Territory marking

[grace4514]

I have my adult cat who was raised with other cats and for the most part was always with other cats. She hasn't been for the past couple of years. My mother rescued a feral kitten and she hates his guts lol. I trapped two other feral kittens and their mother and I'm keeping the kittens since I couldn't find any good homes for them. She has been doing better than she was around them but she's still not nice to them. She did hiss and growl everytime she even smelled where the kittens had walked through the house, but now she only seems to if the oldest kitten chases her and tries to play. I have three litter boxes, one upstairs in the bathroom, one in my sisters room where her kitten usually sleeps, and one downstairs. I also have food and water in my room where my adult cat spends most of her time. Is there anything I can do to help keep the peace between her and the kittens?

[Oleg]

How is her relationship with you?
How was her relationship with other cats during that period of growing up?
How much stress has she endured during these years (of complete animal solitude?)?
Has she been neutered?
Has she ever had a litter of her own?
Has she been vaccinated against felv, fiv, fip and the company?

How small are the new kittens with the mother, and how defensive is the mother? How small is the feral kitten brought in by your mom? Have they been vaccinated, or tested, or showed signs of illness?

If the mother is defensive, keep them apart, so they don't catch a strange scent, if they are not tested for contagious illness, vaccinated, or are showing signs of illness, keep them apart.

Give extra attention to your adult cat, treats. Does she has a special place she likes to hang on/in other than your room? Make sure the kittens don't disturb it. Be gentle to her, even more if she is around them, so that she doesn't feel isolated. Don't punish her in any way, but do intervene if she becomes too agressive towards the kittens.
But, I don't believe she will.

My experience- our oldest rescued male cat, 13, he is a cranky "little" dude who grew up in an apartment with no animals around for 10 years. Today he lives with another 3 cats (all rescued from the street, all had health issues) and a dog. He can't stand any of them, hisses and growls if they even approach him. While he was getting less attention from me, I noticed he got depressed. He has his routines that got broken for the new cats. So I made sure to keep as many of his customs that I could. His bed is only his, I chase everyone else away from it, I make sure he eats enough and defend his food because he is a slow eater. All in all, we are doing whatever we can for him not to feel thrown away and neglected. But he will probably never have a relationship with any of the animals in our house. The point was that they can live together in respect,not that they all get along.
Today they all respect each other and each of them has their rank and place in our small society.
The oldest one was never too violent (except towards our dog), when our 4th cat, a kitten, approaches him, the most he will do if he is very angry, is a soft smack with no claws. If the kitten persists, then he draws the claws. And that is good because the kitten needs to learn about boundaries.

So, if the mother is not defensive, if none of them is ill, make sure your relationship with your cat is ok, that she doesn't hold any grudges. Considering other cats, let them create a relationship on their own.
Cat society in a way is similar to the human one.

[Oleg]

Oh, and one more thing. It would maybe be a good thing for all of them to eat together, like one pack.