slept near each other with their bellies out. I can attach A few pictures of them together, but what I wanna know is if I’m doing this wrong and if I traumatized my cat in anyway.

most recent pictures at the top and older at the bottom :3

 

[yoyleflavored]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention my resident cat bopped the kitten on the head once because she was trying to eat out of her bowl lol

 

[susanm9006]

Introduction gone right. Two year old cats are usually pretty open to a new kitten and you have in no way traumatized them. If they are sleeping near one another and sitting in the same chair then I would consider them fully introduced and wouldn’t make any effort to separate them. Occasional hissing or bopping is normal as each learns the others boundaries. I expect you will soon see chasing, wrestling and probably yelling. This is what playmates do and as loud as it may get it is still just them having fun.

 

[ArtNJ]

Yeah, your totally done, and can let them be. Sometimes its just that easy with a kitten and young adult. It is often harder when your current cat is older.

Definitely check back here and read our introduction guide if you do this again when the two year old is a few years older. There is no guarranty it will be this easy again, even with the same cats, and doing a more fullsome introduction process would be a good idea.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! How are things? Still good?

 

[yoyleflavored]

Hi! How are things? Still good?

Omigosh sorry for not answering. I just came back because I had another question. But everything is going ok (I think??) A few days ago i believe they were playing but i had no idea. They were chasing each other and trying to bop each other but there was no hissing or growling. I had no idea what led up to the moment either. Also today the baby kitty tried pouncing on my older cats tail but to no surprise the older cat didn't really like that. So she kept hitting the baby on the head multiple times, then she tried acting all buddy buddy right after by sniffing the baby, but then the baby hit her back. Again, no hissing or growling or claws. The baby also did this in the morning while she was on the cat tree and the older cat was below, older kitty tried touching noses with her like they usually do but the baby just hit her again. They constantly follow each other and have no problem with being on the same chair or bed now but I feel like the baby is still being and or is growing more weary of the older cat

 

[Furballsmom]

All this sounds really normal

 

[susanm9006]

They are just learning how to play together and figuring out their relationship. All good and all normal even if there are slaps and hisses.