Cat meets Kitten

Question
Hi Norman,

I bought a kitten on Thurday at 8 weeks old, the thing is my other cat (established 2 year old) hisses/growls as if he's really scared - even though he runs away I have been putting the kitten in the spare bedroom (safe room) while I'm out of the house just to be on the safe side.  It's very tiring making sure the kitten has regular visits and giving my established cat all the attention he needs.  The hissing and growling scares the kitten and I'm scared it will hinder his development if it persists (ie. make him really nervous).

I've been using scent familiarisation (which is tiring) all weekend and put my adult established cat into the kittens safe room (no kitten present) for an hour and he sat hissing, growling and scratching at the door.  He can't be in the same room with the kitten and would prefer not to eat if it means being in the same room.  Will this get better and how much longer will it take.  Any tips would be greatly appreciated

Help!  Thanks, Mandy

Answer
Mandy,

OK.  What you need to do is very, very counter intuitive.  You need to stop separating them and let them work out their relationship. Cats will hiss and spit and even loosen some fur, but they will not hurt each other.  Everything you have told me about your established cat's behavior towards the kitten is totally normal and usual!

You may have to have a separate litter pans for a while and, maybe even separate food dishes. These two need to be around each other to continue the "getting acquainted process".  Now, what you need to do is to ignore any of their conversations and leave them alone.  I have two rules about cat inter-relationships: (1) Any human intervention is counter productive and (2) We humans do not understand the process.

Giving your established cat extra treats and attention is a good thing to do to try to prevent any jealousy issues.  Also, you must not fall into the trap of assigning human motives or emotions to the cats as they do not think like we do.

If they begin to chase each other, even if it ends up in a "fight", this is a good thing.  One last comment:  If you saw how roughly little new born kittens play with each other, none of this would surprise you.  Cat skin is very, very tough and cats play incredibly roughly with each other.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best regards... Norm.