Bringing a new kitten home is super exciting! But introducing them to your older cat can be a little nerve-wracking. As long as you go slowly and listen to your cats’ needs, you can keep them both safe and happy in your home. We’ve answered your questions about introducing your cats so they can learn to live in harmony as fast as possible.
Steps
How do I introduce my cats for the first time?
-
Introduce them with a barrier in place. Put up a baby gate or a mesh screen and let your cats look at each other through it. Don’t allow contact just yet—instead, let them sniff each other and meow if they’d like to. Keep the interactions short (a few minutes is fine), and try to end them on a positive note. Do this a few times over a few days until your cats seem like they’re getting along. [4] X Research sourceEXPERT TIPwikiHow Staff WriterKyle Hall works on the content team at wikiHow. He helps manage our team of editors and creates content for a variety of wikiHow projects. Kyle continually looks for new ways to improve the content at wikiHow and make it more helpful and enjoyable for readers. He graduated from Eckerd College in 2015, where he majored in Political Science.
"When we introduced our new kitten to our resident cat, we used a mesh screen door made by QWR and it was perfect. You just attach it over the door to your kitten's "base camp" with the built-in adhesive backing and Velcro strips, then use the zipper to open the mesh screen door anytime you need to get in or out.
The mesh screen allowed our cats to see and smell each other without making physical contact, which was super important since we wanted to take things slow and avoid any altercations. We preferred this over using a baby gate since cats are still able to jump over gates and stick their paws through the bars."
-
2Supervise their initial contact. When you feel confident that your older cat won’t attack the kitten, open the door and let them meet face to face. Stay in the room with them, and let them sniff each other if they’d like to. Keep these interactions short, too, and do them a few times a day for at least a week. [5] X Trustworthy Source The Humane Society of the United States National organization devoted to the promotion of animal welfare Go to sourceAdvertisement
What do I do if my older cat hurts the kitten?
-
Make a loud noise to break them up. Reaching into an ongoing cat fight will only get you hurt, so it’s important to do this first. You can clap, yell, or stomp to get your cats to break contact before you step in. [7] X Research source
-
2Separate the cats right away. If they’re attacking each other, the meeting isn’t going well. Put the kitten back in their separate space and let the cats have some alone time. You might need to backtrack your progress a bit—if you were letting the cats meet each other without barriers in place, try putting a gate up again and letting them sniff each other. [8] X Research sourceAdvertisement
How do you introduce a kitten to a cat?
Expert Q&A
Tips
- Have at least one litter box per cat plus an extra one. That way, each cat has their own space to do their business. [11] X Trustworthy Source The Humane Society of the United States National organization devoted to the promotion of animal welfare Go to sourceThanks
- It's best to adopt 2 hyperactive kittens rather than just one. That way, they'll use up that hyperactivity on each other rather than the older cat.Thanks
References
- ↑ https://1stpetvet.com/6-tips-for-introducing-a-new-kitten-to-your-resident-cat/
- ↑ https://www.bluecross.org.uk/pet-advice/introducing-cats
- ↑ https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/introducing-pets
- ↑ https://www.bluecross.org.uk/pet-advice/introducing-cats
- ↑ https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/introducing-pets
- ↑ https://www.americanhumane.org/fact-sheet/introducing-cats-to-cats/
- ↑ http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/how-to-introduce-a-new-cat-to-an-old-cat/
- ↑ http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/how-to-introduce-a-new-cat-to-an-old-cat/
- ↑ https://spca.bc.ca/faqs/%E2%80%8Bhow-introduce-new-cat-old-cat/
