Just querying a little concern I have.

So about three weeks ago I got a new kitten. She wasn't planned but it was an emergency situation for her to be rehomed and I was intending to get a second cat soon anyway.

So I already have a cat an adult male called Yoshi and he's 9 years old. Now she's not the first cat he's met in his own home but he is taking a while to adjust. The first few days he didn't want to come in voluntarily and now he's still not comfortable and hates being shut in. But I have noticed some improvements. He was very growly and hissy at her if he just spotted her but now reserves that if she only gets too close.

The problem is he's gone from active avoidance to dominance on occasion. She is very hyper so I can understand his frustration and try to make sure he has as much space as possible. But sometimes now she gets too much (she wants to play with him) and a couple of times instead of swatting and walking away he's grabbed her and tried to bite her head. It's not cat play. It looks more like he's treating her like prey. I've had to shout at him to get him to stop and he does. The kitten is entirely unfazed and has no injuries when I look. In fact she still tries to play with him.

I'm sure once she is not kitten hyper and not trying to play with him. (She plays tag and he hates it) things will improve. He's not outright trying to kill her and mostly wants to be left alone. But should I be worried?

BTW I never leave them together unattended.

Older cat will get used to kitten - kitten just needs to learn boundaries and who is top cat. Totally natural behaviour.

The older cat getting hold of the kitten and biting it would worry me a bit, but hopefully, eventually, the older cat will start to enjoy having someone to play with. Had a similar situation when i took in an unwanted kitten, my older cat would hide away from the kitten and would hiss and spit at it, but eventually he decided it was good to have someone to play with as he had always been uanable to play with my oldest cat who was 10 years his senior and a little scrap compared to the big lad that he had grown into.
Sadly, little kitty disappeared into thin air at 9 months old, so he lost his playmate and I lost an adorable little cat.
Hopefully, in time, your two will become great playmates, but for the moment, the older one is being rather territorial!

I'm here laughing as I got a new kitten on Wednesday and this morning my big boy literally had her head in his mouth and it didn't appear friendly or playful to me either, he has his moments where he seems to like her, then she pushes him a bit far normally he yells and runs off this morning not so much She was a bit soggy but not phased by it lol

I've introduced a kitten to my pair of 3 year old cats.

Got him when he was 8 weeks old, he was the dominant one from his litter mates, but in a good way. It's definitely helped him stand up for himself.

I didn't do any of the keeping them separate etc, I just brought him home and plonked them all together. There was lots of hissing initially, and my more timid boy cat left home on two occasions for over 10 days each time. The kitten wasn't bullying him, he's just scared of bloody everything, even the tiny invader.

What forced it was I was about to move house, and so rather than lose my boy again and not be able to find him when I needed to move house, I locked him in for 3 weeks before we moved. It forced him and the kitten to spend time together. Then when I moved they were all locked in together for 2 weeks, and that's sorted out any remaining issues. There's still a bit of hissing, but mainly because the kitten always wants to play and they don't want to join in.

I did worry it wasn't going to work early on, but now they've finally bonded and are almost what I would call friends.

Thanks for the replies.

I guess I'll just keep an eye on things. The kitten (Houdini) just thinks it all one big game. My adult cat (Yoshi) has never been much of a game playing cat so it's probably just a clash of personalities. When she isn't bothering him he's fine with her. He'll eat and sleep with her in the same room and there have been very brief nose sniffing moments. But that lasts all of a second before Yoshi goes into hissing/growling/swatting/I'm outta here mode.

It's nice to know though that it isn't entirely unusual. And It has only been three weeks. I suspect Yoshi will start mellowing more when Houdini is a year old. Or rather when she is no longer a kitten but a female cat. (I'm getting her spayed before Christmas and he's neutered so no extra kittens) From experience I've seen him interact better with female cats.

http://www.fourpaws.org/pages/adopti...cing_cats.html

I more or less did what this site advised. I kept the kitten separate for about a week and gradually introduces them.

My experience - with a 8-9 week old kitten joining a house with a 7 year old adult was much the same. The kitten loved everything, the adult was very put out.

The advice I read and tried to follow was not to actively keep them apart, but to make sure they never had to compete over resources - separate places to eat, separate places to drink, separate litter trays (several people recommend one more litter tray than you have cats but I stuck at 2). That way the fights that they inevitably have are little things they can resolve themselves and neither feels really threatened.

Now they are fine!