Expert: Tina - 6/15/2007

Question
I have a beauty queen name Star and she's now 8 weeks old.  My 3 year old male king cat is hiss even at her scent but now is doing much better.  It's been a 1.5 weeks and I heard people just put their kittens down in front of the old cats but because of the hissing, I get scared to put her down in front of him thinking he just might have dinner!  He have this mad look and sometimes he's even scared.  He would run under one of the beds and stay but he is getting extra attention.  When should I put her down and run aroung when he's out.

Thank you in advance,


Answer
HI Tanya,

It's usually best to introduce a new cat or kitten gradually, so the resident cat doesn't feel threatened or upset. Here is an article on some tips to introduce your new kitten:

http://catnet.stanford.edu/articles/introducing_cats.html

It is very rare for an adult cat to hurt a kitten, but you would like them to end up friends. Make sure your kitten is spayed when she is 12 weeks old!