More cat advice needed!

Taadaa

Some of you may remember that my cat Cuddles was hit by a car and killed a couple of weeks ago.

Well his brother Snuggles settled after 10 days, and not wanting him to get too settled as the only cat in residence, we got two rescue kittens at the weekend.

They are shut in the dining room mostly, but I've let them out into the living room as they insisted on exploring more! I shut them back in when we go to work. The doors between the living room and dining room are glass, as is the one between the dining room and garden, and kitchen. So Snuggles can see them. And he ain't one bit happy about it.

He has hissed at them a couple of times, and he seems really skittish and jumpy at the slightest noise. I know it's only been a few days, but I am really worried that he won't accept them. I was thinking of putting the kittens in the carrier and letting him in the room - they don't seem the least bit bothered about him :rotfl:but he won't come into the living room when they have been in there. I have sprayed feliway and put some herbal remedy in his water today. Does anyone have any further advice?

mozzyc

Give it time, seriously, it can and usually does take more than a few days, along with lots of patience!
Best of luck!

picklepick

It took about 2 weeks for our older cat Honey to accept Mylo when he was a kitten. Bless him though, even though she kept trying to kill him (literally) he didnt give up going back for more and now they are inseperable.

There will come a point when you have to let them get on with it. Under your full supervision of course.
Has he has chance to have a good sniff of them yet? That may help. Move their scent around the house before you introduce them so hes used to how they smell.

A feliway plug in definitely helped us out. Within a day of it being turned on Honey went from snarling, hissing, wild cat to doting, loving, older sister!

Taadaa

Hmm yes maybe if their scent is all over the house, he can't avoid it. At the minute, it's in the living room, so he won't stay in the living room for long, little so and so. I think that he just feels very unsettled. I have the feliway spray, the budget won't stretch to a diffuser as well, but he sleeps at the bottom of our bed at night so will give that a good spray.

This hasn't stopped all his functions...he has brought a bird in, which is currently hiding behind the microwave..me and birds don't get on at all, it will have to stay there until the h2b gets in!!

SnowyOwl_2

I say bite the bullet and let the three of them integrate! The only way cats can get used to each other is to get up close and personal, do lots of sniffing and physically interact - looking through glass might only frustrate your older boy who sees some "intruders" in part of his territory but can't go and check them out or assert his authority.

Of course you can separate them again when you go out just to be on the safe side.

I've never had an unsuccessful kitty introduction - one went from the new baby kitten getting into bed with the older established boy within the first five minutes, to a lots and lots of hissing for about three days, but ultimately becoming friends.

Give it time, you'll soon have a happy and settled household.

Taadaa

We are defintely going to put them in the carrier and let him come and sniff them tonight, and will do that for longer periods. I am very nervous though as our Snuggles is a big brute, he is easily three times their size, and could do them some serious damage if he wanted to.

Snuggles was always the one who was a bit more protective over space..he would sit in Cuddles' space just to wind him up, and he has been nose to nose with a smaller black and white female who attempted to come in the garden a couple of times. However, we used to have a big white tom, and I mean big, with battle scars on his face, come in and have a munch on their food...and the pair of them would sit there watching - what's that all about?! Well cuddles is no longer with us, but I opened the front door yesterday to see what I think was this tom darting across the front lawn..we haven't seen him for ages. I am glad that he has survived the rough winter though.

cinderellacomplex

What has always worked for me is feeding them in the same room, opposite ends at first and then gradually moving them closer together. Make sure that Snuggles is eating something that he likes if he gets a variety of foods... or make his more appealing to him by adding a little bit of something that he likes like tuna or catnip. Keep the kittens at their own food bowls and don't let them bother him while he eats, they should learn in time to give him peace while he's eating. Something about eating in close proximity really seems to create a bond between animals so it's really the best advice that I can offer. I agree with Snowy Owl that they should be allowed to interact under supervision too, they'll figure each other out in time.

Taadaa

H2b has read something on the internet that said we should wait ten days :mad: and he doesn't seem to understand that hissing and growling from Snuggles is natural..he thinks it's really bad, as Snuggles had only ever hissed once in his entire life in our presence, when a child grabbed his tail. I have put their food bowls on opposite sides of the same door...and Snuggles is refusing to eat. He wants to eat as he is miaowing at me, but when I pick him up and put him next to his bowl with delicious meat on one side and dry food on the other, he goes back to where his food bowl was before and miaows again!!

madget_2

Snuggles will be absolutely furious with you at the moment for bringing some little interlopers into his house - but, much more often than not, things do calm down after a while. It will take some time for him to finally see them as part of his household and family. Also, adult cats can be especially wary of and annoyed by the mad antics of kittens, but he should eventually start to tolerate them. In fact, it can sometimes give full-grown cats a new lease of life and encourage them to be more playful.

Using something like a Feliway diffuser can help to calm things down, and cinderellacomplex's advice about feeding them together can work really well indeed. You're going to need a lot of patience, though, as it will take time. Don't despair in the meantime - I'm sure it will all work out okay in the end.

My resident cat adores other felines, but his new companion couldn't stand the sight of him. She growled, hissed and whacked him whenever he came within sight of her. The poor boy went and hid upstairs for a fortnight. However, they now eat together, occasionally sleep side by side, give each other a little top-of-the-head wash and are fine. Whenever she sees other cats through the window, she hisses and growls, but now regards our boy cat as part of the family. It took a few weeks for her to even begin to tolerate being around him, and several months for them to be comfortable together - but it did happen eventually. I hope this gives you some hope!

cinderellacomplex

Madget is right, it just takes a little patience and paying attention to your first cat's stress levels, you want to move slowly enough that they have time to get comfortable with each step. When we brought the last kittens home... 3 at once since my mom couldn't bear to leave the last after the farmer said he was going to take them to a sanctuary... my old cat was not happy about it at all at first. He was hissing and raging and just wanted out of there. We let him sulk on the first day but after that they were fed in the same room and brought closer together very slowly and soon enough they were eating side by side

I meant to post these pics to show you how well it can work but I couldn't find them before, sorry it's a bit late...



The closer they ate together the more they started to interact with each other, by the time they were eating beside each other the old boy was happily sleeping with the younger boy at night...


and the habit stuck



So give at try and I am sure that you will see results, don't let hissing etc get you down, just make sure that whenever your cat sees the kittens something good happens to him.. like him being fed or given a treat or cuddled etc, he'll soon start to associate them being around with nice things happening

bethie

we are kind of in the middle of this as well!


i've been moaning for ages about wanting to get another female cat to join our male cat and our dog, and monday i went to the shelter just to look.... and came home with a very rambunctious 4 yr old girl just to 'trial' for a week.... much to the annoyance of the boyfriend!

resident cat (8ish) has always been indoors and hasnt seen another cat since we adopted him 4 years ago... and the dog (collie cross) absolutely adores all things - especially cats...


day 2.5 and the two cats will now sit together in the same room without hissing - but the moment the girl wanders over to the boy our very laid back cat hisses....


it is actually the dog/cat dynamic which is a bit more fractious at the moment! The new cat is growling away, and the dog thinks it is an invitation to play, so responds with play growls, squeaks, and wagging tails...which just seems to make the new cat more angry!

we did however, got everyone to sit and doze together in the living room last night though! if only for about 10 minutes!