a new kitten

[forgotten_aria]

I wasn't going to post about this, because I wanted it to be an lj-surprise if I got one, but I have so many misgivings, I wanted to open up my knowledge base a bit more. We've been thinking of getting a third cat, a kitten, specifically this one:



I've been talking to people, and introducing a third cat is very difficult and one person I talked to just flat out said that she'd never seen it go well. The other said they it and kind of go ok. So I'd appricate any horror or sucess stories you have. We have the space and the time to do the introduction right, but the new kitten really likes other cats, and I worry the weeks she'll have to be alone will be hard on her. I also worry that Iz and Nate will be the worse for wear. The foster mom is bringing the kitten for an test reaction on Wednesday (we'll be keeping the kitten crated.)

I've post a poll, but I'd also love to hear stories or words of wisdom. I'm at the point of just thinking I should email her and all it all off. :/

Oh, the kitten is in good health, has never been outside, I've met her and she seems like a good kitten (it's always hard to tell their personalitys that young.) She's polydactyl. I met her mom, and her mom was sweet and affectionate. So my concerns are only about introducing a new cat.

[Poll #1247980]

Comments

[bryant]

It worked out fairly well for us. Lengthy story follows, so you can consider the details:

We had two cats, Bunny (dominant cat, fairly sedate) and Nixie (extremely timid, somewhat slow of mind, probably both due to a really childhood accident before she joined the household). They got along fairly well, didn't interact a ton.

We brought Maggie in as a kitten right before we moved to our current house. Bunny didn't care at all. Nixie /hated/ the idea for a couple of weeks -- she yowled, complained, and hissed. We kept Maggie isolated in one bedroom for two weeks or so, and didn't really let them mingle until we moved, if I recall correctly.

Nixie did get over it within a month. She's definitely the bottom of the totem pole; Maggie is far more outgoing than Bunny, and Nixie doesn't always like attention, so Nixie winds up trying to bat off Maggie's grooming from time to time. But not always, and they're happy being in the same room. It's more than Nixie shies away from any contact than that Maggie picks on her.

Maggie is at least half Maine Coon, and has the sociability you'd expect of that breed, which I think helped.

Bunny is very self-assured and confident and doesn't interact with Maggie a lot, which probably also helps. We've captured Maggie grooming a sleeping Bunny on film.

I suspect it's also helpful that there are three of us. Maggie imprinted very firmly on me starting with the ride home -- I kept my hand in the cat carrier for the whole drive, and spent a lot of time with her in the first weeks. Susan is Bunny's human, and Wyatt is Nixie's human. It might have been more difficult to assimilate the kitten if there were only two of us, not sure.

The size of the house doesn't seem to be an issue. Our place isn't huge, although it's bigger than an apartment, but the cats congregate in the same room as often as not.

We are very glad we got a third cat, all in all, and the cats all seem happy about it as well.

The rest of the household may have further comments or corrections to this. :) I'll point 'em at this entry.

[michele-blue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we did follow standard procedures for socialization pretty closely - introducing each cat to the others' scents, only minor contact at first, etc. Nothing speedy, nothing forced. And, with us moving to a new house, the cats could find their own territorial zones without interfering in set patterns. Of course, the set pattern before was: Bunny Everywhere, and Nixie Existing At Bunny's Convenience. ;)

I think the fact that you're obviously a conscientious cat owner - with time and space, as you said - will make a huge difference. And Bryant's right - even while we slowly introduced Maggie to the other two, we gave her a ton of human contact, so she wasn't really alone.

And, as data points: when we brought Maggie in, she was an approximately 5 mo. old kitten, and the other two were approximately 3 yr. old cats.