Introducing a new kitten.

Shelli2

Hi all, would like some advice on introducing a new kitten to our house. We already have a cat who is close to 1yr old. She is a sweetheart, plays with the other cats in the garden and seems to 'invite' one particular cat in to share her food (who we constantly have to shoo out of our kitchen and occasionally wake from sleeping on our bed with her!), so she seems to mix ok with other cats anyway.

So, the first week of September, an new ickle 8wk old kitten is coming to join our family. As of yet we don't know the sex.

Is there anything specific we should do when introducing them?

Also, our cat is fed royal kanin kitten, but is due to move on when she turns 1yr old. At the moment, we fill her food bowl and she eats what she wants when she wants.

How will I feed them separately?

Any other issues you have encountered with new kittens coming in with cats? And how did you solve them?

ElleEm

We had our cat about 8 months before we got a kitten. We introduced them slowly, and monitored them together. We gave the older lad the same amount of attention as the little one, and made sure that both myself and my partner spent equal times with both.
Alas, it didn't work out as planned.
A year on, the little one antagonises the older fella. The older one growls like a dog anytime the little one looks in his direction and they "playfight" (I'm not so sure if it IS playing, although they don't hurt each other).
The older one is a very sociable cat. He loves being around people (even strangers) and has cat friends that come to the garden (and also eat his food!). The little one rarely strays far from home and isn't really into people that much.

We weren't very knowledgable about cats when we first got them so I often wonder did we do something wrong or is there just a natural personality clash.

Shelli2

Eek, hopefully that won't be the case with our two. I've had cats before, they were around when I was very young, so not much memory of them, and the other pair I had were brother and sister that I got as kittens together, so this situation is entirely new to me.

Shelli2

Anyone have any advice? D-day is fast approaching. I'm out shopping this weekend to buy some supplies, new collar etc.

Heroditas

If I may be so bold, feed them set amounts at set times. We used to feed our two a pouch between them at dinner time and then let them "graze" on kibbles during the day. As a result, they got a wee bit too fat.
We also had a third scamp adopt us last year and as a result they all have their own separate bowls. This works very well because one of them had to go on a special diet a couple of months ago when he had a kidney infection.
They all get set amounts at set times in their own bowls. Zero issues. they never try to rob each other's food ..... much.

You might have an issue with the two cats if they're both female. Our original two were brother and sister and the sister still isn't too friendly with the newbie because she's also a female.
The brother gets on fine with her though. I just think that female cats can be a bit hissy with each other due to their social structures.

Apart from that, just take each day slowly. Once they can be fed at the same time, usually the problems disappear. Certainly that was the biggest step overcome for us once all three of ours could eat in the same room without murdering each other.