The backstory: I have two cats through my wife–Stretch is 15, Pipsqueak is 13. They’re ‘old’ cats in that they’ve been around the block, in the house, what have you.
Today, we adopted two cats, and both officially at the veterinarians ‘Scaler Кошка’ and ‘Kitten #1’ (aka ‘Scaler’ and ‘Dude’), and I’m wondering the best way to introduce the new ones to the old ones.
I had considered engraved invitations to the old ones, and holding a tea social for the new ones (they can’t afford it yet) to meet the old ones: “Hello, I’m ‘Scaler’” ::extends a paw::. "Oh, pleased to meet you! I’m ‘Stretch’! ::extends a paw::.
Beyond the fact that our cats don’t speak the Queen’s English (or any English for that matter) and are ill-equipped for tea parties, I don’t quite know how to introduce the young and the old.
For the time being, the new kittens are sequestered away in my ‘War Room’, where both the old and young cats can sniff each other but not get into contact (and possibly pick fights). We’re leaving the kittens in the the War Room for a week until the old ones get used to the scent. Then, I’m debating whether to do the tea social, or something like a parade down the hallway–I just don’t know.
Pictures of kittens to follow, but I’ll happily entertain ideas now for a week later.
Tripler
Yeah, once I realized cats don’t like tea, I was kind of stuck.
Keeping the door between them for a week is a trick that has always worked for me. You might want to take some old towels or t-shirts in with the babies, then leave them for the older cats to get the scent of. Same for the older cats; put some of their bedding in for the new ones to get the scent of. When Introduction Day arrives, I use fresh rosemary or oregano - crush it in your hands and rub your hands over all four cats before the meeting. This will confuse scent issues.
Be prepared for some hiffhiff and miffmiffs. Make sure each cat has a place they can go to get away from the others if they choose. Mine usually settle down within a few days.
Good luck and we expect pictures soon. Ya’ll are going to make it this way for a game soon, I hope?
What SnakesCatLady said is right in the money. I have also heard you can use vanilla on the tips of their tails and the top of their heads to confuse the different scents.
And as she said be prepared for hissing, growling and perhaps a paw or two raised for battle. Also be prepared for it to take time.
In some cases cats become best buddies with no problem in other cases they may never like each other but to co-exsist to the point of only giving each other the stink eye while passing each other in the hall.
What great ideas! I’ll bet we try the rosemary idea. I brought one of the kitties out and held him while the other two sniffed his tail. They’ve each hissed at the little guy but he didn’t seem to notice.
As you can see here, they are only about 11 weeks. Yesterday the vet weighed them each at 3# 1oz. In the video, check out the circus cat action at about 43 seconds.
We’ve alternately called the unnamed one Hoser, Knob, Hosehead, and Excitable Boy. Trip suggested calling him Zevon. Watch the video and tell me what you’d name that little spazzy lovercat.
Scaler’s longer haired and has white on his mouth like an Elvis sneer, while Other Kitten is shorter haired and more black than his brother. Their temperaments are quite different as well, Scaler will hang back and assess something before acting, while the other one just goes for it, as you can see on the video when the mousy toy is shaken.
And there you have your names: Cthulhu and Nyarlothotep. Or you can substitute Shub-Niggurath and Yog-Sothoth if the previous two seem a bit cliched ;).
We went with Scaler and Hoser, it just seems to suit him. He’s a little scrapper and I bet he’d love some Timbits!
There are more pics at the photobucket link upthread.
Stretch, our oldest, seemed to be wwarming up to them a little but then last night gave Scaler a series of whacks on his side for daring to sit down near Stretch. Claws in and no one got hurt, but Scaler looked confused and and stunned, not really scared. I’d guess both kittens are about 3.5 lbs.
They got into the big kitties’ wet food and diarrhea ensued; it was easily cleaned up, luckily.
I’m probably coming into this thread a little late, but when I brought Snickers and Biscuit home from the shelter, they were about 8 weeks old and weighed a pound each. We have a 50-lb dog and had an old but active kitty (who has since gone to that big cat house in the sky). They were so small and in such a tiny cage at the shelter, I was afraid that they’d be completely freaked out.
I got a 3-level ferret cage, put lots of nice, soft stuff in it for them to sleep on, a little litter box, and food and water. They were very happy in there for a few days- I would take them out and play with them a lot, while I could supervise the interaction between the new kitties and the old guard. They slept on our bed with the bedroom door whut at night. It worked out really, really well- everyone got to be friends quickly.
I later donated the cage to the shelter where I got them.
UPDATE!
The kittens are thriving at 6 months now. They’re snipped. They’re easily 7 pounds each and get into everything. Their favorite toys are twigs, acorns and popcorn kernels. Hoser likes to check out new people by sniffing their ears. Scaler wants to scale you on the off chance you have pieces of chicken in your hands you might want to share. This can apply while you are brushing your teeth, he’s really indiscriminate.
The older cats - well, that’s not going very well. Pipsqueak doesn’t attack the kittens, but she still growls and hisses and swings at them when they’re in reach. Stretch just has to know they’re around and he goes into the growilng, yowling, screeching most cats reserve for being stepped on. The cry is a mix of betrayal at some indignity and that noise Nancy Kerrigan made when her knee got smacked in Detroit those many years ago. We still have to button the kittens up in the spare room for the night and while we’re at work; we’re going to start leaving them out during the day starting tomorrow. Luckily they have each other and are unaffected delightful, happy little boys. They still cuddle and wash each other, share a twig chase (until it goes under the fridge or couch) and each day try to get a little closer to the older ones. (“The fat one, she’s so fluffy! I want to lick her!”) If anyone knows of anything I can give to Stretch to calm him down, it would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, rubbing rosemary on all of them prior to introduction didn’t work and was very messy. Maybe 'cause it was dried? :smack:
Pay extra attention to Stretch. Play with him for a bit and then play with the kittens for a shorter time before returning to Stretch. The intermixing of scents will help. Make sure Stretch has his own place of solitude, away from all the other cats. Help him to keep it as his own.
Just keep in mind that whatever you do and no matter how long you do it, sometimes cats will agree to disagree and there is nothing to change that.
some older cats are a bit “get off my lawn”. perhaps swap the spare room set up and have it belong to stretch for a bit with the younger ones out? i did that with winken the wonderful. i would spend about a half hour with her alone in the morning and 3-4 hours at night in the room with her. i would have the door open so the cats could move in or out and i would referee if needed. winken stayed in with me and the room was her domain.
in my house stretch the superduper is the young one who just bounces into everything, and everyone. my stretch is oneish.