Resident cat being chased away by new kitten - please help!
Posted: Sun May 09, 2021 12:04 am
Hi there -
I've created this account a few minutes ago at almost 1AM after a particularly stressful day and evening of trying to understand how I can make this work.
My husband & I have a beautiful 2 year old female kitty. We were suspicious about her birth and socialisation and we've concluded now, 2 years later, that we are fairly certain our RC was not socialised properly as a kitten.
She's terribly shy, incredibly fearful of everything & everyone. She hisses at leaves if she stands on them and they make a noise!
She's not obviously affectionate but will give you a little head bump if she's in a good mood.
A few months ago, we noticed she was a lot more playful than normal.
She'd sit alone downstairs and get all excited when one of us would come down and we'd play with her for a while but she'd eventually get bored and stop. A few hours later, wanting to play again.
My husband & I took this playfulness as a sign that she was lonely and we thought a kitten could make her feel more confident too.
Boy, were we wrong.
We knew it was going to be a rough ride introducing our 8 week old female Turkish Angora to our RC but we were not expecting this!
It's been three weeks, which I know is not a long time but it's been the longest, most strained three weeks of our lives.
We took careful steps introducing them.
We took the new kitten to the spare bedroom immediately with her own food and litter box.
When our RC came back from outside, I gave her a toy the new kitten had been playing with.
She seemed curious about the smell before rubbing her own scent on it and going on her way.
My husband has been sleeping in the spare bedroom with the kitten since she arrived. I've been sleeping in our bedroom where our RCs bed is so that neither cat feels rejected.
The day after, I switched blankets in their bedding.
No obvious response.
A few days after that, I cracked the door to the spare room so RC could see inside. As soon as she saw the kitten, lots of hissing & growling and she immediately ran outside.
This was the case for days after.
Eventually, I let the kitten roam a bit outside of the bedroom.
The RC could tell the smell was different but no obvious signs.
And then we did a face to face introduction.
After a few attempts because RC would run outside, she eventually sat on the counter and watched the kitten play.
She watched and watched. Wasn't interested in food, treats or playing, and if the kitten got too close, cue the growling & hissing.
I spoke to a family friend who is a vet who told me I was taking this too seriously and I needed to allow the cats to establish their own relationships without me getting over involved.
I stopped chastising the cats for hissing, stopped carrying either of them away and stopped locking the kitten up.
The kitten follows RC around, RC freaks out & backs herself into a corner with hissing and growling and even flinched when the kitten lunges playfully at a toy in her direction.
She runs away very quickly after and will stay outside for hours.
My husband is still sleeping downstairs with the kitten because when he tried sleeping up here, the new kitten hissed at RC when she tried to get by to her bed making RC run outside again.
We bought Felliway Friends diffuser a few days ago with zero results.
RC eats her food pausing every two seconds to hiss at the kitten who is sitting nearby watching her.
RV spends all night outside.
My husband and I are sleeping separately & arguing every day about this. We've both cried over potentially rehoming the kitten & how stressed our RC is.
I know time is the remedy.
But am I doing something wrong?
I'm terrified my RC is going to never come back one of these days.
I'm worried the cats will never get along and I'm forever stuck having to comfort one (usually RC) after a stressful growling match.
I just need some advice or suggestions or reassurance. Something.
I'm at a complete loss of what to do!
I've created this account a few minutes ago at almost 1AM after a particularly stressful day and evening of trying to understand how I can make this work.
My husband & I have a beautiful 2 year old female kitty. We were suspicious about her birth and socialisation and we've concluded now, 2 years later, that we are fairly certain our RC was not socialised properly as a kitten.
She's terribly shy, incredibly fearful of everything & everyone. She hisses at leaves if she stands on them and they make a noise!
She's not obviously affectionate but will give you a little head bump if she's in a good mood.
A few months ago, we noticed she was a lot more playful than normal.
She'd sit alone downstairs and get all excited when one of us would come down and we'd play with her for a while but she'd eventually get bored and stop. A few hours later, wanting to play again.
My husband & I took this playfulness as a sign that she was lonely and we thought a kitten could make her feel more confident too.
Boy, were we wrong.
We knew it was going to be a rough ride introducing our 8 week old female Turkish Angora to our RC but we were not expecting this!
It's been three weeks, which I know is not a long time but it's been the longest, most strained three weeks of our lives.
We took careful steps introducing them.
We took the new kitten to the spare bedroom immediately with her own food and litter box.
When our RC came back from outside, I gave her a toy the new kitten had been playing with.
She seemed curious about the smell before rubbing her own scent on it and going on her way.
My husband has been sleeping in the spare bedroom with the kitten since she arrived. I've been sleeping in our bedroom where our RCs bed is so that neither cat feels rejected.
The day after, I switched blankets in their bedding.
No obvious response.
A few days after that, I cracked the door to the spare room so RC could see inside. As soon as she saw the kitten, lots of hissing & growling and she immediately ran outside.
This was the case for days after.
Eventually, I let the kitten roam a bit outside of the bedroom.
The RC could tell the smell was different but no obvious signs.
And then we did a face to face introduction.
After a few attempts because RC would run outside, she eventually sat on the counter and watched the kitten play.
She watched and watched. Wasn't interested in food, treats or playing, and if the kitten got too close, cue the growling & hissing.
I spoke to a family friend who is a vet who told me I was taking this too seriously and I needed to allow the cats to establish their own relationships without me getting over involved.
I stopped chastising the cats for hissing, stopped carrying either of them away and stopped locking the kitten up.
The kitten follows RC around, RC freaks out & backs herself into a corner with hissing and growling and even flinched when the kitten lunges playfully at a toy in her direction.
She runs away very quickly after and will stay outside for hours.
My husband is still sleeping downstairs with the kitten because when he tried sleeping up here, the new kitten hissed at RC when she tried to get by to her bed making RC run outside again.
We bought Felliway Friends diffuser a few days ago with zero results.
RC eats her food pausing every two seconds to hiss at the kitten who is sitting nearby watching her.
RV spends all night outside.
My husband and I are sleeping separately & arguing every day about this. We've both cried over potentially rehoming the kitten & how stressed our RC is.
I know time is the remedy.
But am I doing something wrong?
I'm terrified my RC is going to never come back one of these days.
I'm worried the cats will never get along and I'm forever stuck having to comfort one (usually RC) after a stressful growling match.
I just need some advice or suggestions or reassurance. Something.
I'm at a complete loss of what to do!