Kitten and existing Cat.

[Hellyon]

We bought home a gorgeous new male kitten just over a week ago. He's settled in really well but my existing 6 year old female cat is not happy! She hisses and growls everytime he comes within 3 feet of her, he's either brave or stupid as he keeps on trying. He's not particularly submissive, at first he hissed right back and now he just dances on tippy toes and skitters about sideways with an arched back.
I've never introduced a kitten to a cat before as I've always had single cats - are they ever likely to settle down and tolerate each other. Is there anything I can do to assist the process?

[blackcat77]

Yes, they will settle down but it may take a little while! I think that the only thing you can do to assist the process is to make a real fuss of your older cat so that she doesn't feel that her nose is too out of joint. Lucky you, having a new kitten! Have lots of fun with both of them!

[Nosha123]

I agree.. lots of fuss.. to the older one.. and feed her away from the kitten too so that food doesn't become a war ground too. He will soon learn to leave her alone!
If its any consolation we got 2 kittens and introduced them to a cantankerous old male - who batted them about the head in the first meeting and hissed! then they all got on fine. The key is to make the old one feel special!!! and dont fuss over the kitten when she is around!

[frankofile]

I agree with blackcat and nosha. It just takes time. Try and keep the kitten in a separate room for a bit until senior cat gets used to the smell, then gradually introduce them

[andy-hughes]

Excellentr advice thus far.

Cats are territorial by nature, and they give interlopers short shrift at first.

Your kitten will learn your queen's moods, when to play, and when to avoid her.

Similarly, she will grow to tolerate, and then accept him - this is normal cat hierarchy in place. When your ikiten grows, he will learn to assert himself, but in the mean time, it is as well to feed him separately, and as advised, fuss your queen to make sure she knows she is still top cat.

[LoftyLottie]

I answered something similar some weeks ago, but can't find it. If you leave them to sort it out themselves they will. They may never be great friends but they will accept each other completely. I wouldn't actually keep them in separate areas in can cause complications. Don't 'pussy foot' around them (excuse the pun).

Have fun!

[mandimoo]

agreeing with all the above due to kittens being a bit 'daft' and not staying away from resident cat. it is very promising that the kitten still feels able to approach the resident cat. my lovely friendly monsta was attacked by the resident cat we tried to introduce him to and he never got over it and pretty much lived outside for a year, was impossible to tempt him to stay in the house, until poor resident cat was put down due to ill health.

[Barmaid]

All good advice. I introduced a male kitten to my older female nearly 2 years ago. Right from the off he started tormenting her which grew into attacking her. Despite my chastising him and making a big fuss of her, he continued to attempt to wind her up. He pushes her so far until eventually she gives him a whack. We are now (after two years) at the stage where they can just about tolerate being in the same room as each other, and I can get them both to settle on my bed. He still has to have the odd go at her (because he's a little bu99er), and we still have hissy spitty incidents but then tend to be more isolated and last seconds rather than minutes!!! We haven't had a big fight for about 8 months now. It was really stressful for the first 6 months (for all of us), but we seem to have settled down now.

[Hellyon]

Thank you for all your answers they are really reassuring, it's obvious he desperately wants to be friends and 'play' with her. I have done some supervised feeding where I put their bowls down adjacent to each other and then encourage them to eat nicely, trouble is the kitten wants to eat her food and she wants to eat his!
It has it's funny moments though, the kitten woke me up with pitiful meowing this morning - I put his litter tray in the bathroom at night, he wanted to use it and my female cat wouldn't let him past, poor lad was crossing his legs and he was mewing in desperation!!

[LoftyLottie]

That really made me laugh out loud Hellyon! I can just imagine it. It would make a lovely cartoon.

They will soon sort it all out. It sounds as if your female cat will end up as boss! I honestly do think feeding them together supervised is the best thing to do. Another week or two and you won't have a problem.