New Kitten Troubles.

[drewhexsa]

I was wondering if anyone had tips on helping cats adjust to a new kitten. I understand that seperation and exchanging of smells is a good way, but my apartment is a loft style, and it's all one big room, so I have no way to keep them from interacting. Interacting, i should say, is so far limited to my resident cats running around meowling, hissing and puffed out. Any comments are welcome.

P.S. I just wanted to thank ya'll for being so nice. Your advice has helped me greatly over the past year as I never owned a cat before, to now having 3 beautiful little girls. I had a rough time when Rupert decided to roam away, but i love my kitties more than any people I know, and I consider them much more fun. Here's to many years of being owned by Felines.

here is the first pictures of my new baby, whom I have tentativly named Zelda:
http://img41.exs.cx/img41/7906/picture1714eg.th.jpg (http://img41.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img41&image=picture1714eg.jpg)
http://img41.exs.cx/img41/3355/picture2132ti.th.jpg (http://img41.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img41&image=picture2132ti.jpg)
http://img41.exs.cx/img41/3808/picture2096be.th.jpg (http://img41.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img41&image=picture2096be.jpg)

Zelda is a wild stray I found while helping take care of the rampant stray cat problem here in San Marcos. There are many, many trailer parks, and these people just let the area become nests for stray cats until animal services has to come a cull them all. :( She was the only one that wanted attention from the humans. I got to meet both her parents, and they were very nice, so I thought she'd make a nice transition from outside cat to inside, especially since she's so young.

[catnapper]

Can you cage her for a bit? Even having her caged will help the new ones get used to her. They can walk up to the cage, sniff and get used to her scent.

They will be hissing and growling for a little while. At elast a day or so. Depending on the cat, it might take a few weeks before they accept the new kitten. The last cat you adopted will take the newcomer the worst, and the first cat you ever had should accept the new comer best.

Let them interact naturally and let them work things out. Be there to "referee" but don't step in unless it get mean (claws out, biting, etc.) Swatting, etc will happen, but so long as claws are retracted, they are just testing the new cat. They will wrestle and play hard... again it had purpose... they need to establish her pecking order among the existing cats.

[sirrahbed]

I have no advice as I can't think of a thing that catnapper didn't cover - maybe use your carrier to hold her awhile...

I mostly wanted to say how ADORABLE that baby is!!:D An orangie will make a wonderful pet!!! She is a sweetheart!! So Zelda is a possible name?? Do you have others in mind, too?

[drewhexsa]

I don't have the heart to put her in the cage. she's so small, all she wants to do is cuddle up close to me, and if I disappear, she cries.I'd say she's maybe 6-8 weeks, ujust recently weened. the only dry food she's had is dog food, from one of the trailers she was living under. so far she's the sweetest, most affectionate cat i've met. I think she's very grateful to be living inside as apposed to the craziness of wild cat lifestyle.

This picture shows her broken tail. It's a very slight break, but it stunted growth.
http://img41.exs.cx/img41/3092/picture2150rq.jpg

This is my fave pic taken so far:
http://img41.exs.cx/img41/7519/picture2193vx.jpg

[Uabassoon]

Aww she's adorable! I don't really have too much advice, but would you be willing to keep her in the bathroom for a little while while the other kitties adjust?

Totally off topic, I used to go to band camp at SWT in San Marcos. It was always the highlight of my summer when I was a kid.

[catmandu]

I dont think,that Your Cats,are hostile,they are just showing Zelda,who,the Boos is.This happened,at The Found Cat Hotel,alot,and then things quiet down,and everyone,gets along,amazingly well ,here!

[sirrahbed]

I really think catmandu above is right - the resident cats need some time to show this newcomer that they were there first. Hissing and poofing is just going to happen! As long as you do not see any of the kitties acting vicious with her - I would just keep watch. I have brought very young cats into my house also and they were given the same treatment - but when I watched - I could see that the older ones knew they were babies and never hurt them. I did dee wrestling even, but they were gentle with them always. Now, my two babies have three doting family members :D Uncle Dylan, brother Eliot and sweet surrogate momma Emily!!

She is adorable and I hope you are enjoying all the cuddling as it sounds like this baby adores you so much!:)

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Zelda is such an adorable kitten. The look in her eyes tells us that she will be very loving indoor-cat! Good luck with the sweetheart!!
Do you have any idea how that tail got broken :eek: :confused:

[drewhexsa]

Big News. Zelda is not a girl!

I took him to the vet to get tested for leukimia and Feline AIDS, and worms and that sort of thing, and they said he was a boy! He's just very, very young, so I've become sort of a surrogate mother/father. He's very well behaved so far, and all tests came back negative so he's very healthy.

I have considered many names for him, Magnus, Flint, Maximus, Shere Khan, Rex, just to name a few.

The vet said that the break in his tail could be the little bit of Manx in him, which gives a sort of bobcat look. All of his litter mates had similar tails.