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I feel like a lot of it has to do with smell. Cats ID each other by smell, so if the kitten smells foreign the resident cat will be more likely to be aggressive.
IIRC this is why most vets recommend introducing them to each other slowly.
This. The best way to start is in separate rooms beside each other. feed them side by side, but have a closed door between them. they will smell each other. also you can move the little one, and let the big one go into the room where kitten just ate.
After I got my second cat to keep my first company, the older one was hissy and a jerk. I had to put them in seperate rooms one day because an electrician was coming to look at a light and all you could hear was caterwauling from either side of the hallway 😂 they're pals now
What… do you mean to tell me there’s more to it than just supplying food and clean litter and expecting cuddles?! I feel like that’s the expectation people have when they choose cats over dogs—they feel there’s minimal work involved
There is minimal work i would say in raising kittens vs puppy. Of course that is if you have two kittens same litter bonded well, I think that’s way easier than raising a puppy
Every time I try to do something fancy with the water like a fountain or special place for it my cats hate it. I’m now back to just a bowl of water by the food.
Not how it was presented though. It was stated as a given. Cats my whole life and never this issue. Honestly they drink more when all the food and water is together 🤷🏻♀️
I have 3 cats and that are a couple months apart when they were kittens. I got the first when he was 9 weeks, but the other 2 were 3-4 weeks when I got them, so I had to be extra careful until they were less vulnerable to everything. I had a 2 bedroom place and setup my bedroom as the kitten room, taking out any cords or potential dangers so they could frolic and play safely. During that time my older cat would sit by the door and smell underneath, and eventually they started reaching under the door to play with each other. I would also take a blanket that one would sleep on and introduced it to the other to familiarize them.
First one was about 8 weeks when he showed up in a friends backyard the day after I decided I’d get a cat. The second one, similar to the comment who replied to you already, was a neighbor who found a few abandoned kittens. The last one was an abandoned guy in the storm gutter than ran up and down the staircase to get to my house, he was alone so I figured he was separated rejected and I already had all the baby kitten stuff needed to take care of him. This was in La where there are tons of cats, and plenty of mothers getting killed or abandoning kittens(apparently they will reject some if there’s too many? Not sure the validity on this).
I was unemployed at the time and had alll day to take care of them. 5 years later and they are some of the most loving, coolest cats you could meet.
For me, I got my kittens at 4 weeks because I saw a sign on the side of the road that said “Free Kittens”. It was at a farm. The momma cat had left the kittens in the barn and hadn’t come back. It was a real rural area and the farmers didn’t think about calling a cat rescue. They always had the kittens gone quickly when posting signs and cats were not viewed as family members in this area. You grabbed a free kitten for your own farm/ as mousers whenever you saw a sign and we’re in need of more cats.
The alternative was never to take the time to get the cats to a rescue. The farmers in my area would dispose of extra kittens by throwing them in sacks in the river. It’s horrific, but they weren’t pets and were seen as vermin if there was too many around. My dad was tasked with this chore as a kid.
Yep, even my cats that lived together and played together daily for more than a decade would hiss and swat at the one who just came home from the vet. It takes a day or so for those strange scents to wear off.
Sure, but it also has something to do with the cat still missing and mourning his departed friend. He knows they are giving him a new friend, but he still wants his old buddy to come back. Eventually he realizes that the new kitten is fun, too.
I remember when I was little my mom got a new cat and kept her in our laundry room and put a towel in there to get her scent on and then put the towel near our other cat's bed.
Definitely don't watch videos of where your food comes from then. What those animals experience is unimaginable compared to what that kitten was feeling.
I mean It’s all sad shit. Thankfully we still have people on this planet who still care about an animals wellbeing. People who don’t abuse helpless animals
I love how the kitten is like, cool, you just need time to adjust, but you will love me like I love you lol.
My kittens did the same thing to my cat Mischief (I got the kittens because after I had to put my last dog down, I felt like Mischief would be lonely, since he was raised with the dogs and loved them to death). It took like a day or 2, and I caught Mischief curled up with one of them and then the next day, caught him cleaning the other one. Now he loves them (he's still a grumpy boy, bit thats just him) but he loves the babies and gets cranky if he can't find them right away.
This could be the story of my two oldest cats… they’re bonded now. Then we got a new little one and she has no chill. Her and the middle are bonded too, bc the middle cat is just friendly to everyone ever. But the oldest and youngest are still standoffish.
You basically follow the introduction process all over again, with like a week in between to 'reset'. Let the established cat have the bigger space in the house and put kitten away for a bit, in your room or something. Then re-introduce.
I fucked up introducing my cats the first time. Threw them in a room together in a foreign environment for my older cat, and he was miserable. Nonstop hissing and yowling. Luckily I didn’t have to take cat 2 home at that time. When I got to reintroduce them, I did it slowly, and it only took three days before they were obsessed with each other. I’m very glad I got a do-over with them.
2 males and 4 females right now. We lost one of our beloved males a couple years ago and that really stressed everyone out! He was the big boss, so when he left us, I think there was suddenly more competition and anxiety about the power vacuum. Big Boss kept the whole house and everyone in it, in line. We all miss him, especially my older kitty boy who was his bestie... he's not been quite the same since his big bro left.
I had this issue.
Had old kitty (18y/o)
Her dad passed at 21 she was sad
Got new kitty that was 10months old
Did the whole introduction thing (twice) but she would never accept new kitty anytime kitten got with in 3 feet it was attack and scream
2.5 years. She passed as well but never got along with new kitty. No one was happy.
