Help! Maggie and Bailey need help adjusting with my brand new kitty!

[pinkelbows]

Yestersay I adopted a 6 month old male Turkish Van and when I brought him home my other two cats Maggie and Bailey did not take it well AT ALL! Maggie seemed ok with him until he went by the food bowl, then she started hissing and grunting. Bailey wouldn't even even let him NEAR her and keeps hissing and swiping at him. She is EXTREMELY upset by all of this!!! (Bailey is a VERY sensitive baby to begin with!). I feel awful because the new baby is very sweet and is trying to make friends but right now my other two babies aren't having it. What should I do? On top of all this, I will be moving into a new apartment next week but right now we are all living in my boyfriend's parents basement which is small and cramped. Because I don't want to leave them unattended while we are at work, I took the new kitty to a friend's house and plan on staying with him there until we move into the new place. Maybe if I slowly re-introduce them after we move things will be a bit better? Also, the new kitty has alot of discharge around his eyes and is sneezing alot. Could Maggie and Bailey be freaking out because they sense he is sick? I REALLY need help! I've only had my cats for a little over a year and have had no prior pets before them!

Any advice at all would be greatly appriciated!

[Prairie Purrs]

Welcome to Pet Talk! Definitely the place to come for kitty advice.

You should take the new kitty to the vet right away, because he's almost certainly got an upper respiratory infection. You'll want to keep him separated from Maggie and Bailey until he gets over that, so it's good that they're in separate quarters for now.

Because the new apartment will be unfamiliar territory, everybody will likely be nervous at first. Just give all the kitties lots of love and reassurance.

Once the URI is better, you can let new kitty and Maggie and Bailey gradually start interacting. As long as they don't get into a major fight, don't worry about the hissing. Have a water bottle handy in case anybody does get out of hand. Make sure they each have their own food bowls and litter boxes.

Good luck!

[pinkelbows]

here is a pic of the new baby....isn't he just too cute!

[L. Wayne]

Pinkelbows, I can't add much to what Catsindenver has already said, but welcome to the Pet Talk forum.

When you get into your new home, I suggest that you keep your new kitty separated from the others in a room by himself. This is so the others can get used to his being around and also to give him time to get over his Upper Respitory Infection (URI). Also, it is good to give your pride some special cat food for their introduction into the new apartment. Perhaps some tuna cat dinner -some treat that they are not used to. Your vet will prescribe some meds for this URI condition, (probably Amoxycillin and/ or terramycin) . URI is contageous, therefore it is necessary to keep him separated from the others. He should be over it in about a week at the most. After that, the others will have had time to get used to his scent and will be more likely to accept him into the pride. Keep us posted on his recovery and their introductory progress.

............wayne

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Welcome to PT pinkelbows! You've got some good advice here, so hopefully the introductions will go a little smoother.

Your new kitty certainly is adorable!

[HayleyRosie]

Welcome to Pet Talk! Your new kitty is adorable. Can we see pictures of the other two?

[Gabrielle]

hi I had the same problem. I had a kitten name Benji and i got a knew kitten, benji would hiss and hiss, so what i did was put the new kitten in a room away from benjie, then I would get some thing that smelled like my knew kitten and give it to benjie to smell. He would smell and hiss at it so i put them together and they would hiss at each other but after a weeek they were best friends.

[mpoier]

What a pretty kitty!

Now, to ensure that your kitty stays pretty, take the advice of everyone here!

1. Get the kitty to the VET ASAP!
2. Need to seperate the babies for at least 2 weeks, during that time, make sure you exchange rooms so they can smell each other and get used to it.

It took my kitty libby 3 weeks to "allow" Bailey to be in her "territory"..basicly they have to prove that they are the "alpha" in the family.

You will also see some "stare downs" and hear some hissing, but as long as the claws are not out - its all normal!

Good luck and congrats on the new addition to your family!

M

[purplecat]

oh boy! i've been there and let me tell you, it's a challenge well worth the work! my first kitty came 6 years ago and 2 years ago i introduced a darling stray. it was my dream to have them become best friends and live happily ever after. two years later i'm still breaking up tussels and fussing at them for annoying each other. BUT...here's the catch! about a month ago i found them laying together on the bed with miko licking ian's ear. they were busted being nice to each other!!!! good luck - i hope your new kitty is feeling better and will be healthy and happy in the new home.