Expert: Tina - 6/10/2004

Question
hi, well i have two healthy 6 yr old  male cat's.  to make a long story short, i saved a female kitten from what would have been death.  the kitten was nursed back to health in a vet's office, and i have just brought it home.  my one cat was interested in it, (did a lot of sniffing) and showed no aggression.  my other cat however, was not very happy.  he laid on the couch and hissed whenever the curious kitten came by... anything i can do to help this situation?  i have been giving him a lot of extra attention, but he just doesn't look thrilled about this new little terror.thanks for any help

Answer
HI Mike,

Congratulations on the new kitten and good work saving him from death. Every kitten needs a person like you!

Your older cat's reaction is totally normal to this kitten. He's probably a bit jealous and also interested in maintaining his status as the boss. He may also see this kitten as a little annoyance who will be jumping on him while he sleeps and generally interrupting his life. Cats are very habit-driven and hate changes so it takes them a while to accept new things.

I would mostly ignore his behavior, even things like boxing the kitten on the head is normal - he will be showing the kitten that he's the dominant cat and not to get any ideas! It's very rare for a household cat to really hurt another one, so it's often best to just let them work it out. Just continue as you are doing to give lots of attention to the older cat in the presence and absence of the kitten. Never reprimand him for aggression, because he'd simply associate the negative experience with the kitten and be even more likely to dislike him.

Adult cats usually accept a new kitten within 2 weeks so I think you will see a change soon. Once he determines the kitten is no threat he'll relax, and maybe even start to play with him, or at least ignore him!

In this article are some tips that can help things go faster:

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

Good luck!