Introducing cats and kittens

[pintsized]

We have a 3 year old male (neutered) cat and 3 days ago we got a female 8 week old kitten. I just wondered if anyone could suggest any ways to introduce them/help the process? We haven't forced anything and have allowed the meetings to happen naturally. Molly (the kitten) is very inquisitive of Dave and will go up to him alot. They have sniffed each other a few times and Dave has allowed Molly to eat from his bowl, whilst she was doing this he licked her bum - I hear this is good?

 

Are there any other positive signs I should look out for?

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited August 7, 2015 by pintsized
typo

[taxman]

We have a 3 year old male (neutered) cat and 3 days ago we got a female 8 week old kitten. I just wondered if anyone could suggest any ways to introduce them/help the process? We haven't forced anything and have allowed the meetings to happen naturally. Molly (the kitten) is very inquisitive of Dave and will go up to him alot. They have sniffed each other a few times and Dave has allowed Molly to eat from his bowl, whilst she was doing this he licked her bum - I hear this is good?

 

Are there any other positive signs I should look out for?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Interested in this ourselves. We have a 2 year old house cat and would like to provide him with a friend, we just aren't sure how he'll react. It would be good to be able to "borrow" another cat for a couple of hours and just see how they got on.

 

On a practical side would they need separate litter trays, separate food and water bowls?

[suecatsitter]

Looks like they have hit it off sharing bowls no hissing fighting or spitting?just see how it goes,id say sounds like friends already xx

 

 

Hard one to call "borrowing"a cat I wouldn't advise cats like things plain and simple and like routine not a cat here one min and gone the next

 

Id suggest separate bowls for food and litter trays anyway,good luck ?

[midgecat]

There's some useful advice here: http://icatcare.org/advice/how-introduce-kitten-cat though it sounds as though your two are getting along very nicely pintsized. There's usually quite a bit of hissing when new cats and kittens meet.

 

I wouldn't advocate borrowing a cat for a couple of hours Taxman, though i can understand the idea. a) Things are usually tricky just at first in cat relationships, and putting them together for a couple of hours is likely to end in fur flying It doesn't give a terribly good idea of how things would settle down in a few weeks or months. and b) cats aren't interchangeable. If you borrow one of my friends for a couple of hours, it won't tell you very much about how you may get on with your friends

[pintsized]

Update: We have had Molly our kitten for 2/3 weeks now and Dave has began playing with her. This usually takes the form of them chasing each other and then he will pin her down and bite her, usually on the back/belly. Majority of time she is ok but sometimes she has squeaked. When it gets too rough we try to separate them.

 

Just recently though Dave has started growling, particularly when he is waiting to go outside from the patio doors. I'm thinking he is just being tolerant of her until he has had enough and then uses his outside time as a way to relax and destress, but should we be worried?

[NewBiz]

It all sounds fine to me. I have several photos of my then (now long deceased ) adult cat with the then new arrival of about 8 weeks seemingly clasped firmly between her jaws. There was no harm done, and the little one and she went on to be quite close. Apparently adult cats will seldom if ever hurt a kitten, but they will teach them some cat manners by pinning them to the floor, growling etc.

 

I'd go with the flow, sounds like Dave's a gentle giant.

 

ps he probably does want some respite from her if she's relentlessly over exuberant, and so you might want to make sure he gets that, not because he'll hurt her, but just to be fair to him.

 

Enjoy!