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Introducing New Kitten to Resident Cat?

kittenI rescued a black kitten 6 months ago. He was around 8 or 9 weeks old and having been hand reared from 3 weeks old. He was found in a bin with a very ill mother and 4 brothers and sisters, all re-homed. He is very comfortable with people. So comfortable he behaves more like a dog than a cat. He is now about 8 months old, neutered and and a very happy cat.

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Just over a week ago my partner came home with a box with a tiny female kitten of around 5 or 6 weeks that he saw being dumped in a bin. Dumping kittens and puppies in bins is a "huge" problem in Spain. So my partner took her and brought her home.

Hugo, the 8 month old, reacted as I would expect. He was pretty unhappy that his kingdom suddenly had another cat's scent in it. I kept her in the second bathroom for the first night and day as she was seriously terrified of everything. On the second day I got hold of a crate and brought her into the living room. To start with Hugo would hiss and growl and run away. Ok, pretty normal right?

So after about a day and half of this he suddenly did a 180, or he seemed to. He sits in front of the crate and plays with her through the bars. He lays on top of the crate and plays through the side slits. He isn't staying outside for as long as before, sometimes he comes in, goes and sniffs her, then goes out again, like he is checking on her. They eat within sight of each other and she meows for him if he is in the room, but not right near the crate. I was thinking I had a major result without really trying.

So I opened the crate and let her out with Hugo in the room. He tried to bite her neck, from the top and from the underneath, and then got her in a headlock and I thought "oh no!", but then he started licking her, her head or her bottom usually, and I thought all was well. The headlock and licking has now turned into dive bombing her at every opportunity and after a minute of licking he starts biting her. He keeps biting her genital area which is somewhat concerning me as she doesn't fight back. She just adopts a completely submissive position and cries out when he bites.

If I shout his name or tap his bum he lets go and gets off her straight away, but then dive bombs her again within about 5 seconds. I've tried a water spray on him before, to stop him shooting up my curtains, but it didn't work as he loves water.

He is super friendly and confident, she is super timid and cautious. Is there anything I can do to help the situation or is it simply a case of waiting until she is bigger, stronger, and hopefully more capable of defending herself before they'll be OK together? Is it possible he can kill her? Her little neck seems so dainty compared to his teeth! Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance :-)

Hugo
 
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June 19, 20150 found this helpful

This is false mating behavior.
Your cat has been neutered, but the instinct for mating remains in the brain. As soon as he realized she is a female the kitten was no longer safe.

This may seem rough for mating, but mating male cats bite the female by the neck and hold her down. Licking and biting of the genital area is typical.

Unfortunately, he can harm her pretty badly. She is just too little for this and he will continue. It's possible that re-homing the newcomer will be your only option.

 
June 20, 20150 found this helpful

Awww, that´s shame. I´m fostering her for a charity at the moment, I said I would give her a forever home, providing all was well between them. As this is mating behavior and she is at risk I will contact the charity and get the re-homing process started. When we took her and Hugo on it was with the intention of helping the animals - sometimes the right thing for them is upsetting for us, but it´s still the right thing to do.

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Thanks for the advice :-)

 
June 20, 20150 found this helpful

Sorry that isn't going to work out for you. It is possible you'll be able to foster a male kitten or maybe a small dog in the future.

 
July 27, 20150 found this helpful

Just wanted to let you know that we have success! My vet suggested that I was giving up a little quickly and that I should try moving the kitten to another room and limiting the contact between the 2 of them.

I played musical cats for several weeks and the time apart seemed to do the trick. I came home one day to find Hugo on the hallway side of my daughters bedroom door, and Lula on the other side (door closed obviously), meowing to each other and trying to get under the door...

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so I opened it.

They instantly started grooming each other, which led to biting each other (not aggressively), which led to tearing round the house together at ridiculous speeds and generally having a really good time. They are the best of friends and have not (touch wood) had any fallings out.

A couple of weeks of mild inconvenience and we now have 2 very happy rescue cats.

 
 
July 28, 20150 found this helpful

I am glad you didn't have to rehome her.

 
April 6, 20160 found this helpful

Im experiencing the same issue. My male kitten who is 6 months old is too frisky. The female kitten doesn't seem to be fighting him off or showing disapproval but she runs away only to get cornered by my male.

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Sometimes I can't even get to them bc they are under the bed! I hoping someone has advice on this. We love her and want to Keep her.

 
July 7, 20160 found this helpful

I have an 18 month old neutered male cat and I have just purchased a kitten but he keeps hissing and bearing his teeth will he hurt the kitten

 
June 1, 20170 found this helpful

Hi I just wondered how you cats are getting on now?
I have a 1 year old cat and a 10 week old baby kitten. My big cats keeps wanting to pounce on the kitten and she hisses at him.

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I am worried that he will hurt her so I keep a harness on him when ever we let her out. Please help?

 
June 8, 20170 found this helpful

I would keep them separated until she gets bigger & braver. I think he could hurt her.

 
September 2, 20170 found this helpful

I AM EXPERIENCING THAT EXACT SAME THING. ALMOST TO THE LETTER.
HOW DID THE SITUATION PAN OUT?
WOULD REALLY LIKE TO KNOW.
Freya

 

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