Kitten And Cat Introduction

[JunJun1]

I got my 1 year old dog from the shelter 3 months ago and adopted a 4 month old kitten a few days ago. My 5 year old cat was the only pet the entire time but has been exposed to dogs.

When I first got my dog and started the introduction my cat RARELY hissed at her. It was once or twice and they get along fine. My dog is dog and pushes boundaries but for the most part I can trust them to be out together without my supervision. She was fine with the new addition to the family.

I live in a apartment complex where many owners let their cats roam and cats chill on my balcony all the time and my cat CAN visually see them and she's never been distressed. At one point one cat was aggressive with swatting at the screen door and hissing and my cat didn't even care.

So surely my cat who doesn't mind a boundary pushing dog and others cat near by wouldn't be hissing at the new kitten? WRONG.

She's hissing and he's hissing whenever they see a glimpse of each other(Cracked door). I'm obviously going to make their introduction much much slower but can anyone who had a hissing/growling kitten and a hissing cat give me advice?

I don't expect them to be best friends but like my cat's relationship with my dog I'd want for them to be able to be left alone without me helicoptering their interactions.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Have you been feeding them on either side of a closed door? They don't need visual contact right now.

 

[JunJun1]

Have you been feeding them on either side of a closed door? They don't need visual contact right now.

I understand they don't need visual contact of each other and they dont get much of it besides a cracked door or unless they look under the door itself.

I'll try the feeding on the other side of the door and come back with the results.

 

[JunJun1]

Update: So after a few days my cat ended up warming up to the kitten a bit more and eventually stopped hissing at him and vice versa. I would test her patience every day with him by simply holding him in the room while she was there.

Eventually I was able to get close enough with holding him and petting her so I knew things would be alright as my cat is not violent in the slightest. I also used a baby gate to expose them to each other and they played footies with each other with my resident cat initiating it so I knew it was time for them to meet. The first introduction today went good. My resident cat hissed once to tell him to she's done with him chasing her and he did well.

I did feed them close to each other but resident cat was too distracted to really eat her food.

Eventually I knew she had enough when she hissed at him for chasing her multiple times so their second introduction is Sunday.

The only issue I have now is my kitten and my dog. My dog is not aggressive and my resident cat does fine with her. If she's had enough of the dog in her face she NEVER swats and just leaves. However, my kitten has been in the room with her, touched nose and all the goods but he gets PISSED when ever the dog is too close.

Is this a sign my kitten will NEVER prefer my dog or is there way to fix this behavior? Should make their introduction much slower?

Just reference: My kitten is fine with the dog in the same room as him or being semi-close but the kitten hates when the dog tries to play him.

 

[susanm9006]

The dog is much bigger than the kitten and she is afraid of him. It may take weeks before she begins to realize that he isn't going to hurt her. I would discourage the dog from playing with the kitten. If he is trained to "sit" or "leave it", I would use those commands on him.