new cat into the family grady

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bradie96

Member Since 2009
so i have brought another cat into the family since letting my patches go in march this yr, i have a 12 yr old cat named molly, she is very friendly and still very playful, its been a while since ive had kittens in the house (i got molly and patches within months of each other) so they were both kittens, molly is not happy :evil: with the new addition of grady who is 2 mos old, so for those who have added another pet how long did it take for them to tolerate each other? she hasnt attacked him (just a few swipes) and they have touched noses, and she just hisses and growls but i feel bad because she stays upstairs and she hasnt eaten alot. i have been trying to decide if i get one now or when she is gone down the road. i am not sure if i made the right decision and i dont want to lose my molly for the rest of the time i may have with her nor do i want her to be mad and become that cat that just stays upstairs..i have been keeping the new kitty out most of the day because she is a howler in the room closed up on the main floor, i think since the weather has cooled down she may stay upstairs while im gone and at night (hope that isnt too long) until they deal with each other better.

'thank you!

Jennie :
 
I have heard that this works: Rub a hand towel on the new cat. Then, put that towel under the food bowl for the older cat. Molly may refuse to eat. (She's not diabetic, right? Well, if she is you can't use this method.) Anyway, just leave the towel there until she decides eating is more important. Some people have had success getting the established cat to accept the new cat this way, and she decides that the new cat is all right.

Otherwise, you just wait. Give her a lot of love, and cover your furniture with plastic wrap. (I'm not kidding. You can get plastic furniture wrap at the Home Depot or somewhere like that.)
 
I just added another cat to my house. I did not want another cat as I just lost two in November within five days of each other. Anyhow this one was a stray on the street. Please see my post on Community for pictures and the whole story.
I had two cats before I brought the stray in a couple days ago. I have a two year old female who is a brat and a 12 or 13 year old male(he was a stray rescue).
The male went right up to the new cat and did not hiss or anything, he pays no attention to him at all. The brat(Lucy) hisses, growls gets raccoon tail everything you cat think of.
I currently have the new kitty in a spare room and am trying to introduce him slowly into the household. I put up a baby gate and slowly let them see each other for a little while, I will also let him out while Lucy is sleeping to get his scent around then put him back in the room.
I know how you feel as I am going through the same thing right now. Hope they start to get along a little better.

Terri
 
molly isnt diabetic, i did notice molly ate later in the night and i brought her food up to her this afternoon and she ate some, i also noticed when i did bring her down when the other cat was in the room that she was shaking like a scared shaking....i tried the separation in another room but i have to put the litter in there and i get not a nice smelling house, plus a nice loud howling from the kitten that i am not wanting to listen to all night long...again.

i read yours terri and i cant imagine what you dealt with! i really didn't want another one either, i thought maybe id get one to give molly a playmate but i am thinking maybe she was content being the only cat in the house, plus the adoption fees were $8 this month i told myself id give it another week and if no improvement i know of a few people who have been looking for a kitten and they have no other pets, id hate to do it BUT i cant let molly not be able to live in her own house without being scared or whatever she is now, plus patches lived a not so nice end of his life for 3 yrs with his diabetes dont want her to live the rest of hers in seclusion mad at me.
 
Hello.
I have never had any luck getting older cats to make friends with kittens.

I have 2 indoor cats currently, down from 3. They were all only a few years different in age.
The oldest cat ( if it's the alpha) always gets challenged by the younger one ( nature's way) and Mollie may be stressed from
that possibility even though they haven't really been interacting yet. But that will come as the kitten starts coming into his own.
My former older cat ( norwegian forest ) got very ill and then all the animals picked on her because they sensed she was weak.

The second oldest cat we have doesn't like anybody but my son. She has always been that way. IF she comes out near the rest of
us, she just hisses and runs away.
The youngest who is now 12-Shadow- is the alpha and will still let the 2nd one know it if she feels like it. She is why I am here.
She would not adapt to me ever bringing in another cat. She doesn't even like company.

My own observation is that cats that are closer in age, or kittens that grow up together make friends easier. Some cats learn to
adapt better than others. Usually those cats have always been around a lot of action or lots of other animals all their lives.

So while I think it's possible for your cat to learn, I'm not sure you have any better odds than 50/50. Probably a lot lower. She is 12 .
She's already hiding and you are keeping the kitten mostly under wraps. If Mollie were feeling confident and strong, she
wouldn't be running away even before a real confrontation by the kitten.

There is always a dynamic between our pets in our household. I see cats to rescue all the time in shelters and I know that
Shadow would not adapt well at all and I will have to wait to rescue others later on when she is gone.
I'll always have cats but Shadow is my favorite and the one who will completely break my heart when her time comes.
 
i brought up molly and patches as kittens so i guess i was expecting the same bringing in a new one (plus i havent had a new cat in 13 yrs) there are no kids in the house yet so she really has only been around me, my boyfriend and patches....
molly has only maybe two little mouthfuls of food as i watched her intake since wednesday. ...so i am coming to the conclusion this wasnt a good idea but was worth the try to adopt from the APL, maybe 2 kittens if i had none but if we are on day 3 and she wont come downstairs i think it may be time to take the new kitty back to the apl to find a family where she isnt going to be bullied everytime molly is out or me be worried that i am going to have to break up fights all the time....OR the fact that i dont want to put either cat thru this....
her and my patches were tied at the hip since kittens so maybe she is thinking in her little head that this one is replacing him....i dont know they could be that smart ;-) who knows.....
 
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