Expert: Ali - 10/6/2008

Question
I have a 6 month old kitten named Presto and he is lonely. I took him to an  animal shelter to find him a friend. We found a baby girl that is only 3 months old. Presto was fine with her while we were there. He seemed very curious to know her so we came home that night to talk about bringing her home and to get a safe room for her ready. The next morning we went to  get her and we took Presto with us to make sure we were making the right decision. He still seemed like he liked her. Now we got them home and at first he was following her around and sniffing her, wasn't hissing or growling, and they had fun like that for about 2 hours. I kept on telling him that he was being a good boy hoping that the fun would continue. They really seemed to be having fun! Out of the blue he started hissing like he was mad. So I picked her up and kept telling Presto its okay baby boy trying to reassure him, when he was being good I told him what a good boy he was being and gave him a treat. At certain points when it seemed to be getting worse I would put her in the other room to let him calm down but she would do nothing but cry. She is so sweet and isn't scared of him, she tries to show Presto that she wants to be his friend. Last night I kept Presto in our room so that he could sleep with us like he always does and put her in the other room. This morning he woke up and he started purring and kneading on me like he always does, then I heard her crying so I got up and feed Presto and he ate a little not to much(yesterday he hardly ate or drank) and went to go get her. Presto started hissing first thing, he is also running into the other room, and stayed there :(, when shes in here and wanted nothing to do with us. Every time I try to pet him he hisses at me and bits me, it just breaks my heart. What can I do to make them both happy? I don't want her do be alone in the other room but I don't want him to be mad that she's hanging with us. Please help! Thank you!  

P.S.- Sometimes he bats at her, should I tell him no while trying to make it a good experience?

Answer
Presto's human caregiver,

It's perfectly normal for your kitten Presto to react to the new kitten's presence in his territory (your home) by hissing, batting, growling and generally being a bit on the aggressive side. Cats are very territorial and they aren't fond of change - maybe Presto thought that the kitten wasn't coming home with him, because to be honest, most cats generally react with some level of aggression to a new cat being introduced to their territory if it hasn't been done gradually. The good news is that it sounds as though things are fairly mild in terms of the aggression that Presto is exhibiting. The nice thing about new cat introductions is that you can do things over with great success. This will take a bit of time and patience, but it will be well worth it in the end. My recommendation would be to try a homeopathic remedy called Bach's Rescue Remedy which is a blend of flower essences that works well to calm cats and other animals down. I would suggest that you give your older cat about 8 drops in fresh water for each kitten every morning. You can generally find Rescue Remedy in natural health/health food stores. This remedy is very safe and has been used to treat anxiety and fear by some vets & some pet owners throughout the world.

If Presto isn't sterilized then I would highly recommend having him neutered as soon as you can because sex hormones can certainly increase the potential for aggression and territorial behavior. Cats are quite territorial so they will often become anxious, fearful or aggressive with one another when meeting for the first time. I would also recommend that you place the new kitten into a room behind a closed door for a period of at least 2 to 3 weeks with all of the usual kitty necessities (food, water, comfy place to sleep, litter box and a few toys). It's important to note that isolation doesn't mean that you should ignore either kitten. It's very important that both babies get pets, cuddles, and interactive play time. The process of introducing a new feline family member includes isolation - this shouldn't mean total lack of attention, affection, or stimulation for the new arrival, this would result in serious behavioral and psychological issues developing. You can feed the kittens on opposite sides of the door from one another as this will help to gradually introduce the new little girl to your resident big boy. It's not a bad idea to use a hand towel and rub your new kitty down, then your resident cat and to the new kitty again daily. The whole point of doing this is that it allows each cat to become accustomed to each other's unique scent. It is very important that the resident cat is given lots of attention and reassurance by the human family members while the new kitty is isolated as well as being sure to praise and reward polite behavior when introducing the kittens face to face a short time from now. The isolation period allows you to get to know your new friend and what his/her personality is like. Once the first few days have gone by and your new little one has become more confident in his/her new surroundings you will be able to get an accurate idea of essentials like how much the new kitten eats & litter box habits. Getting to know a new cat/kitten is always tons of fun and you should be quite aware of how energetic and playful your two little ones are by the time that they are comfortable with each other. The isolation period also allows you to place the new kitty in quarantine if you will. There are a number of very serious chronic health issues like feline leukemia and FIV which resemble HIV and AIDS in people. Unfortunately there is no way to know whether or not a new cat/kitten has been exposed to or tested for these serious conditions if you don't have a medical history provided at the time of adoption from an animal shelter or rescue group. These illnesses can be passed from cat to cat so sharing common food and water bowls or litter boxes and bedding shouldn't really be done prior to having new feline family members testing for these serious chronic health problems. It's quite common for cats and kittens coming from a shelter environment to have other health issues like conjunctivitis or upper respiratory infections, which are contagious and require supportive care as recommended by your family vet. Conjunctivitis can be passed on to people if they are giving a cat antibiotics to fight the infection or cleaning the eye discharge which is why it's so important to wash your hands thoroughly in hot, soapy water after handling any eye discharge from your kitties. With a 2-3 week period of isolation, interactive play time geared towards both your new kitten and the resident kitty and positive reinforcement for calm behavior I am sure that the introductions will be much better next time. Questions regarding proper new cat introductions are quite common, if you would like further details or tips, please feel free to check out my past answers on the subject.