My Resident Cat Hates My New Kitten

[lunatoken]

I have had Luna, my resident cat, for 3 years. she is very attached to me and is always near me but not necessarily snuggley. I work 12 hour shifts and she seemed lonely and was always hyper when I got home so I decided to get a kitten to help keep her company (and being a cat lady I wanted another anyways). I have the new kitten locked up in the bathroom with all the necessities. Luna has full reign of the apartment and is acting normal. I have fed the two of them on opposite sides of the door with no problems. However, when I pet the new kitten and then let Luna smell my hand she gets hissy and growls which is uncharacteristic. she then returns to her normal self. i’m afraid if I let Luna see the new kitten she will freak out. Being near the door of the bathroom doesn’t phase her but smelling the kittens scent on me sets her off. Luna has only been in a household with my parents cat who was aggressive towards her so who knows how she will behave. What is the next step after feeding on opposite sides of the door?

 

[mike758]

One thing I’ve learned from personal experience is never have two cats unless you introduce them to each other while young. Cats are highly territorial, and once you bring in a new cat it’s invading the other cats territory, and the younger cat usually has more energy thus taking over. Our two cats are 16 and 10 years old. We got the 10 year old cat as a kitten, and the 16 year old cat never liked the younger one. She always growls whenever the younger cat walks into the same room. Other issues were the younger cat took over the litter box and always chases her out, so now we need multiple boxes in the house. We also have to feed them separately or the younger cat will eat both plates

 

[Ardina]

Hi lunatoken! First of all, welcome to TCS! I'm going to link to this article which helpfully lays out how to do introductions: How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide. It's important to keep doing the scent desensitization until Luna is no longer hissing or reacting to the kitten's scent. Then you can move on to visual desensitization.