I adopted a kitten and my older cats are fighting and refuse to share the litterbox.?

Question

My new kitten is about a year old and my three other cats are seniors now (6 to 7) and reacted against the new kitten when I introduced them. I had a seperate litterbox for the kitten in my room but it's been almost three weeks since I adopted him. So I moved his litterbox near the others and he understands where it is but the others hiss at him whenever he tries to use it.

This morning the kitten had an accident on my bed. (The last cat I adopted, he's the youngest of the three I've had before the new kitten, has been extremely jealous and has gone as far to hit, and bite him.) My kitten wanted to leave my room and use the litterbox but my tabby kept hissing at him and my kitten was too afraid to leave my room and urinated on my leg while I was sleeping.

I don't know what to do and I don't want to give him away since he was adopted and a stray twice before. Is this just a time issue on accepting each other or something else?

The kitten does have his own litterbox and so do my older cats. They're seperated and even have different litter.

Answer 1

Try getting another litterbox, perhaps two more and seperate them.

Answer 2

In a multicat home, you should always have one more litterbox than the number of cats you have.

The introductions should be done slowly. You should keep the new kitten isolated for the first two weeks to ensure they're not incubating anything that could be passed onto your other cats and also to give them time to settle without the stress of meeting the other cats. Once this has been done, then you start swapping them around, bring the kitten out and put the others in isolation where he's been for a little while. This allows the kitten to explore his new home without running into the bullies and familiarises other cats with the scent of a new cat. After a few days, then it's time to meet, but not face to face, through a glass or screen door eg: a shower screen. With the kitten on one side and the other cats on the other, you can feed them all at this time and see if they're comfortable with it. A crate or carrier will do, as it protects the kittens and the other cats can check him out and not feel as threatened as he is confined. After a few days of that, then they can meet face to face briefly, monitor to see how it goes. If it goes well you can lengthen the time they spend together. Don't leave the kitten unsupervised with them until you're sure that they won't seriously hurt him. Kittens are little and adult cats can and will kill them.

Spring is a difficult time for some cats (especially if they're not neutered) as hormone levels are raised. There are probably cats around outside who are on heat or looking for a mate and these can often cause disruptions to your cat family too. They know there's another cat around and they feel threatened. Observe the hierachy of your cats and enforce it, the older cats should receive food first, pats first, everything first, from the most dominant to the least dominant then the new kitten.

It's not too late to start again, just take it slowly.

Answer 3

Thats a pretty natural response from the cat's. There's something new and unfamiliar to them. Just be patient. I remember when we rescued jerry our white persian. he did not get a long with anyone. It took about a year for sweetness to win him over. but eventually they all learned to live with each other. Yeah now and then kittens have "accident's" what you should do is when you see her start to have an accident on the bed pick her up and swaddle her close like a baby and talk in a soothing voice and carry her to the litter box and put her in it. Keep the other cat's away as they may scare her out of using the litter box. It takes patience thats all. You may have to do this several times but eventually the kitten will get the idea to use the litter box. I found the swaddling method somewhere online can't remember where but it is very effective. eventually the other cats will start to get a long. Some sooner some later depending on them. Yeah it's all about acceptence, time and patience. Eventually they will get a long or at least learn to live with each other. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Cats fight all the time. I have currenty 11 cats and kittens, which I have two for adoption right now. Plus it's a territorial thing too. If they start fighting get a water gun or spray bottle and spray the one starting the fight. Cats hate water and it's the most humane way to train them. I think your suppossed to have like 1 litter box for every two cats but you may want a 3rd. Also put like a cloth on the cat or something the cat lays on a lot and introduce it to the other cats that will let them get used to the smell. Or rub the other cats with a cloth and then rub it on the kitten so they will have their smell on the kitten. You don't necisserly have to seperate them. Just be patient. and have water gun or bottle close by at all times. They are trying to show who is alpha female and aloha male.

Answer 4

I feel for you, I adopted two kittens last year and brought them home to my super stubborn and ill tempered 8 year old cat. It took a month or more before he'd even sit in the same room with them. It can have something to do with his smell, some shelters, etc., spray their animals with a disinfectant (sp?) spray and other cats can pick up on it and know that he doesn't belong there because he doesn't smell like them.

