# Can you help? Introducing young kitten to older kitten



## lisab3410 (Oct 2, 2009)

Hi there

We have a four month old male tabby called Gizmo. The vet suggested we got another kitten to keep him company. This evening we've brought home a rescued 8 week old girl and Gizmo is not best impressed!

They have been in seperate rooms all evening and have been giving Gizmo lots of attention, but when we let him in the room where she was (she was enclosed in the cat carrier) he hissed and made a wierd growling noise.

I'm wondering if it was such a good idea now. She is quite relaxed and he is okay with us, but does not like the new arrival into his home.

Is there any help or advice you can give?

Thanks you sooo much in advance.

Lisa


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## PureMuttz (Jul 3, 2009)

I've never seen two cats (or even most kittens) get along right away with new friends.

What you are experiencing is nothing uncommon, and shouldn't make you re-evaluate your decision to bring home a 2nd kitten.

I truly think cats are happier with a companion.

Others will chime in with introduction help to make things go smoothly.


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## lisab3410 (Oct 2, 2009)

Thank you that is reassuring, we're just not sure how to approach getting them to be friends.

Gizmo had the run of our house last night and slept on our bed as he always does. New little kitty was shut in her safe room and i felt so bad leaving her all night. She was so pleased to see us this morning.

Can I try letting them both roam free in the house, or am I asking for disaster?


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## prairienights (Sep 10, 2009)

I'll be watching this thread. I'm planning on bringing a young kitten home to keep my 4-month old company. Same situation as you're in.

I've never introduced cats before, but this is my current game plan. It's of course subject to change based on the behavior of my cat and the new kitten when I get one.

I'll keep the new kitten in the bathroom for the first couple days with a litter box, dish, scratch post, bed, and toys. This accomplishes a few things. 1) I can make sure s/he is using the litter box, s/he'll get familiar with the scratching post, and s/he'll be in a small confined area so we can make friends without worrying about her finding a hidey place and not coming out. While the kitten is in the bathroom, I'll make several switches. Put my current cat in the bathroom and bring the kitten out to play. Basically I'll just be rotating rooms so they can get used to another cat's presence without meeting face to face. I've also heard that rubbing a towel on each of the cats so they smell each other and switching beds so they sleep in the other's bed. After a couple days, based on their reactions, I'll let them meet face to face. I'm planning on distracting them with my cat's favorite toy or treats or something. So they can't focus all their energy on "Ah! A stranger!" After awhile, the meetings will get longer and longer until I feel comfortable that they can be left together unsupervised.


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## lisab3410 (Oct 2, 2009)

Hey thanks for that. We have introduced them to each other and older kitten is hissing and swiping. Not sure if we should just let them get on with it this way whilst supervised or if we should seperate them as soon as the hissing and swiping starts. Any ideas?


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Copy/Paste from your "Hissy Fit" thread:

Welcome to CatForum.
If you want to make this cat introduction work, you need to create opportunities for success by limiting any negative experiences. You want them to associate *good things* when they are near each other. Use toys you control (_no head-on collisions_), treats (_tasty food treats_) and loving attention (_petting/scrubbling both kitties_). If you allow too many situations where the older kitten frightens the younger one, it could create a permanant fear and/or attitude of distrust or even dislike. 
Overall, it seems like the initial intro went fairly well, since there was no complete physical attack. Kittens are the easiest to intro together, usually because their instinct to play-play-play takes over and they enjoy their kitty games. 
Playing with the glass door between them is good. I like to hold the seperating door open a crack so they can express interest and nose-sniff. When they no longer hiss at each other's nose-sniffs, I open the crack a little further and allow some 'footsie' and a little more eye-to-eye contact. When that doesn't provoke hissing, then you can use your judgement to allow full access at that moment while you supervise AND distract them with some *good things* so the situation isn't completely focused on them meeting fully.
Good luck!
heidi =^..^=


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