As many of you are aware, Blaine and I rescued a feral kitten a few months back. His name is Timmy, and he has been in our home with us now for a little while.
Timmy has settled in exceptionally well, especially considering he was completely wild when Blaine and I secured him. He is still a little bit skittish, but he is improving every day, and both Blaine and I are able to handle him without any reluctance on Timmy’s part.
Lionel, our other cat, on the other hand, is not the biggest fan of Timmy, despite Timmy’s best efforts to befriend him. Lionel is much older than Timmy (he turns 10 this year), and he has never been a patient cat; we knew we would need to do some work with both of them in order to ensure they’re content with each other, but so far, Lionel is proving to be more problematic than Timmy.
I’ve been doing some reading on how to go about introducing a kitten to an older cat, and because this might be a situation someone else out there is experiencing, I thought I would share some information on the matter with all of you. This comes from us.feliway.com.
“1. Start to prepare before the kitten arrives
When the big day comes and you bring your kitten home, it may be tempting to introduce both kitties right away but hold off! It’s important to keep both cats separate for a while so they can adjust to the scent of a new cat. A good way to do this is to create individual, separate areas for each cat in the house. Each kitty will need their own toys, bed, litter box and food bowls, so make sure you’re prepared.
“2. Introduce your cats by smell first
Encourage your senior cat to spend time in a separate room while you introduce your new kitten to the new surroundings. Your new kitty will quickly pick up on the smells around the house and know there’s another feline in residence. You can then swap them around, allowing the senior cat to wander around and, in turn, smell the new kitten’s scent. Remember to praise and reward both cats while they are learning that there’s a ‘new kid on the block,” the website explains.
Check back tomorrow for more helpful tips for introducing a kitten to a senior cat.
Photo by Andriyko Podilnyk on Unsplash
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