Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi There,
We recently (Sunday) brought home a kitten, Louie (4-6 mo.) to our resident cat Dempsie(2 yr). We've been keeping them separated for the past two days Dempsie gets the roam of the house during the day and is closed in the bedroom (where she normally sleeps) at night so Louie can roam. They've seen each other breifly, but haven't fully met. Dempsie is pretty upset, she is hissing and growling even at the scent of Louie on my hands...she didn't eat the first night but started to eat again yesterday, and she won't let us pick her up. Louie goes to the vet on Thursday...would it be okay to have Dempsie sniff Lou through the cat carrier before he goes to the vet? Is it too soon for that if she is still growling/hissing?

By all means let Dempsie sniff Louie in the cat carrier!

Good luck!
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

Thanks for the advice. We have put our male kitten in the carrier to let our resident cat investigate. The first night our resident cat pounced on the carrier, hisses a few times and growled so we let them settle down an tried again a few hours later. It went a little better. Last night we did it again, there was only one exchange of hisses and then our resident cat would occasionally "circle" around the carrier but only pounced a few times, no hisses or growls. We were planning on one more night in the carrier and then maybe trying a face to face on Saturday when we are home all day. Does this sound like a good plan? Sorry so long, but this is my first cat to cat intro...

This sounds like a good plan, but don't be surprised if there is some hissing on Saturday. If the hissing continues or if it looks like blood will be drawn, interfer immediately. And then separate them and take the intro slow if that's what happens.
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

I just want to thank you for the great advice! The intrduction went VERY well, only minor hissing and pouncing by boths cats. It has only been 12 days and they are eating together and chasing each other around the house with only an occassional meow. The only thing now, is our resident cat still seems a little upset with us...she'll come around right?

She will probably come around, although it may take a little time. Since there seems to be little in-fighting among the cats all signs point to a pretty happy household. But - sometimes really getting back to normal can take several months!
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!