Tiny (rescue kitten) is double NEG! Woohooo! (smells, sleeping, blanket)
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Introductions tonight! Queen has made her position clear - no way! She hisses and spits at it - and growled at ME - she caught me holding it earlier and refuses to eat her lunch. I've confined her indoors right now - luckily the weather is stinko.
Older Tom cat is outside sleeping somewhere - as usual. He has expressed little interest in the kitten, except to allow it here. I don't think he sees it and his smeller hasn't been working well for months now. He's going to be the easy one.
We'll work on Tootsie.
Tiny is still in the bathroom, for his protection right now. At least I get to take him out more often and to not have to shut the door to the basement when I play with him.
If Tiny is a typical kitten, there will also be times when the older cats just need a break from the dervish-like ball of kitten energy so it's good he's still got his bathroom playpen.
Annie, it takes up to 6 months for cats to be introduced and to get to a point that they accept one another. For now, it would be a really good idea to keep Tiny separate from your other cats. But, to get the process going, you want to think of ways to get all the cats' curiosity up and running, regarding one another.
How about bringing in to Tiny something that Queen and Tom have their scents on and vise versa with Tiny? Also, bringing Tiny in something with your scent and your husband's scent will comfort this little one,too.
The key all the way around is security, love, and safety.
And the magic word above all is to go SLOW. Bites and scratches with cats can happen in a blink of an eye!
AND! Congrats on the double negative! That must be a HUGE relief off your mind! YooHoo is right!!!
I've been mixing up bedding - kitten smell everywhere - whenever the big ones are out of the house, I let him come and play in that room. I hold him 4-5 times a day so I smell like kitten. Kitten has a "kitty blanket" used by the other two as well as toys the younger one no longer plays with. Husband feeds kitten first thing in the morning and plays with him; and he gets the last feeding/snuggling at night. Then the 2 older cats join us for their big brushing of the day. Kitty smells mixing all around.
Since Tiny was an outdoor cat for a bunch of weeks, I'm going out to buy him a leash and harness. He was looking for a way to get out the window yesterday so I know he misses it. Today he gets to go for a walk.
DISASTER! I found a harness to fit the kitten and we tried it out in the house; let him walk around and play with it on. Then we took him outside - WHOA! Way too soon. He saw his familiar territory and started to take off, but the leash held; and the feel of the harness restraining him threw him into an absolute panic. It took us at least 15 minutes of holding, snuggling, petting him to calm his breathing down. That won't happen again for a long time. BIG mistake.
NY Annie, remember BABY steps. He needs to get used to the new life that is opening up to him. That in of itself is enough. I am so relieved that harness held......and yes, I am glad that you learned something very important.
I was afraid you were about to say that the harness wasn't tight enough so he got out of it! Whew. He'll get used to being indoors.
My cat likes to sit in the window just to look and get some sun. He doesn't want to go out. I rescued him from the outdoors at about ten months of age, and he'd had his fill of being out by then.
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