heya fellow cat havers!
things are going pretty well, but I just wanted to hear from folks who are familiar with my situation :~)
I have gotten a kitten who’s 5 months old, and have been slowly introducing him to my soon-to-be-sweet-17-year-old cat. my old man is the sweetest, loveliest and clingiest boy in the world with humans, but he’s taking his time warming up to the kitten.
they live separately - kitten lives in the spare room - and they also have been feeding through a window into the spare room with full visual contact and no negative reactions (the architecture of this house is bizarre; there’s a window in the living room looking into the spare room lol. see the image for their feeding set-up).
they’re at a point where they can exist in the same room together for a limited time, provided the old man is distracted by treats and the kitten doesn’t touch him. however, as soon as the kitten approaches him too playfully, the old guy swats and hisses at him (with no claws out but… it’s not ideal). if the kitten dares gets in the way of him and treats, he also hisses and swats.
who else has dealt with introducing an old kitty to a kitten? how long did it take ya? are they besties now? it’s only been a week and a half so I’m well aware that it will take some time.
lovely advice!! biggins (old cat) is absolutely treat obsessed, so I assumed it was good positive reinforcement. but maybe I’ll just focus on them peacefully existing in the same area.
good point on making sure the kitten learns to respect him as well. in my heart of hearts, I hope they can approach some sort of friendship too. biggins has been getting very needy and anxious about being separate from his companions so I have been hoping that the little guy would provide some company.