My Old Cat Is Terrified Of My New Kitten!

[sweetkitten96]

Guys, I need some advice.

My 3 year old male maine coon (Mike) is my resident cat and he is a gentle giant. He is the same size as a medium sized dog and gets along well with any human or animal.. almost

We recently adopted a tiny 3month old Siamese kitten (Snowball) no more than the size both palms. We did the things we learned online when introducing cats e.g. separate places for the cats separate food bowls, water, toys, lotteries and feeding beside each other through closed doors. We tried swapping rooms to make sure the cats learned the smells of each cat.

However when they met cat to cat for the first time, Snowball IMMEDIATELY arched his back, growled and attempted to attack Mike whilst simultaneously pooing and leaving Sh!t everywhere.

We tried this again a few more times, but little Snowball was always aggressive and ready to attack Mike. Mike was never aggressive nor displayed any anger warning signs to the kitten.

Mike is now terrified of the little kitten and hides under the bed and table, something he NEVER does unless it's shower time.

I really want the both of them to get along but the new kitten Snowball hates Mike to a T. I am considering returning the kitten because poor Mike is terrified of it.

Any advice on how to make the cats trust each other? Is there any way we could show the kitten that Mike is just the cat equivalent to a great Dane Or should I give the kitten away to a loving one cat only household?

 

[ArtNJ]

It is normal for kittens to be scared on introduction to an adult cat, or to want to play by jumping on the big cat, and its also normal for the bigger cat to be scared (odd but true) but what you have is a bit different and I think very rare, in that scared kittens don't usually get hostile with a bigger cat. Scared + hostile kitten is not a combination I've personally seen or one we normally hear about. I'm a little bit uncertain as a result, but my recommendations, based on learning from the more usual situations, are:

(1) try calming products, feliway spray and perhaps a calming collar for the kitten;

(2) can you try separating them by baby gate for a while? Some have described success with this in difficult introductions, since it allows them to see each other as well as smell; and

(3) at some point, you may have to see if they can work through this, and increase their exposure to each other. Many times cats can work through a growling, hissing & swatting phase on their own. I would, however, only do this while you can monitor the situation to prevent any actual fighting, which cats don't tend to solve on their own.

In short, there are definitely still things you can try that may work. All of that said, you can certainly check in with the shelter to ask about their policy on taking kittens back. While I think its still possible these guys will end up friends or at least tolerate each other, its also not impossible you'll ultimately conclude he would do better as an only cat -- your little guy is clearly a bit unusual so who knows? I personally wouldn't be at that point, but would still like to know the policy just to keep it in mind.

 

[misterwhiskers]

Can you distract them with a common, fun toy?

 

[jclark]

Your Main Coon wants the kitten to stay away out of fear that the kitten's mother will ambush him. He hasn't clued into the fact that "mom" isn't around. You cold try some calming spray/diffusers.