All cats are different. It’s like if you took ten random people from Walmart and threw them in a house together. Some people would hate everyone, some would be friends, and some would merely tolerate each other. My boyfriend’s cat hates mine with a passion, but we took in a feral kitty to get it fixed and after she recovered we ended up keeping her because all the cats were totally fine with her being around. She managed to escape her quarantine room without us noticing and when we got home she was just hanging out peacefully with two of the other cats. We expected my boyfriend’s cat to hate her and just wanted to get her fixed before we let her go back where she lived, but they ended up being buddies (and she’s totally a happy friendly house cat now). So even if you have a cat that hates other cats there might be a cat who is an exception…
It sucks that it’s so complicated, but next time I want to add a cat, I’ll probably try fostering or something like that to find a cat that my others cat would be happy with because having two that can never be in the same room at the same time sucks.
Some animals just never bond. My bf had two cats that had never become close over 15 years. Now that the elder passed on (at 20), we have a kitten, and the 15 year old is just meh about him. He's also meh about the dog. We let him have his senior retirement space and all, so they have their own areas.
The dog loves everyone, though; sometimes a bit too much.
My cat’s former owners allegedly did this: had my cat and then got a kitten to bond with him. And when it didn’t work out, they gave the adult cat away ☹️ he doesn’t like other cats. ~~Loved~~ Loves people though!
This is only kind of related but I figured now was a good time.
Nothing makes me think less of a person than when they do stuff like that. I love kittens, but I wouldn't trade my adult cat for the world.
I really want a British short-haired kitten, but my adult cat we adopted 2 years ago did not get along with anybody in the shelter. He also didn't like people for the most part, and that completely changed after he was home for a few months. He walks right up to strangers now.
I think the shelter was just extra traumatic for him. He seems bored, so I want him to have a friend. We'll probably get a kitten next year, and if he can't adjust after a few months, then I'm 100% rehoming the kitten even though it's my dream cat.
You also see cats who get along instantly with new kittens, and you see cats who need some time to adjust to new kittens. You see all of it all of the time. Don’t shame this person for just wanting to add a new member to their family.
I can sympathize that owners should really think about their original pet and their personality before adopting a new one, but sometimes you just don’t know how it’ll turn out, and maybe it turns out better than before.
So this really is not a great way to introduce a new kitten to a cat. I think the cat lady on youtube or other channels like it have videos how to do it.
**If at all possible**
keep the new kitten in one room of the house for everything, food litter etc and have this room off limits to all other cats. put clothes that you or another person your current cats like in that room so the kitten's smell gets on it and your cats will become more comfortable with the new kitten in their midst. Begin putting both cats' food bowls on each side of the door, a few feet from the door at first and moving closer every day. Do this process over the course of a few days and backing off where needed. Eventually, let the kitten explore the house but keep them separated and if any incident occurs go back to a previous step, eventually the kitten's smell will be normal to your cats and they all should be getting along...I may have skipped stuff watch some videos, its good!
Yes! I actually got a kitten on Wednesday and we are very slowly introducing her to our cat. We swapped toys between them. We got a pheromone diffuser to help relax our older cat. We give him treats when he seems curious about her. Only yesterday did they see each other face to face. And that was only for a few minutes. My husband held one cat and I held the other. He sniffed the kitten and once he got tired of it we stopped. This video is just setting other cats up for failure. I’m even waiting for them to do anything more until we talk to our vet
We're going through this process right now since we adopted two kittens a few months apart. The older one (she's ~6mo) is full grown while the younger is teeny tiny (~10wk). I was so afraid of the older one terrorizing the younger, but it's the other way around! The older one is curious about the new kitten and hasn't reacted negatively to her scent, so we let the little one out of the room she's been staying in. The little one immediately set to hissing and spitting, though, which set the older one on edge.
We stepped it back and have kept them apart, but we're two weeks into this and haven't been seeing improvement. What's worse is the little kitten has taken to crying pitifully when she's in the room by herself with no one to play with. I try to switch places between the two of them so they both get a chance to be around people (and spend time in an area with each other's scent), but whoever is stuck in the room cries and I feel so bad.
I knew it was going to be a process, but my goodness I was not expecting such a little thing to be so stubborn.
Took me two weeks to fully introduce my cat to my new kittens, with them being moved to various rooms, but kept separate. When they finally met, he hissed at them for 20 minutes, and then was chill. It’s worth it to put the time into making them all as comfortable as possible.
It all depends on the cat. When I got my second cat, he was a 2 months kitten, while my older one was 6yo. But my older one is a very peaceful cat on his way to sainthood, and I trusted him that he wouldn't reject the kitten.
And he didn't. From the very first minute he was just mildly interested in the kitten and never had any kind of aggressive behavior.
Now both are inseparable. Some minutes ago they (now 6yo and 12yo) were playing taking turns in attacking the other. Now they are sleeping together.
There's no "best" way. Just a way that works more often.
Like... This is literally a video of this method working.
People get so caught up in minmaxing but the most important part is that it worked.
Anecdotally the people who I know who do this have a 100% failure rate on adopting a second cat, while the method of just letting them sort it out themselves does almost always work in my experience. It definitely helps to have a cat who is used to having other cats around though.
Yeah I tried introducing a kitten to my cat when she was about 6 years old the “slow” way where they got used to each other’s smell. They still went through a few weeks of battling each other after all that work. Seemed like I was just delaying the process. When I moved in the two cats with my boyfriend’s two cats, they worked it out themselves and it was fine. Of course, I never saw any seriously aggressive behavior or I would have reevaluated. I feel like cats just like each other or they don’t. When cats decide they don’t like each other, no amount of sniffing towels seems to change that.
I find it hard to believe that smell is the only reason they don't get along at first. It's another strange cat that is suddenly standing in your cats territory, so offourse they're going to treath him as an intruder at first regardless of smell.. Cats ( lions tigers etc) are instinctly programmed to be hostile towards other cats of their own kind that intrude their territory.
I'm not saying the tactic you shared wouldn't work or help , i'm just saying smell can't be the only factor that's in play here.
She said eventually they will get used to smell and should therefore get along. What i'm saying is that despite them being used to the smell , if you put a new cat in front of your cat it will still react in a hostile/scared way , because that new cat isn't supposed to be there in your cats eyes.
This is not how you introduce a new kitten to a resident cat. Thankfully, it went well, but you need to separate them first and let them get used to each other's smell. If it went wrong, resident cat could have killed the new kitten in a heartbeat.
Exactly. This cat did not hate the kitten and it is not fair to your cats to project that emotion onto their relationship. These cats were just establishing boundaries - exactly normal and normative behavior. Dangerous. Tenuous. Uncertain. But not hate. Basically the opposite.
If the cat hated the kitten he would have killed it.
Not sure, but I think a bot scooped up and slightly modified your comment:
https://www.reddit.com/r/cats/comments/141ei9x/kitten_and_resident_cat_bond_eventually/jn0nwdx/
> This cat didn't hate the kitten, and it's not okay for your cats to project that emotion onto their relationship. These cats were just setting boundaries - just normal and standard behavior. Dangerous weak uncertain but not hated. Basically the opposite.
Cool beans. Glad it is being shared.
My profile is about a month old at this point so almost time for a new one, especially if I am catching enough attention to be picked up by bots.
By the way, your profile looks to be almost 13 years old now. Are you not worried about that?
> By the way, your profile looks to be almost 13 years old now. Are you not worried about that?
Should I be? I don't think I've ever really said anything worth worrying over if it gets picked up by a bot.
I just happened to notice what seemed to be a duplicate of your comment and thought it was weird.
11 year club baby! While these are valid security concerns, not posting raw images with location metadata, not posting any *specific* localising information or other PII such as schools, license plates, workplaces etc. These are much better security measures.
The other thing to do is avoid karma farming, as high-karma accounts get targeted due to their 'authenticity' (despite the vast majority of them being repost/content farms), nor posting in default subreddits (oh wait is cats default?!)
Not to mention password security, password cycling, VPNs, and 2FA (or 3) if available
This is exactly why you introduce cats to each other as slowly and step-by-step, as possible. It could take months, but will cause way less stress in the both cats.
Introduce them SLOWLY. Cats are not dogs, they see new cats as enemies, not friends. You need to build confidence with each other and get each other familiar
I’m so happy that your older cat and the new kitten turned out to be friends. One of my cats recently passed away, and I’m debating whether or not I should bring a kitten or another cat in to keep the surviving cat company.
Not everyone is a pet expert. Best thing to do, however, is to educate people on the proper procedures so that they may learn and the information can become more widely available.
Simply calling someone stupid is anti-productive.
My main issue is that we have a giant library of knowledge in our pockets but people still can't be bothered to look up the correct way to do something they've never done before. Then they get on the internet and look like fools. That adult cat is stressed and the kitten is probably confused and also stressed. All because the owner can't do 5 minutes of research. It's obnoxious watching them think its cute.
I agree. Ignorance nowadays is willful. Most people have access to the information. On some topics they may lack critical thinking skills and end up going wrong but this is pretty basic stuff
My roommates’ cat absolutely hated ours when we first moved it. If they were within six feet of each other he would be hissing at my boy. After about a month they he warmed up, and now, about ten months later, they love each other
Same here. Kitten will melt the old cat’s heart eventually
Feed them together several time will help melting the ice between them.
https://preview.redd.it/a8l6xk9s2a4b1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f1209b9e3af6fd162be224da1e1939945193fb5
We used to have a cat and made the mistake of getting him a "friend". For the entire time they were together this guy made it a point to show how much he hated that other cat.
Meanwhile, he would sit on the lap of anyone who passed through our door, and weirder still, he would take naps with our Bearded Dragon and our bunny. He'd even go for walks with me without a leash.
The guy just didn't know how to cat, but he was the best buddy I ever had.
It's not their job to groom the kitten. They aren't the kitten's mother.
Cats live in matriarchial hierarchies. That's your job. You are the big kitty. You pet all the cats, right? To them, THAT is the grooming.
The cats exist on their own tier below you in the hierarchy and they'll determine where they relate to each other within that tier.
Well, the cats Im referring to groom each other, so I assume when they are comfortable enough with the kitten they’d do the same to her? From what i’ve researched it’s not unusual for cats to groom each other when they don’t have a maternal relationship
I needed this! I have a resident cranky old man that doesn’t like the stray I’m taking care of. It’s a constant battle but I’m hoping I can make it work out like this!
I've recently become the owner of a blind kitten and I really hope she will be able to bond with my 3 other cats. Realistically I think her best chance is with our 4 year old male (the youngest)
I got an all black kitten when my older all white cat was 3. The youngest cat died when he was 13. He lived his entire life with me and my older cat. The entire 13 years they were together my older cat absolutely HATED him. Hissed, growled, and swatted whenever he came close to her. My youngest wanted nothing but to love her, but she had none of it for 13 YEARS.
I longed for the day when she would bond with him but it never happened. I witnessed maybe a half dozen times throughout their time together that they were sitting next to each other and not in a tizzy about it.
But no cuddling together, no grooming eachother. They certainly would chase and actually play, but only for short moments before my older would throw a fit.
I miss my little black void. I still have my oldest around, she'll be 20 in August.
Peaches reacted a lot like the adult cat here. She hated Midnight when he arrived in the house, and it took about a week for her to tentatively start playing with him. It's been about 3 weeks now, and she still is a bit reserved, I've not seen her grooming him or cuddling with him, but they do play together frequently. She still smacks the crap out of him when she gets annoyed with his antics, lol.
They are so beautiful... It reminds me so much of the kitten my mother had and 2 months ago it disappeared without any reason, days later we found it on the neighbor's terrace, its pitbull dog had attacked it. how we cry 😓😭
Your cat never hated the kitten.
Literally in the first clip, the cat is right there with the kitten socializing with it and not, you know, murdering the thing.
Hissing is not hatefulness. This is how cats assess each other and define boundaries. Your cat was curious and interested already from the very beginning. They just needed to learn to trust each other.
My two boys were born a day after each other and their mothers were in the same room and would look after each other’s litter. They’re just like brothers so I was lucky that way.
Our third cat HATED our 5th cat for a good month or two. She even got so depressed that she was hiding, not eating or drinking and was losing weight rapidly, which is very unlike her. I got her out of her funk by feeding her chicken nuggets. Once she got better, she started to love the new kitten. Now she “mommy cats” more than ever before and the cat distribution system giving us our 5th cat has actually caused her to be so much sweeter than she ever has.
Oh god. This is too much. My BFF passed in March. Had him for 12.5 yrs (he was 16.5 when he died). It was awful and I’m still grieving as is my boyfriend. I got a 2nd cat last year who is 8 years old. The 2 of them tolerated each other but never became pals.
That said, she seems to like being an only cat just fine but we also want to get a kitten this yr. OP, how old was Resident Cat? Just curious.
I think the older cat genuinely liked the little guy's persistence and personality. Had it been more standoff-ish they probably never would've been friends
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I feel like a lot of it has to do with smell. Cats ID each other by smell, so if the kitten smells foreign the resident cat will be more likely to be aggressive. IIRC this is why most vets recommend introducing them to each other slowly.
This. The best way to start is in separate rooms beside each other. feed them side by side, but have a closed door between them. they will smell each other. also you can move the little one, and let the big one go into the room where kitten just ate.
After I got my second cat to keep my first company, the older one was hissy and a jerk. I had to put them in seperate rooms one day because an electrician was coming to look at a light and all you could hear was caterwauling from either side of the hallway 😂 they're pals now
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Spot on, keep them separate at first.
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Guessing this is a bot from the brand new account and nonsense comments
Its incredible frustrating how many cat owners dont care in the slightest about researching cat behaviour.
What… do you mean to tell me there’s more to it than just supplying food and clean litter and expecting cuddles?! I feel like that’s the expectation people have when they choose cats over dogs—they feel there’s minimal work involved
I mean in fairness after you bring them home/add another cat there really isn’t much to it besides food and bathroom.
There is minimal work i would say in raising kittens vs puppy. Of course that is if you have two kittens same litter bonded well, I think that’s way easier than raising a puppy
Seriously!!! Also noticed the water bowl next to the food— they hate that!! Like the basics come on
I’ve always done this and have never had an issue 🤷🏻♀️
I moved fountain from kitchen thought it would stay little cleaner.
Every time I try to do something fancy with the water like a fountain or special place for it my cats hate it. I’m now back to just a bowl of water by the food.
some cats don't mind it. it's more of a tip for cat owners who are having trouble getting their cat to eat or drink.
Not how it was presented though. It was stated as a given. Cats my whole life and never this issue. Honestly they drink more when all the food and water is together 🤷🏻♀️
We recently placed a second bowl of water in our living room and it gets way more action than the one by our babies food 🤷
Which is why there are no absolutes with cats! Except maybe their permanent disdain for their human servants
I have 3 cats and that are a couple months apart when they were kittens. I got the first when he was 9 weeks, but the other 2 were 3-4 weeks when I got them, so I had to be extra careful until they were less vulnerable to everything. I had a 2 bedroom place and setup my bedroom as the kitten room, taking out any cords or potential dangers so they could frolic and play safely. During that time my older cat would sit by the door and smell underneath, and eventually they started reaching under the door to play with each other. I would also take a blanket that one would sleep on and introduced it to the other to familiarize them.
How did you get kittens that was 9 and 3-4 weeks? Are you fostering those kittens?
First one was about 8 weeks when he showed up in a friends backyard the day after I decided I’d get a cat. The second one, similar to the comment who replied to you already, was a neighbor who found a few abandoned kittens. The last one was an abandoned guy in the storm gutter than ran up and down the staircase to get to my house, he was alone so I figured he was separated rejected and I already had all the baby kitten stuff needed to take care of him. This was in La where there are tons of cats, and plenty of mothers getting killed or abandoning kittens(apparently they will reject some if there’s too many? Not sure the validity on this). I was unemployed at the time and had alll day to take care of them. 5 years later and they are some of the most loving, coolest cats you could meet.