How I fixed mine - I gave them all a bath within a few minutes of each other - it pissed them all off massively, but that gave them their individual issues to sulk through and get over - after that, they seemed to bond a little more each day. Each were having the same problem, wet and mad - it didn't matter who was new and who'd been there the longest.

Also, put the poor things litter box back in your room, no need making him suffer when he has to use it and can't get to it. Your cats will come around.

Try the bath thing and if you can't bathe them in water, you can get this dry bath stuff from pet stores or Wal-Mart - just dust them good - it changes their smell and it's like resetting their noses. They also have wet bath clothes - they work good too. Both are inexpensive, under $4 in WMart I believe.

One last idea: Not sure if any of them are on special diets or anything - but:

Sit in the floor with the new kitty, pet him and show him some love. While you're petting him, call the others over and try to show them the same amount of attention. If they are hesitant to come, toss a treat to them, let them know that getting to know the new kitty and not hitting him, can be rewarding for them by getting a treat when they behave themselves around him.

And don't scold them when they do hiss, they don't know why you're yelling, and plus, it sometimes makes them take their agression out even more on the new kitty. They associate getting yelled at with him showing up.

THE KEY IS PATIENCE! Cats are crazy creatures, each set in his own way. Show them extra attention and let them know that this new kitty is not going to replace them.

AND KUDOS to you for adopting them - you're a great person.

GOOD LUCK! and please - BE PATIENT!

Answer 5

Cats take alot longer to adjust to one another than dogs do. 3 weeks is to soon to put them together. Put the litterbox back where it was and give the kitten his own space away from the other cats. It took our one cat 6 months to get used to the new addition and even now, they are not the best of friends but they do tolerate eachother.

Answer 6

It is way to soon for you to have introduced your cats. You need to segregate them until you see the older cats smelling under the door or playing with their paws, etc. You may try rubbing a dry wash cloth over the new kitten and placing the wash cloth near the older cats' food dishes.
Each cat should have their own litter box, as this is a very territorial affair.
Be patient. It can take months to introduce cats.

Answer 7

I would separate both the cats and the litterbox for a couple of weeks. give the kitten the best space (with you) so that the others know it isn't leaving. Then, slowly let them spend more and more time together.

Also, consider going to the vet and getting some tranquilzers to help the urinating cat during the transition.

Answer 8

Sounds like normal behavior for cats. Cats are usually pretty territorial creatures and do not like it when "strangers" move into "their space." When my wife and I got married and moved in together, we each had two cats that we each had for about a year or more before we got married. When we first introduced them to each other, there was a lot of growling and hissing between her cats and my cats. (In fact, the very first day, we kept my two male cats isolated in the spare bedroom, but the minute we let her two female cats out into our living room, they already knew they were there and were not happy! In fact, Gabby spent the entire first day just roaming around the living room sniffing the floor and growling and hissing incessantly!) It took several months, but they eventually and gradually started to get along and now tolerate each other pretty well (its been about 2 years now since they moved in together). On rare occasions you may even see one of my cats lying down right next to one of hers peacefully, or they will play with each other a little. Anyway, the point is that it usually takes time, but I'm sure eventually they will get used to each other; you just need to be patient with them. You say you've had the new kitten for three weeks and believe me it usually takes much longer than that. In the meantime you should probably just leave out a separate litter box for your kitten until your older cats learn to get along with him; in fact you may even need to leave it out permanently in order to keep the peace. Whatever works. Good luck!

Answer 9

Hi, I had problems similar to Yours , sometime my home has been hosting as much as 7 cats , one time a father was becoming very aggressive against a grown up son , he was trying to kill him.
The solution has been to use a spray that mimic "facial pheromones" of cats , I call it the "All is good" spray.
It calmed all the negative behaviors.
Take a look to this link (I hope Yahoo will let me to put a working link)
http://www.vpl.com/product.php?catmain=&mainkey=&pid=58&key=24&cat=Behavior

anyway the name of the product is Feliway®

I hope this will helps You

Answer 10

Simple.You buy a cage.Then you put you Tabby or whatever it's name in a cage with your other cats for 5 month.When they used each other,you unlock em' and they will walk out from cage with full of love.