My adult cat and new kittens

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JanWalk
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Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2021 5:14 pm

My adult cat and new kittens

Post by JanWalk »

Hi
I really need some help and sorry for the long message.
I have a 9 yesr old ginger tom called Hector 2 months ago we lost his companion a female black cat who was 10 years old she was called Willow, she was quite a small cat with big attitude.
Willow was a funny cat, she really did not like anyone who came to the house and she had been known to attack. The only person she showed affection to was me, the vet felt she was protective of me and the house.Most of our adult children were scared of her.
I think she tolerated Hector but she would hiss and swipe at him on a regular basis. Hector loved Willow but he was a bit jealous when she was with me.
We also have a elderly labradorcalled Zelda who Hector adores but we are very aware the Zelda is now 14 and her health is deteriorating. This worried us as Hector has never been alone and has always been an affectionate cat. We wanted him to have companions moving on so we got two female kittens a month ago and they are now just over 3 months.
Hector seems to hate them he hisses at them.all the time swipes (but does not hit them) but most worryingly is when we touch him
he grumbles, growls and even hisses at times.
He has places to go and get away from them and at night they have been put in a pet cage and Hector sleeps wiith us and still likes his bedtime cuddle.
The kittens are now getting bigger and the cage is not an option anymore.
We have got a pheromone plug but it does not seem to work, we are trying to give hime extra attention but he seems so unhappy it is breaking my heart.
I do not want to rehome the kittens and would love to get him interacting with them in some way.
Please any help or advice would be gratefully recieved.
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Mollycat
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Re: My adult cat and new kittens

Post by Mollycat »

Sounds to me like your lad needs time to grieve before bouncy playful kittens invade his home and pounce on his tail.

Do you have a room that could be the kittens' home while you go back to the beginning and go through the introduction process one step at a time? It's a long slow process - not 4 weeks, think months! - where the resident cat needs to be happy with each step of the process for several days before moving on to the next small step. Take it right back to basics and move as slowly as Hector can cope with.

This is a very different situation that it was when you introduced Hector to Willow, if the age gap between them was only one year they were still both young and had similar needs. Hector has grown up and isn't a kitten himself any more, and he is grieving in his own way for Willow who was always there, part of his world, his companion. Plus there are two of them!

In these situations I always wonder, if we lost a sibling or a partner, and a few weeks later a stranger moved into our home playing loud music and eating everything in the fridge, and we were expected to be friends with them, how we might feel about it all.
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