Expert: Kate Tilmouth - 1/21/2009

Question
Hi, I have had a new kitten for 2 weeks now and followed the introducing method of caging the kitten when the boys have been in the room, while one of my boys at first was frightened of the kitten as he is nervous he is sniffing the kitten now but is still wary, my other boy who is the alpha male is while better still hissing at the kitten then laying down beside the cage or in front of the fire, my question is do i wait for my boy to stop hissing at the kitten before i let her out of the cage as i'm frightened of him hurting her, she' very outgoing and fearful of her jumping on him and getting bitten. I hope you can advise as not sure what to do now.

Yours

Julie

Answer
Hi
Firstly i would say that you should not worry about the kitten getting badly hurt. Cats very rearly really fight unless there life depends on it. Most cat fights are just a lot of hissing and whaling and the odd swipe. It is generally all show to let other cats know to leave them alone and is indeed often a sign that they too are a little frightened.

I don't know if you have tried this but you could also do a swap and put one of your cats in a cage one at a time and allow the kitten to wander arund the room for a while, then swap over cats (put the other cat in a seperate room)

Also wipe your kitten all over with a clean towel and transfer this scent around the bottom of doors etc all over your home. It helps to get the cats used to the scent before they finally come face to face.

Do this for a little while longer say another few days and then do the first surperised meeting. Try not to get too involved even if there is a lot of hiss etc. This natural cat behavior and needs to ahppen to let the cats decide for themselves how to get along with each other.

best wishes Kate
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