Kitten Help please!

Dr_Weasel

One of Freddy's beloved
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Dec 25, 2003
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I know a number of you are cat owners on here so I thought Id see if any of you have any wise words of wisdom to help me.

4 weeks ago we bought two 8 week old male kittens. They have settled in great and are turning into a right bunch of loonies and chasing each other about all over the place in a playful manner.

So in our great wisdom we decided to get a third kitten. Last night we brought home an 8 week old female kitten. However the initial introductions havent gone as smooth as I would hope.

The old kittens seemed okay with her. They were inquisitive, but passive and kept a respectful distance. The new one however is constantly growling, hissing and spitting at my boys...

The new one is used to living with other adult cats, dogs and children and seem supremely confident. Shes also slightly bigger than the other two even though shes four weeks younger.

At the moment they are all in the kitchen trying to sort out their differences, but should I be splitting them up and take the introductions slowly? I thought as they are all young kittens they would get along better than this....
 

Sharma

Can't get enough of FH
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Ummmm, it's a bit of a bad idea I think.

Female cats are inherantly a lot more aggressive than males and more often than not, the female will be the dominant one and the first to start a fight.

If they're kittens and showing signs of aggression to one another then i'm guessing the situation won't improve.

Give it a couple more weeks though.
 

Damini

Part of the furniture
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You're meant to stagger the introduction. Keep the new cat seperate in a room, to let her settle in. Then after a week or so, take her out, and put her in a room that smells of the other cats, while letting your two kittens sniff the room she was in, and get used to the scent. Eventually, they will get used to the smell of each other and it won't be so stressful when they meet.

Not that I've ever done this, but I've been reading up because I want more cats, and our Squeek is an evil, anti-social monster.
 

Dr_Weasel

One of Freddy's beloved
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Dec 25, 2003
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Yeah Cheers Dams,

That definitely seems to be the advice for new kittens/cats with older cats. We actually spoke to the vet before doing it and he seemed to think that as they are all very young kittens they wouldnt have much of a problem. He seemed to think the biggest issue would be that the boys played too rough with the new one.

Perhaps if they dont settle down by later today we will split the new one off to another room.
 

Sharma

Can't get enough of FH
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Dec 22, 2003
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Never really got the impression that toms are particulary active! :p

Seemed to me that toms were generally lazy!
 

Rubric

Part of the furniture
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Everytime she so much as looks at the exisitng cats funny kick her sqaure in the face.

She'll soon learn that this is a mans world and go wash the cat bowls up and clean the litter tray out.
 

Tom

I am a FH squatter
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Dec 22, 2003
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Give it time. When I introduced a new kitten to my last cat, they were just like that. However after a month or so they were happily playing together all day long.
 

Dr_Weasel

One of Freddy's beloved
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Dec 25, 2003
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Update: We gave them all a bigger run of the house yesterday so they could take a break from each other. By the end of the day one of the older kittens was playing happily with the new one.

By tonight both of the older ones seem to be getting on okay with the new one and playing with her ok. They still seem a little wary at times, but at least theres no hissing and spitting any more. :clap:
 

caLLous

I am a FH squatter
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Lock them all in a small room and play 'last cat standing'
 

Mirt

One of Freddy's beloved
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Top Tip: Get a laser pointer, shine it at the wall near the cats and move it around a bit.

I guarantee you'll have their undivided attention :eek:
 

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