Hi there,
First time poster here and glad I found this site, up until now I'ts been very useful in providing advice and guidance on all types of introduction issues.
However, something about the interactions between our new kitten and our resident cat is troubling myself and my partner.
Resident cat is a 2 year old female British Shorthair and the new kitten is a 10 week old female Birman. (Both indoor only cats)
We have followed all normal procedures with the introductions over the past week including - Seperate room, swapping scents, feeding them within a couple of meteres of each other etc.
Our resident cat (Mouse) is very intrigued by the new kitten but during the supervised introductions she seems to want to hunt and prey on the Kitten (Mittens). Earlier on today Mittens was sat a few feet from Mouse just cleaning herself and Mouse pounced on her from behind cover and swiped Mittens' side with her claws out. Mittens let out a cry and we put a stop to the interactions.
This was the first time we felt fear for the kittens safety as up to now it's been the usual hissing, paw raising, some growling etc.
The kitten is desperate to interact with Mouse and will slowly walk up to her. They do get within touching distance but then Mouse will go for an agressive swipe and let out a weird sounding meow.
We're afraid that any further interactions are going to result in injury as our BSH is just so much bigger than the small kitten. It's mainly the fact that intrigue has turned to hunting/preying on the kitten rather than the usual show of dominance.
Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks.
First time poster here and glad I found this site, up until now I'ts been very useful in providing advice and guidance on all types of introduction issues.
However, something about the interactions between our new kitten and our resident cat is troubling myself and my partner.
Resident cat is a 2 year old female British Shorthair and the new kitten is a 10 week old female Birman. (Both indoor only cats)
We have followed all normal procedures with the introductions over the past week including - Seperate room, swapping scents, feeding them within a couple of meteres of each other etc.
Our resident cat (Mouse) is very intrigued by the new kitten but during the supervised introductions she seems to want to hunt and prey on the Kitten (Mittens). Earlier on today Mittens was sat a few feet from Mouse just cleaning herself and Mouse pounced on her from behind cover and swiped Mittens' side with her claws out. Mittens let out a cry and we put a stop to the interactions.
This was the first time we felt fear for the kittens safety as up to now it's been the usual hissing, paw raising, some growling etc.
The kitten is desperate to interact with Mouse and will slowly walk up to her. They do get within touching distance but then Mouse will go for an agressive swipe and let out a weird sounding meow.
We're afraid that any further interactions are going to result in injury as our BSH is just so much bigger than the small kitten. It's mainly the fact that intrigue has turned to hunting/preying on the kitten rather than the usual show of dominance.
Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks.