New kitten, my 8 year old gone psycho.. help!

Colonel_Klinck · 14 Oct 2020 at 21:38

We had to have one of our cats put down 3 weeks ago. He was only 8 so completely unexpected, just suddenly went down hill and it turned out to be kidney failure

He was my mates cat, we got one each at the same time. My mate was obviously gutted

He wanted to get another kitten and this beautiful half Maine **** half Norwegian Forest came up. Now mine is a little territorial, he had a terrible relationship 3 years ago with a local tom who has moved away now but they would fight when ever they saw each other. There are 2 9 month old cats 3 doors up and he isn't too bad with them, tolerates them as long as they don't get too close, which they are always trying to do lol, if they come within 3 or 4 feet he'll just hiss or swear a bit as a warning and wander off. He doesn't act like he wants to fight them at all.

So we bought the kitten home and he was getting settled in in the living room. Mine was asleep on my bed but then wandered downstairs. Thought we put him in the kitchen and he'd be able to see the kitten through the glass door. Well lets just say he wasn't impressed when he spotted him. Lots of screaming and hissing, like proper howling. I thought he might not be happy but his reaction was far more ott than I expecting. Had to take him outside but he could see the kitten through the window and just kept swearing.

He's back in now and asleep on my bed with the door closed but how the hell are we going to introduce them? He's a massive softy with me but I was honestly worried he'd attack the kitten. Any suggestions? Anyone been through this with their cats?

Colonel_Klinck · 14 Oct 2020 at 22:07

Quartz said:
Keep the new kitten in a separate room. Let the older cat sniff him through the door for a few days. Then gradually introduce them. Plenty of Feliway too. And make sure you lavish attention on him.

Yeah thats the plan. Mate is going to keep kitten in his room over night with the door closed so mine can come and go as he pleases. Have a fishing rod with lures toy and he does play with it with the 2 cats from next door. Play seems to chill him out around them. Might try that out on the lawn in a couple of days time. I'm giving him lots of love.

Colonel_Klinck · 14 Oct 2020 at 22:10

SideWinder said:
Checked YouTube? Should be a lot of demos.

Yeah watched a couple. Good job I can take a couple of days off work as it could be a long few days.

Colonel_Klinck · 14 Oct 2020 at 22:25

He's super cute though

Colonel_Klinck · 14 Oct 2020 at 23:20

JRS said:
You're gonna have to rehost the pic somewhere @Colonel_Klinck. Imgur or similar.

Yeah have done now.

Just read the title and it reads like a psycho 8 years kid not cat lol

Colonel_Klinck · 15 Oct 2020 at 20:24

Roar87 said:
To clarify an adult male is referring to a cat as "my 8 year old"

Colonel_Klinck said:
Yeah have done now.

Just read the title and it reads like a psycho 8 years kid not cat lol

If only you'd read the thread you'd see it was a mistake. No surprise though really, just jump in with a snarky remark.

Colonel_Klinck · 15 Oct 2020 at 22:35

[FnG]magnolia said:
I jumped in with a snarky comment too but in my defence I'd actually realised the cross-over and chose to ignore it, plus I'm an assclown of the highest order. I'm not sure what roar's excuse is though - micro aggression on a comically wide scale perhaps?

His username is certainly fitting. He's an angry lad.

Colonel_Klinck · 22 Oct 2020 at 17:43

One week update.

Well took the advice and bought 2x feliway plugin and they worked miracles. Kept them apart for 2 days and then introduced mine to him again. This time he jumped up in a box he has on a low bookshelf and watched the kitten move around the living room, he'd swear at it if it came too close and they had a stare off that seemed to go on for ages but after about 20 minutes he curled up and went to sleep. Its just progressed from there, still gets sworn at if he gets too close and a couple of times he's got too close and got a thwack but nothing more. Considering its just a week and from the insanity of night 1 this seems like amazing progress. I think we were clearly naive and should never have shown my cat the kitten on day 1. I wasn't sure the Feliway thing would work but it really has chilled mine out, even if he's just had a good swear at the kitten he comes in my room, up on the bed and chills out incredibly quickly. If only there was such a thing for humans, I can think of several members on here that could do with such a product!

He is super cute