Bringing your kitten home can be a busy and exciting time. You will need to schedule a veterinarian appointment and vaccination, make sure your kitten has all the equipment they need, and help your new family adjust to the home.
Adding kittens to your home when you already have an adult cat of a resident has a few more considerations. However, with the right tools and some patience, it is possible to ensure that new kittens and adult cats coexist peacefully. Here’s how to introduce your kitten to a cat:
Key takeout
- Introducing your kitten to an elderly resident cat requires planning and patience.
- First, you need to separate the furry family in different parts of the house.
- Move the process at a speed that both cats feel comfortable.
Why is referral important?
Taking the time to properly introduce your kitten to your cat is important for several reasons. One of the biggest reasons is to prevent stress. Environmental and daily changes can have a major impact on the physical and mental well-being of a cat.
Cats can develop under stress:
From a behavioural perspective, an uneasy cat becomes Destructive, aggressive, evasive. Adapting cat and kitten time to each other can prevent many of these negative behaviors.
Another consideration is that adult cats can easily be overwhelmed by their new, energetic family and end up attacking kittens. Fighting between cats reduces the likelihood of fighting between cats as early negative interactions require more work to set and reverse the tone of their relationship.
Additionally, by slowly interacting with your kitten with your adult cat, you set it up to grow into a confident, well-tuned adult with improved resistance to new things. Inappropriate introductions can make kittens terrifying or aggressive towards adult cats, causing common fears.
How to introduce kittens to cats
When introducing a kitten to an older cat, monitor both for signs of upset. Both cats should consistently eat, drink and use the trash bin during the introduction process.
If you find your cat is stressed, go back to the latest successful steps and adjust more time before continuing.
1. Set up a kitten room
Dedicate private space for your kitten for the first few weeks they are home with you. This space requires all the essentials, including:
It’s still a good time to start using it Relaxed products such as Ferriway Multicat Pheromone Diffuser and Purina Pro Plan Calming Care Probiotic PowderFor both your resident cat and kitten. These can improve your ability to manage the stress of the deployment process.
2. Replacing the scent
After your kitten settles in their new home for a few days, it appears that both cats are sniffing each other calmly under the door. This includes bringing something into the resident cat’s area with a new kitten scent (such as toys or blankets).
Allow them to smell each other’s scent. The goal is for both cats and kittens to be around each other’s scents without any signs of stress such as:
Rather, look for relaxed body posture, either the tail is held straight up, or slight curls at the tip, flat fur, and upright, positive ears.
3. Room swap
A room exchange is when other cats allow time for each cat in each other’s spaces without the other cats present. Starting with a room change for about 15 minutes per day, you can increase sessions until both cats appear to be relaxing in the other areas.
When both cats look comfortable in each other’s area for quite some time, perhaps for 1-2 hours, then move on to the next stage.
4. Allow cats to play near each other
They install a barrier so that the two cats can see each other, but do not physically interact. A useful option is Frisco Cat Safety Gateprevents cats from bouncing on the barrier.
Play with your cat, or if you have a second person at once or at the same time with you, use a feather cane or another person with the cat in sight Interactive toys.
If both cats are interested and it appears that the content is playing to each other, gradually increase the length of these sessions so that you can play for about 15-30 minutes at a time.
5. Oversee the meeting
If cats can play well near each other, or if they at least appear to be calm when they come into visual contact with each other, then allow a short nose-to-nose meeting without a barrier.
It may be helpful to start just a few minutes at a time. As before, both cats tolerate each other’s presence, so gradually increase the duration of these meetings.
6. We will introduce you to the unsupervised time together
When the cat has some consistently calm, non-aggressive meetings that last at least an hour, you can start leaving them together and leaving them for short outings such as running errands.
The first helps you set up Webcam While you are gone, you can intervene if you notice any signs of stress or aggression to monitor their interactions.
Make sure each cat has at least one garbage can for each food and water bowl, toys, cat trees, beds, and at least one garbage can for each cat. This will allow you to have enough resources to prevent territorial action and can cause battles, stress and tension.
With the right approach, your new kitten and your resident cat will coexist in peace for years to come.