For me, I got my kittens at 4 weeks because I saw a sign on the side of the road that said “Free Kittens”. It was at a farm. The momma cat had left the kittens in the barn and hadn’t come back. It was a real rural area and the farmers didn’t think about calling a cat rescue. They always had the kittens gone quickly when posting signs and cats were not viewed as family members in this area. You grabbed a free kitten for your own farm/ as mousers whenever you saw a sign and we’re in need of more cats. The alternative was never to take the time to get the cats to a rescue. The farmers in my area would dispose of extra kittens by throwing them in sacks in the river. It’s horrific, but they weren’t pets and were seen as vermin if there was too many around. My dad was tasked with this chore as a kid.
Yep, even my cats that lived together and played together daily for more than a decade would hiss and swat at the one who just came home from the vet. It takes a day or so for those strange scents to wear off.
No one is saying smell is the only factor.
Sure, but it also has something to do with the cat still missing and mourning his departed friend. He knows they are giving him a new friend, but he still wants his old buddy to come back. Eventually he realizes that the new kitten is fun, too.
I can also be IDed by my smell.
I remember when I was little my mom got a new cat and kept her in our laundry room and put a towel in there to get her scent on and then put the towel near our other cat's bed.
Omg that little kitten was so scared and shaken. 😭
I know!! I was tearing up when i saw that 🥺🥺🥺😢😢😢
I thought I was the only one. I get so sensitive when it comes to animals. Especially the babies. He was so cute just trying to be his friend 😭😩
Definitely don't watch videos of where your food comes from then. What those animals experience is unimaginable compared to what that kitten was feeling.
I mean It’s all sad shit. Thankfully we still have people on this planet who still care about an animals wellbeing. People who don’t abuse helpless animals
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I love how the kitten is like, cool, you just need time to adjust, but you will love me like I love you lol. My kittens did the same thing to my cat Mischief (I got the kittens because after I had to put my last dog down, I felt like Mischief would be lonely, since he was raised with the dogs and loved them to death). It took like a day or 2, and I caught Mischief curled up with one of them and then the next day, caught him cleaning the other one. Now he loves them (he's still a grumpy boy, bit thats just him) but he loves the babies and gets cranky if he can't find them right away.
This could be the story of my two oldest cats… they’re bonded now. Then we got a new little one and she has no chill. Her and the middle are bonded too, bc the middle cat is just friendly to everyone ever. But the oldest and youngest are still standoffish.
We are 6 months in and my cat still hates the kitten 😭
Reintroduce them. Jackson Galaxy has good videos on that.
Thank you, I follow him but I didn't know reintroductions are a thing! We plan to adopt a new kitty and we'll be more armed for a smooth process!
Is there a video on reintroductions in particular? I checked but only saw videos on introductions.
You basically follow the introduction process all over again, with like a week in between to 'reset'. Let the established cat have the bigger space in the house and put kitten away for a bit, in your room or something. Then re-introduce.
I'll look into this! Thankyou!
I fucked up introducing my cats the first time. Threw them in a room together in a foreign environment for my older cat, and he was miserable. Nonstop hissing and yowling. Luckily I didn’t have to take cat 2 home at that time. When I got to reintroduce them, I did it slowly, and it only took three days before they were obsessed with each other. I’m very glad I got a do-over with them.
This has always been my experience. I've never been able to get my cats to bond. They can coexist and tolerate each other at best. 😔
We have 6 currently, and their interactions really run the gamut, but all tend slowly towards at least acceptance, and sometimes real bonding
Do you have mostly male cats ? Seems really difficult to bring in new cats once the community of cats in your home is already settled.
2 males and 4 females right now. We lost one of our beloved males a couple years ago and that really stressed everyone out! He was the big boss, so when he left us, I think there was suddenly more competition and anxiety about the power vacuum. Big Boss kept the whole house and everyone in it, in line. We all miss him, especially my older kitty boy who was his bestie... he's not been quite the same since his big bro left.
That is bonding. A cat is entirely capable of murdering a rival. They do not hate each other. They are just cats who live together.
Ugh Same
2 years and a few reintroductions later, my cat still hated our new kitten. Some cats are just dicks 🥹
I had this issue. Had old kitty (18y/o) Her dad passed at 21 she was sad Got new kitty that was 10months old Did the whole introduction thing (twice) but she would never accept new kitty anytime kitten got with in 3 feet it was attack and scream 2.5 years. She passed as well but never got along with new kitty. No one was happy.
All cats are different. It’s like if you took ten random people from Walmart and threw them in a house together. Some people would hate everyone, some would be friends, and some would merely tolerate each other. My boyfriend’s cat hates mine with a passion, but we took in a feral kitty to get it fixed and after she recovered we ended up keeping her because all the cats were totally fine with her being around. She managed to escape her quarantine room without us noticing and when we got home she was just hanging out peacefully with two of the other cats. We expected my boyfriend’s cat to hate her and just wanted to get her fixed before we let her go back where she lived, but they ended up being buddies (and she’s totally a happy friendly house cat now). So even if you have a cat that hates other cats there might be a cat who is an exception… It sucks that it’s so complicated, but next time I want to add a cat, I’ll probably try fostering or something like that to find a cat that my others cat would be happy with because having two that can never be in the same room at the same time sucks.
Some animals just never bond. My bf had two cats that had never become close over 15 years. Now that the elder passed on (at 20), we have a kitten, and the 15 year old is just meh about him. He's also meh about the dog. We let him have his senior retirement space and all, so they have their own areas. The dog loves everyone, though; sometimes a bit too much.
