UPDATE - Help! Introducing kitten to my cat. . .

Long story short, my friend found a kitten on the street and took it in. She intended on keeping it, but it didn't work out because of her other pets.

If I didn't take the kitten it would have gone to the shelter. . . .

So, how do I introduce the 2 successfully??? Any tips/tricks/advice will be greatly appreciated.

(my cat is 5 years old)
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Thanks all for the advice. It's truly appreciated. The kitty arrived on Friday and all went well. Just some hissing for a couple of days and my cat ignored me!

Hissing has stopped so that's progress. Hopefully I'll have pics one day of them playing together, but in the mean time here is the new member of the family.

One more ques, I put up a gate so the 2 can smell each other. Is that ok? The kitty hasn't been vaccinated yet. Can my cat get sick? Taking the kitty to the vet next week for vaccines.

Thanks again

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Message edited 7/26/2011 7:14:31 PM.

Re: Help! Introducing kitten to my cat. . .

isolation in a room. then take one thing from one cat's room to the other cat and allow to sniff each other's sent. Repeat multiple times a day.

Wait for them to try to interact through the door.

Perhaps within a few weeks allow random slow introductions to each other see what happens and if they seem to not fight you can do it for longer periods of time until they are fully integrated.

Re: Help! Introducing kitten to my cat. . .

we got a kitten that was about 7 weeks old and already had a 5 y/o cat.

We brought the kitten home in the carrier, and put it on the floor and let our older cat sniff it. after a few mins, we opened up the carrier and let the kitten come out to explore. our older cat sat there and watched it. he is not an agressive cat, but we didnt know how he was going to react to a new cat.

We kept the kitten, it his own room with a litter box and his own food for a few weeks while we were at work at at night to sleep.

They have become fast friends and they are always playing with each other.

Good luck and post pics...i love kttens!

Re: Help! Introducing kitten to my cat. . .

Yup, what she said. We got our kitten, Charo, a year ago to the day. We kept her in the guest room---her own kitty apartment. She had her own food, water, and litter. We'd open the door and let Rula in only when we were there. It was a rough couple of weeks...constant growling by Rula (only 1 yr old at the time), aggression, but we let Charo out more and more each week. By week 3, she was out of the room full time, but still kept the litter and food separated for a couple more weeks, although Rula dined on Charo's kitten food daily. It took a full 2 months before Rula started to like Charo.

Now, they're the best of friends. We have a nightly show of full-on kitty wrestling and life couildn't be better for our 2 girls.
Good luck!

Re: UPDATE - Help! Introducing kitten to my cat. . .

bump for update

Re: UPDATE - Help! Introducing kitten to my cat. . .

I would wait until the kitty sees a vet. Congrats, so adorable and I am sure it will all work out.

Re: UPDATE - Help! Introducing kitten to my cat. . .

awww..... great pic! Congrats!

Re: UPDATE - Help! Introducing kitten to my cat. . .

omg!!!

Re: UPDATE - Help! Introducing kitten to my cat. . .

aww.. cutie piee.. i miss that age..

Re: UPDATE - Help! Introducing kitten to my cat. . .

what a cutie!!

Re: UPDATE - Help! Introducing kitten to my cat. . .

Re: UPDATE - Help! Introducing kitten to my cat. . .

Adorable!

When we brought our kitten home last year, she had ringworm, which is a fungus, on her face. It's highly contagious. We had taken her to the vet the day after we brought her home, so she started up on the cream right away. This is one reason I wouldn't let them too close until you get her to the vet.