Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I have had my cat since birth and she has always been around other cats (we had 3 others when she was born). She has never loved other cats and has always hissed or yelled at them (she is very vocal anyhow). She doesn't like other cats near her.

However, I just got 2 kittens (3 months now) and we had them for 2 weeks and then moved to a new place and they are all around the apartment and have free rein (they were in their own rooms for the first week and sniffed one another's stuff). The kittens could care less that she yells at them but they are very curious with her and follow her around (which she hates). She now sleeps in my closet so they can't find her. She does come into bed though at night and purrs. She has her food in our bedroom and her own litterbox but the kittens use it to.

She doesn't physically attack but at night when we are all sleeping she will get physical if she thinks one of them is on her. The other night it was my hand unfortunately and she felt very bad after.

Does anyone have any suggestions other then the things I have already done? I don't know if she will ever accept them but I just wish she wasn't so stressed about them because they really could care less.

- Kandace

Other than Rescue Remedy and Feliway, I am not sure what to suggest. Not sure if those would help, but it is worth a try. I can tell you that my cat, Voodoo, who used to sleep with us at night, stopped coming upstairs for the first month we had Gracie. She eventually got over it, although it took about 6 months before she returned completely to her regular habits. However, today she is a much calmer cat, having survived that first trauma. As long as they are not hurting each other, it will probably be OK eventually.

Good luck!

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ellen
gracie & voodoo (& Puss 'n Boots)

It may take a year or longer for her to accept the kittens. I have a 7 year old Bengal that has accepted my now year old kitten, however, they do have thier pats and the bengal still pees on the kittens toys every once in a while! They play together, sleep together and every once in a while hiss at each other, but they have found thier own boundaries thsu far...it takes time and space. She may feel better about them once they are grown. Cats can usually work things out on thier own with patience and guidance from us.

Thanks for the advice and I guess I just need to continue being patient. Hannah has been coming out and I locked the kittens in the bedroom for a couple hours 2 nights ago and Hannah got some catnip and so now she comes and sits on that rug all the time (where I sprinked the nip).

I caught her sniffing noses with one of the kittens but then back to hissing.

Oh well. At least she isn't hiding all the time now.

- Kandace

Here is my recent experience. After the loss of my beloved male 13 yrd old to renal kidney failure, my female calico 11 yrs was depressed for 2 months but after 6 months seemed to be much better and asserting herself as the new alpha female cat. So i brought home an 8week old male whom she snarled at as if it was not her own species, some type of alien. I was afraid she would hur t the kitten, so kitten slept in bathroom during night and the female spent most of the day outside or hiding under the house. It was so stressful, I was ready to return kitten within 2 weeks, but had read it might take 6 months to 1 yr for them to settle down.

The old female hissed at him continually for two months, she actually lost her voice. then she resorted to growling and bopping him on the head whenever he got near her. He has always been sweet and submissive to her, but he is about sick of it now after 6 months. He is too rambunctious with her, "Frankensteins" and rushes her, and he just gets bopped. But I think as he calms down maybe in 6 months they will be even better. He is bopping her back now, but she can handle it.

It was really a hard few months, I felt terribly guilty, but kitten has turned out super and she has company which I think she does sometimes appreciate. good luck, don't give up. And give the older cat lots more love and affection and treats so she feels way special.

I was very happy to read this post. I felt ready to give up after two weeks as well. And I think that I have suffered the most compared to the cats. I feel bad for the old one as well as for the little one

We have a nine year old female whom we adopted 4 months ago. After about 2 months of hiding she decided we were safe, spent a lot of her time around us, following me around everywhere, and sleeping by my feet. But she also seemed quite down from time to time as she did spend a lot of time alone during the day due to us working full time. When we adopted her, she was a retired breading cat and she was surrounded by about 12-15 cats. So we recently adopted a kitten, thinking she had so many kittens taking away from her, and having been surrounded by many cats, its shouldn't be too bad.

It's now going on the 4th week and the old cat can tolerate the little kitten being in the same room but not close to her; Maybe a minimum of 3 feet away depending on her mood. The little one is extremely persistent, and keeps on trying to get close to her all the time, but she always gets hissed and growled at. She also quite often gets batted by the old one. She never uses her claws and many times, she just bats her paw right in front of the kitten. The kitten always rolls on her back in a submissive position. We always supervise. The poor kitten sleeps alone at night as we want to leave at least one spot (our bed) as the old ones own place. I never pay attention to the little one when the older one is around (my husband does instead as the older one is attached to me), and I do give the older one tons of attention. I also wash my hands after petting the little one, before I interact with the older one…

I must say that I am a little bit surprised how the older one has reacted, especially after being around so many cats before. But one thing is for sure, she is no longer bored…

Because I read on her that it usually takes 4months to 1 year, we have decided to stick it out as well. But I hope things turn around sooner than later, because it pretty hard on us 