# my 2 year old female cat is nervous of my 8 week old male kitten



## diannedon123 (Sep 22, 2009)

Hello. 

Can you help???

I recently bought a beautiful 8 week old male kitten for company for my 2 year old loving female cat. However, on the initial introduction, Lola my 2 year old became immediately scared of Bennie the kitten.
I really want them to get on and I'm not forcing the issue either. Consequently there have been some changes with Lola's behavior, she hisses a lot (not only to the kitten but to my wife and I) even when the kitten is not around. She doesn't play or interact with us as much as she used to although we give her the same amount of love (if not more) as we did previously. She preferes to be out more than in but she does sleep at home in her bed at night. She still gets here treats etc; but I'm affraid that there might be a blood bath if they are re-introduced.
What can I do to relieve the stress of Lola and my wife and I by creating a happy home life for us all???:


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

One of the main things to do is chill out and relax - cats pick up on your stress and react to it. Hssing is fine - she is kjust showing him who is boss. Keep going as you are and give both a lot of love and affection - don't keep them separated all the time or they will never get used to each other, she hisses you take him away and she has won the battle in defending her territory - you need to leave them to get on with it really - she needs to realsie that he isn't going away. It is very confusing to keep having a kitten come and go. Try scent transferral (use a towel and rub their scents onto each other), a feliway diffuser, and feed and play with them togehter. Hope that helps


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## ClaireLily (Jul 8, 2008)

My one year old was seriously unimprressed when I brought home her new 9 week old sister and we suffered in a similar way to you whereby the elder started to ignore us. To make matters worse we then introduced her new 8 week old sister two weeks later. 

Tiffany (the eldest) has been much less affectionate towards us, to begin with she wasn't keen on Bellinda (the middle one) but by the time we got Jessica (youngest) Tiff and Bell were fine together, Bell and Jess also got on fine but it took a while for Tiff to accept Jess. 

We are now about 6 weeks down the line, Tiffany is back to her adorable loving self and gets on great with Bell, Bell and Jess are close and Tiff tolerates Jess. There is no more hissing unless Jess winds Tiff up.

Its just a matter of time, we left them all together while we were around but separated them over night to begin with because both the kittens were so small I didn't want to risk them getting lost or stuck somewhere or Tiffany having a go at them. Its very difficult to watch the paw swiping and hissing but it does get better and as previously said the best thing is just to let them get on with it.

I never thought I'd see the day when all 3 were close and happy but they routinely sleep on my bed, all 3 together.


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