Advice needed regarding new kitten and resident cat
Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2021 10:28 am
I rescued my resident cat 2 years. He is now 2 and a half years old. He is an indoor cat, is well behaved and quite social-able with humans. When we first adopted him he lived with my brother in law for a year who had another cat who was an older female. This experience was not great as they were not introduced properly and therefore never got on well.
We decided to adopt a 15 week year old male around 3 weeks ago. We kept him in our office for around 2 weeks where my partner worked from home. We would feed him and our resident cat at the door so they could smell each other. We would crack the door so they could see each other, feed treats and play with them. There was no hissing or growling. A couple of bats but nothing more. We then swapped toys and blankets which was fine. Eventually we let our kitten roam around then house as he would cry at the door. We would site swap as well and let our resident cat into the office for a few hours. There seemed to be no issues so we then let them meet face to face in the living room with lots of treats, food and toys. They had their own scratching posts, litter, bowls etc. We did this for a few hours each night and things were ok. They were a bit apprehensive however started to play with each other. It was quite rough playing and we were concerned as we have never owned two cats. We tried to do research but felt overwhelmed.
Now our resident cat has been showing some aggression towards the kitten. He seems to be a bit distant. For instance he has hissed at the kittens litter a few times. If the kitten is purring and rubbing up against him he usually bats him and tries to bite. Today I was petting both of them on my lap and everything seemed to be going well then my resident cat turned around and hissed a couple of times then ran to his scratching post.
We feel like we have messed up this process and maybe rushed things. We understand it can take months for cats to settle with each other. Looking for some advice.
We decided to adopt a 15 week year old male around 3 weeks ago. We kept him in our office for around 2 weeks where my partner worked from home. We would feed him and our resident cat at the door so they could smell each other. We would crack the door so they could see each other, feed treats and play with them. There was no hissing or growling. A couple of bats but nothing more. We then swapped toys and blankets which was fine. Eventually we let our kitten roam around then house as he would cry at the door. We would site swap as well and let our resident cat into the office for a few hours. There seemed to be no issues so we then let them meet face to face in the living room with lots of treats, food and toys. They had their own scratching posts, litter, bowls etc. We did this for a few hours each night and things were ok. They were a bit apprehensive however started to play with each other. It was quite rough playing and we were concerned as we have never owned two cats. We tried to do research but felt overwhelmed.
Now our resident cat has been showing some aggression towards the kitten. He seems to be a bit distant. For instance he has hissed at the kittens litter a few times. If the kitten is purring and rubbing up against him he usually bats him and tries to bite. Today I was petting both of them on my lap and everything seemed to be going well then my resident cat turned around and hissed a couple of times then ran to his scratching post.
We feel like we have messed up this process and maybe rushed things. We understand it can take months for cats to settle with each other. Looking for some advice.