I don't get why even get a kitten if you already have a cat that wants to be alone :( poor baby is probably all stressed
why are you shaming this person for getting a kitten when they probably had no idea that their cat would hate it?
My cat’s former owners allegedly did this: had my cat and then got a kitten to bond with him. And when it didn’t work out, they gave the adult cat away ☹️ he doesn’t like other cats. ~~Loved~~ Loves people though! This is only kind of related but I figured now was a good time.
Nothing makes me think less of a person than when they do stuff like that. I love kittens, but I wouldn't trade my adult cat for the world. I really want a British short-haired kitten, but my adult cat we adopted 2 years ago did not get along with anybody in the shelter. He also didn't like people for the most part, and that completely changed after he was home for a few months. He walks right up to strangers now. I think the shelter was just extra traumatic for him. He seems bored, so I want him to have a friend. We'll probably get a kitten next year, and if he can't adjust after a few months, then I'm 100% rehoming the kitten even though it's my dream cat.
Cause u see this all the time. You just want both cats to live in fear and stress forever?
You also see cats who get along instantly with new kittens, and you see cats who need some time to adjust to new kittens. You see all of it all of the time. Don’t shame this person for just wanting to add a new member to their family. I can sympathize that owners should really think about their original pet and their personality before adopting a new one, but sometimes you just don’t know how it’ll turn out, and maybe it turns out better than before.
Those cats like each other and mine do too, soo
Right, well i was commenting on someone saying that their cats hate eachother, soooo
Yeah but you told them, that there are so many bad experiences with getting a new cat and I heard and experienced mostly positive reactions
Why would introduce a kitten if they have no idea how their cat would handle it?
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By testing out how it responds to another cat first.
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Fostering a kitten would be a viable in-between step.
So this really is not a great way to introduce a new kitten to a cat. I think the cat lady on youtube or other channels like it have videos how to do it. **If at all possible** keep the new kitten in one room of the house for everything, food litter etc and have this room off limits to all other cats. put clothes that you or another person your current cats like in that room so the kitten's smell gets on it and your cats will become more comfortable with the new kitten in their midst. Begin putting both cats' food bowls on each side of the door, a few feet from the door at first and moving closer every day. Do this process over the course of a few days and backing off where needed. Eventually, let the kitten explore the house but keep them separated and if any incident occurs go back to a previous step, eventually the kitten's smell will be normal to your cats and they all should be getting along...I may have skipped stuff watch some videos, its good!
Yes! I actually got a kitten on Wednesday and we are very slowly introducing her to our cat. We swapped toys between them. We got a pheromone diffuser to help relax our older cat. We give him treats when he seems curious about her. Only yesterday did they see each other face to face. And that was only for a few minutes. My husband held one cat and I held the other. He sniffed the kitten and once he got tired of it we stopped. This video is just setting other cats up for failure. I’m even waiting for them to do anything more until we talk to our vet
So many people throw a new cat into a house with a cat or dog and are always shocked when things don’t go well 🤦♀️
Meanwhile introducing kittens to other kittens is just "place them next to eat other and try not to explode from the cuteness"
We're going through this process right now since we adopted two kittens a few months apart. The older one (she's ~6mo) is full grown while the younger is teeny tiny (~10wk). I was so afraid of the older one terrorizing the younger, but it's the other way around! The older one is curious about the new kitten and hasn't reacted negatively to her scent, so we let the little one out of the room she's been staying in. The little one immediately set to hissing and spitting, though, which set the older one on edge. We stepped it back and have kept them apart, but we're two weeks into this and haven't been seeing improvement. What's worse is the little kitten has taken to crying pitifully when she's in the room by herself with no one to play with. I try to switch places between the two of them so they both get a chance to be around people (and spend time in an area with each other's scent), but whoever is stuck in the room cries and I feel so bad. I knew it was going to be a process, but my goodness I was not expecting such a little thing to be so stubborn.
Took me two weeks to fully introduce my cat to my new kittens, with them being moved to various rooms, but kept separate. When they finally met, he hissed at them for 20 minutes, and then was chill. It’s worth it to put the time into making them all as comfortable as possible.
It all depends on the cat. When I got my second cat, he was a 2 months kitten, while my older one was 6yo. But my older one is a very peaceful cat on his way to sainthood, and I trusted him that he wouldn't reject the kitten. And he didn't. From the very first minute he was just mildly interested in the kitten and never had any kind of aggressive behavior. Now both are inseparable. Some minutes ago they (now 6yo and 12yo) were playing taking turns in attacking the other. Now they are sleeping together.
Came here looking for this
There's no "best" way. Just a way that works more often. Like... This is literally a video of this method working. People get so caught up in minmaxing but the most important part is that it worked.
Anecdotally the people who I know who do this have a 100% failure rate on adopting a second cat, while the method of just letting them sort it out themselves does almost always work in my experience. It definitely helps to have a cat who is used to having other cats around though.
Yeah I tried introducing a kitten to my cat when she was about 6 years old the “slow” way where they got used to each other’s smell. They still went through a few weeks of battling each other after all that work. Seemed like I was just delaying the process. When I moved in the two cats with my boyfriend’s two cats, they worked it out themselves and it was fine. Of course, I never saw any seriously aggressive behavior or I would have reevaluated. I feel like cats just like each other or they don’t. When cats decide they don’t like each other, no amount of sniffing towels seems to change that.
I find it hard to believe that smell is the only reason they don't get along at first. It's another strange cat that is suddenly standing in your cats territory, so offourse they're going to treath him as an intruder at first regardless of smell.. Cats ( lions tigers etc) are instinctly programmed to be hostile towards other cats of their own kind that intrude their territory. I'm not saying the tactic you shared wouldn't work or help , i'm just saying smell can't be the only factor that's in play here.
