Socializing cats, part two

It's generally not safe to leave an existing cat and a new kitten unsupervised together until you know that the older one won't try to off the younger one. So, we've been keeping the kitten behind closed doors in my room, and giving the older cat the run of the rest of the house.

The flaw in this notion is that Penwiper's been hanging out a lot in my newly re-arranged room lately, and is deeply unhappy at the closed door. So at 5:30 this morning, a half-hour's worth of meowing ensued, waking all of the adults in the household. This after the kitten had been playing pounce across the bedsheets.

I finally put the kitten back in her carrier and opened my room door, allowing Penwiper to come in. A couple of rounds of "approach, investigate, hiss, retreat..." - but the meowing lessened. The third time, Penwiper came up on my bed and let me pet her for a bit and then wandered back out - without hissing at the kitten. I think she might have a better time learning to tolerate the kitten if she isn't kept out of rooms, or away from people, that she considers to be hers.

Not sure what to do with this. Clearly the closed door is not happymaking, but it's still not safe to let them alone unsupervised. And we can't keep the kitten in the carrier for long periods - that is upsetting to the kitten.

Penwiper just approached a 4th time, coming up on my bed and being petted... she hissed at the kitten on her way out. And then she came through several more times, sometimes with and sometimes without the hisses. The meowing is still there, but has lessened, and - given the glances at the window - has to do in part with her existing annoyance about not being allowed outside, which we haven't been letting her do as much lately after she disappeared for 3 days on one excursion. It's been a hard time for her lately, with the 18yo going to college and lots of furniture being rearranged in the process. What with the new little kitten, we're worried she might choose to stay away even more.

The other adults seem to have gone back to sleep - me, I need to be up in 20 min anyway for work, and further sleep doesn't seem to be happening. Given that it's a holiday, with much of the household home today, perhaps they can supervise the two cats together or something when they are up again. I've been spraying some of that pheromonal cat calming agent into the air - hopefully it helps. It seemed to last night, when they first met.

Oh joy...

The kitten just figured out how to unzip her cat-carrier. Sigh...

Door closed again - I need to go shower and prep for work anyway.

Becoming besotted...

brian1789 playing with our new little kitten, whom patgreene has named Pandora:



We've taken a number of folks' good advice and simply let the cats both have access to the common space, as Penwiper seemed more upset about being barred from some of her territory than about sharing it with a kitten. She still isn't thrilled about the kitten, and has been pretty reclusive, but she hasn't attacked the kitten, other than defending her boundary if the kitten bounds too close. That being said, we'll likely still keep them in different rooms for the first few nights.

Pandora, for her part, seems curious about Penwiper but unconcerned by the latter's lack of welcome. She is fearless and frolicsome and pouncy, and is very very cuddly once she tires herself out :-)