New Kitten In Town

Question
Well, a couple of days ago, my wife and daughter were outside with a friend when they heard mewing.  It was a very small underfed kitten.  This cute lil thing decided to hide under my truck.  After a bit of reluctance from myself I agreed to let them bring him in.  I was reluctant because we already had three full grown adult kitties.  2 fixed females and a fixed male.  The male was a shelter rescue and after a bit of reluctance the two females accepted him and he them.  Well fast forward about a year and we find this new kitten.  It's been two days and actually the two females who have never had any kittens of their own, have accepted the new lil guy, however the male is very very jealous.  He won't even allow me or any of my other family to pet him now.  He does nothing but growl and hiss when we go to show him any affection.  What can be done to calm him and let him know we still love him?  I fear the worst and that I will have to make a very hard choice and give up this cute lil speed demon.

Answer
Marc,

You need to do the introduction very slowly and correctly or you will have behavior problems.

A lot of male cats do not like kittens until they have grown up. It could be their smell or their energy. I have a male cat that HATES kittens. He would never hurt one except to bat it if it came too close, but he would hiss and growl constantly. Finally, the last kittens I got, he said "that's it" and moved to a neighbor's house that didn't have any animals! He came home when the kittens were about a year old and if fine with them now.

Keep the male separated from the kitten until you can gradually get him used to it.  It may take at least 2 weeks or more. And he may never like the kitten but you can hope for acceptance.

I am attaching a couple of links on how to go about the introduction process: (copy and paste, or type the whole links into your address bar)

http://www.messybeast.com/first-impressions.htm

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=cattocatintro...

You can get what is called Feliway (or Comfort Zone with Feliway). It is a spray and you can get plug-ins (try PetSmart, a vet (they use it too), or on-line). It is very popular and is great for calming cats and reducing stress. It copies the relaxing pheromones that cats produce from rubbing their faces on things.

Good luck,

Carol