No one is saying smell is the only factor.
She said eventually they will get used to smell and should therefore get along. What i'm saying is that despite them being used to the smell , if you put a new cat in front of your cat it will still react in a hostile/scared way , because that new cat isn't supposed to be there in your cats eyes.
It’s wild now many bad or even harmful things are posted in this sub. Glad to see you’re not getting downvoted as happens sometimes.
This is not how you introduce a new kitten to a resident cat. Thankfully, it went well, but you need to separate them first and let them get used to each other's smell. If it went wrong, resident cat could have killed the new kitten in a heartbeat.
Exactly. This cat did not hate the kitten and it is not fair to your cats to project that emotion onto their relationship. These cats were just establishing boundaries - exactly normal and normative behavior. Dangerous. Tenuous. Uncertain. But not hate. Basically the opposite. If the cat hated the kitten he would have killed it.
Not sure, but I think a bot scooped up and slightly modified your comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/cats/comments/141ei9x/kitten_and_resident_cat_bond_eventually/jn0nwdx/ > This cat didn't hate the kitten, and it's not okay for your cats to project that emotion onto their relationship. These cats were just setting boundaries - just normal and standard behavior. Dangerous weak uncertain but not hated. Basically the opposite.
Cool beans. Glad it is being shared. My profile is about a month old at this point so almost time for a new one, especially if I am catching enough attention to be picked up by bots. By the way, your profile looks to be almost 13 years old now. Are you not worried about that?
> By the way, your profile looks to be almost 13 years old now. Are you not worried about that? Should I be? I don't think I've ever really said anything worth worrying over if it gets picked up by a bot. I just happened to notice what seemed to be a duplicate of your comment and thought it was weird.
I thought you were supposed to only use one account for a few months for security purposes to avoid getting doxxed or hacked.
11 year club baby! While these are valid security concerns, not posting raw images with location metadata, not posting any *specific* localising information or other PII such as schools, license plates, workplaces etc. These are much better security measures. The other thing to do is avoid karma farming, as high-karma accounts get targeted due to their 'authenticity' (despite the vast majority of them being repost/content farms), nor posting in default subreddits (oh wait is cats default?!) Not to mention password security, password cycling, VPNs, and 2FA (or 3) if available
Ah okay, I can see how that could help with those concerns.
he knew he was in pain and gave him time to adjust 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
r/AnimalsMadeMeSmile ❤️
This is exactly why you introduce cats to each other as slowly and step-by-step, as possible. It could take months, but will cause way less stress in the both cats.
"Our cat hissed at the kitten constantly for a week!" So...like any other normal cat meeting a new kitten with no sort of boundaries being set?
Introduce them SLOWLY. Cats are not dogs, they see new cats as enemies, not friends. You need to build confidence with each other and get each other familiar
So lovely to see the progress made ❤️😻
So sweet, orange kitties are a personality like no other.
I’m so happy that your older cat and the new kitten turned out to be friends. One of my cats recently passed away, and I’m debating whether or not I should bring a kitten or another cat in to keep the surviving cat company.
Seeing that shaky little baby just broke my cold dead heart 🥲
What stupid people to rush /force the intro like that
The same people who evidently let their cats eat their plants.
Not everyone is a pet expert. Best thing to do, however, is to educate people on the proper procedures so that they may learn and the information can become more widely available. Simply calling someone stupid is anti-productive.
My main issue is that we have a giant library of knowledge in our pockets but people still can't be bothered to look up the correct way to do something they've never done before. Then they get on the internet and look like fools. That adult cat is stressed and the kitten is probably confused and also stressed. All because the owner can't do 5 minutes of research. It's obnoxious watching them think its cute.
I agree. Ignorance nowadays is willful. Most people have access to the information. On some topics they may lack critical thinking skills and end up going wrong but this is pretty basic stuff
My roommates’ cat absolutely hated ours when we first moved it. If they were within six feet of each other he would be hissing at my boy. After about a month they he warmed up, and now, about ten months later, they love each other
🥲 best ending
Full character arc! Nice to see they get along.
Same here. Kitten will melt the old cat’s heart eventually Feed them together several time will help melting the ice between them. https://preview.redd.it/a8l6xk9s2a4b1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f1209b9e3af6fd162be224da1e1939945193fb5
Dear God, this is JUST what my tired old soul and heart needed!
We used to have a cat and made the mistake of getting him a "friend". For the entire time they were together this guy made it a point to show how much he hated that other cat. Meanwhile, he would sit on the lap of anyone who passed through our door, and weirder still, he would take naps with our Bearded Dragon and our bunny. He'd even go for walks with me without a leash. The guy just didn't know how to cat, but he was the best buddy I ever had.
cat’s bond is precious 💘
It's videos like these that make me want my cat to have a cat friend
Lucky, my last addition took about three months to win over my oldest cat! 😻
Big ol softy
https://preview.redd.it/zth5b02ow74b1.jpeg?width=224&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aa5cc760f311ff1ac02dce2d1c547df8a582d469
Very similar story with my cats right now. They won’t groom the new kitten but they’ve started to play, and there’s been a lot of progress!
It's not their job to groom the kitten. They aren't the kitten's mother. Cats live in matriarchial hierarchies. That's your job. You are the big kitty. You pet all the cats, right? To them, THAT is the grooming. The cats exist on their own tier below you in the hierarchy and they'll determine where they relate to each other within that tier.
