Tips on getting a older kitten and 2 smaller kittens to mix?

Question

I have a 4 month old kitten already and have just been handed 2 eight week old kittens. does any one have any tips on helping them get along?

Answer 1

Hi!

Congratualtions on your new kittens :-)

A 4 month old kitten should get along with the new kittens more easily than an adult cat, so hopefully you should have an easier ride than most people!

Is your older kitten male or female? How about the younger kits? Generally speaking, cats of the opposite sex tend to fight less as there is less competition. Having said that, I had 2 male cats and 1 female growing up and the 2 males were the best of friends whilst the female was distant with both of them!

What you should do is provide a safe room for your two new kittens where they can stay when you are asleep or out of the house. If your older kitten sleeps in your room with you at night, allow him to still do this. The best thing to do is give your older kitten lots of attention (even more than he usually gets) and try not to disrupt his routine too much if you can help it.

If you've already done this and haven't yet introduced the younger kits to your older one, you are on the right track. If you have introduced them and they are getting on absolutely fine, you are probably ok to carry on the way you are, but keep them separate when you're not able to supervise.

Let's say you haven't introduced them yet, or you have and there was lots of hissing, or perhaps hiding. You will need to keep the kittens in a safe room with all their things and let your older kitten sniff under the door. Leave it at least one full day and night - 2 or 3 if you can. It is also useful to put your older kitten in their room and let them explore the house whilst he is shut in their room. This will enable the kittens to get accustomed with their new home before having to worry about your older kitten and also allow your older kitten to get used to the scent of the new kittens. If you do this switch, make it less than an hour and you can do it a couple of times per day if you wish.

You can also try rubbing the new kittens with a towel and then rubbing your older kitten (and vice versa) to mix their scents.

As long as there is no hissing from any kitten under the door, after at least one day and night of separation, you can introduce them. If there is hissing or hiding, or any sign of stress, just wait a few more days until all kittens are calmer.

When you do introduce them, just open the door to their room and let them come out (or your older kitten go in!) at their own pace. Don't force them, carry them or entice them out. Never just plonk one kitten down in front of the other! And don't force them to be together if they don't want to be. If one wants to wander off, let him. Having said that, it might be useful (especially if you live in a house) to close some doors off so that you can keep an eye on them. I live in a 2-bed apartment and we kept 1 bedroom and the bathroom closed off during their first introductions to make sure we could keep an eye on them. We also provided boxes and hiding places so that our new kitten could hide if she felt scared. For the first two weeks she was definitely grateful for this! And it was a good way to get them to play - she would hide in the box, our older cat would be outside the box, and they would pat each other's paws until they got bored! So you might want to consider creating a little make-shift playground for them to help them along! :-)

Keep the first introductions short and observe at all times. Your older kitten may pounce on them and try to assert his authority. Don't worry. Leave them to it. If any of the 3 kittens becomes too stressed, frightened or seems to be getting hurt, separate them again and introduce them later.

Don't feed them together straight away. Feed your older kitten on one side of the door to the room the kittens are being kept in, and feed the kittens on the other. This way, they will all come to associate food (something pleasurable)with the scent of the other kittens, which should help them to get along better.

If they are getting on fine after a week, you can try feeding them in the same room, and eventually side by side. Just make sure that your older kitten doesn't eat your younger kitten's food!

You will need to feed your younger kittens separately for a week anyway if you are going to feed them a different brand of food to your older kitten. If possible, you should try to feed them whatever brand your breeder has been feeding them for the first 3 days, then gradually introduce your own food. You probably already know this! If you feed them all together, you will probably find that the kittens eat the older kitten's food and the older kitten eats the new kittens' food - resulting in 3 poor kittens with tummy upsets!

The most important things to remember are to separate the younger kittens from your older kitten, even if they seem to be getting along well. At 4 months old your kitten is probably a lot bigger than your newcomers! Even if it is accidental, he could cause them harm, so it's better to be safe than sorry. Keep them apart when you aren't around until your kittens are at least 3 months old and can handle themselves better! :-)

Secondly, remember to have patience :-) I have a 1 year old male cat and we rescued a female kitten who was about 5 or 6 weeks old at the time. It's taken 2 months for them to really settle, and my older cat has only recently started grooming her. So don't panic if things don't go smoothly for the first few weeks.

I imagine that you won't have many problems though, as your existing kitten is still quite young!

Good luck and enjoy your new kittens!

xx Emmie

Answer 2

if the kittens are siblings then they are used to each other which makes things easier.. introduce them slowly to your 4 month kitten and make sure the 4 month gets loads of attention (the babies have each other).... there will be spitting and hissing but it should calm down especially s your older cat is still very young.......
we had a 14 month cats then got a 7 week kitten the older cat was quite hissy but never hurt the kitten. ten 4 weks later we got an 8 week kitten...... the 2 kittens were hissing and slapping each other at 1st but in just 4 days they were cuddled up togther and now love each other.......... the older cat joins in with the fun when she can be bothered and sometimes will wash the 2 babies.........

Answer 3

A really good trick to use is to take the blanket your older kitten usually sleeps on and rub it all over the two younger ones. That way the scent of the older one will be on them and then they won't seem so strange at first to him/her. Obviously this won't completely solve the issue, but it will help smooth over the rough edges of introducing the new kittens to your home.

Answer 4

This should be quite easy due to their age.

I hope their all vaccinated?

Keep them seperated at first and swap their bedding over so they can get the scent of each other for a couple of days.

Then on the big day have some boiled check to hand introduce one at a time. Holding onto the youngster and throw little pieces of chicken to each of them.

It's natural cat behaviour for the exisitng cat to be more accepting of the newcomer, when they have brought their kill in with them to share.

Be careful about leaving them together unsupervised for a while until you are sure they are safe together. The older one will want to play fight with the youngsters and might be a bit rough for them.

You are going to have a fun time on your hands.

Enoy.

Answer 5

My kitten was 4 months old when I had three foster kittens who were about two months. He was sort of a "bully" with them and mostly they loved his attentions anyway. So you just have to be aware of how agressive the older kitten might be and separate them frequently to give the young kittens some time by themselves.

Answer 6

Since they are so young - just with time they should be fine. You need to get them neutered as soon as they can. Your 4 month old kitten may feel like you are bringing othe pets on its territory so dont be surprised if it pees or is nasty to the younger ones!

Answer 7

4 weeks is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to young for it to be eating dry food. She needs to feed on the mother still. usually they are weaned... do you know what that means?... not drinking mother's milk, by 7-8 wks... ready to go a new home at 8wks.... do some research before you make your kitten sick

Answer 8

Dr. John is an idiot.

Be patient it helps when they are the same sex, but if not it will take a little longer but they will get use to each other try to watch them and when you can be in the room with them try to bring them together and see what happens. Eventually they will realize that they have to make it work and they give up on the bad behavior.
MP

Answer 9

Dr. John and Kevin B. are morons. Just give them time. The older one may act aggressively, but probably won't really hurt the little ones. He/she will just establish his/her rank of head cat. They should be fine in no time!

Answer 10

she will take a lot of time to get use to them