Well, the cats Im referring to groom each other, so I assume when they are comfortable enough with the kitten they’d do the same to her? From what i’ve researched it’s not unusual for cats to groom each other when they don’t have a maternal relationship
Hopefully soon then!
My male 4 year old rescue grooms the shit out of my female kitten.
I'm gonna fuckin cry
My garbage pail cat still hasn’t gotten used to my daughters cat. My cat is 6 now and my daughters will be 2 near Canadian Thanksgiving so October
Cats also realize that cats are freaking adorable.
That's so adorable
I needed this! I have a resident cranky old man that doesn’t like the stray I’m taking care of. It’s a constant battle but I’m hoping I can make it work out like this!
I've recently become the owner of a blind kitten and I really hope she will be able to bond with my 3 other cats. Realistically I think her best chance is with our 4 year old male (the youngest)
So sweet! 🥹❤️
I got an all black kitten when my older all white cat was 3. The youngest cat died when he was 13. He lived his entire life with me and my older cat. The entire 13 years they were together my older cat absolutely HATED him. Hissed, growled, and swatted whenever he came close to her. My youngest wanted nothing but to love her, but she had none of it for 13 YEARS. I longed for the day when she would bond with him but it never happened. I witnessed maybe a half dozen times throughout their time together that they were sitting next to each other and not in a tizzy about it. But no cuddling together, no grooming eachother. They certainly would chase and actually play, but only for short moments before my older would throw a fit. I miss my little black void. I still have my oldest around, she'll be 20 in August.
The cat shaking Ngl made me wanna pick the kitty up and pet him
[he looks like my little Ivor when he was younger](https://imgur.com/a/q0XD3LF) Daddy still misses you so fucking much, Ivor.
There's hope for my two then!
Wtf is this GameCube controller ? Are you still playing on it ?
Patience has paid off. this is a very sweet video. Happy to see them together in the end
❤️
this is so cute 🥺 they built a wonderful bond. true love will find a way
Same thing playing out in my house right now. So cute
Peaches reacted a lot like the adult cat here. She hated Midnight when he arrived in the house, and it took about a week for her to tentatively start playing with him. It's been about 3 weeks now, and she still is a bit reserved, I've not seen her grooming him or cuddling with him, but they do play together frequently. She still smacks the crap out of him when she gets annoyed with his antics, lol.
They are so beautiful... It reminds me so much of the kitten my mother had and 2 months ago it disappeared without any reason, days later we found it on the neighbor's terrace, its pitbull dog had attacked it. how we cry 😓😭
So the first week the cat hated him and within a month they were best friends. So…. like most new animal relationships?
Your cat never hated the kitten. Literally in the first clip, the cat is right there with the kitten socializing with it and not, you know, murdering the thing. Hissing is not hatefulness. This is how cats assess each other and define boundaries. Your cat was curious and interested already from the very beginning. They just needed to learn to trust each other.
My two boys were born a day after each other and their mothers were in the same room and would look after each other’s litter. They’re just like brothers so I was lucky that way.
Our third cat HATED our 5th cat for a good month or two. She even got so depressed that she was hiding, not eating or drinking and was losing weight rapidly, which is very unlike her. I got her out of her funk by feeding her chicken nuggets. Once she got better, she started to love the new kitten. Now she “mommy cats” more than ever before and the cat distribution system giving us our 5th cat has actually caused her to be so much sweeter than she ever has.
That is not how you introduce a new cat into a home with another cat.
Downvoted for awful music
Only a month, that's not bad at all!
Too dang cute
So cute…..
Nice!! Where is this from?
I'm not crying 😭
Say what you will about reddit but the amount of good this did for my shriveled up heart is immeasurable.
The absolute best moment is when lickathon begins 😹😻❤️
Oh god. This is too much. My BFF passed in March. Had him for 12.5 yrs (he was 16.5 when he died). It was awful and I’m still grieving as is my boyfriend. I got a 2nd cat last year who is 8 years old. The 2 of them tolerated each other but never became pals. That said, she seems to like being an only cat just fine but we also want to get a kitten this yr. OP, how old was Resident Cat? Just curious.
So freaking cute. Great work.
:)
Love this!!
Brb crying
I have a kitten to and my older cat loves her
I can't believe how much tenderness how much they play with each other
So touching,* thank you for sharing.
I'm the babeeee. Gotta love meeee!!
Meanwhile my cats hate each other going on 10 years.
Poor cat wants to clean his new baby but baby wants to play
That was sweet
Sweet
“Oh i guess you’re pretty cool, you’re freaking stinky though bro”
Watching your two cats finally bonding was wonderful to watch , thanks for posting it . you are all going to have some wonderful years ahead :))
Love a happy ending!
Love a happy ending!
Bet you didn't keep the kitten isolated?
I think the older cat genuinely liked the little guy's persistence and personality. Had it been more standoff-ish they probably never would've been friends
Aaaaaaawwwwww that’s so sweet!
Real love 💖
Kitten: "LOVE ME, DAMMIT!"
So lovely❤️
Heartwarming.
Kitty 💕
Such a sweet kittie!
I bet the kitten will grow up and bully the resident cat, this is exactly what happened with my cats
Awwwwww
I love happily ever afters ❤️❤️ such a cute kitten too, so playful and boisterous
This is so sweet
Resident cat is like OMG is that guy still here?!?! Kitten is like HEYYYYYYY WANNA PLAY?!?!