Thread: To Get Ripley a little friend?

oh I hope she's the one RaySen - do send pictures! (in a garage! some people!)

Got the little kitten round at the moment, unfortunately we won't ve having her. Ripley ran away and spent over an hour upstairs, peeking down then ruinning back up again, then we brought her down and she hid in the bathroom, kept wandering in to the living room seeing kitten and running away, we held kitten while Ripley walked around, until she noticed kitten then ran away, we introduced them in the kitchen (adventurous kitten!) and Ripley kept backing up and hissing at her :-(
So we have the man coming to collect kitten soon.
Such a shame because kitten has made her self at home so quickly, and is so comfy here. But would be cruel to ripley after 3.5 hrs of obvious non interest to keep pushing her.

Looks like we are a 1 kitty household x

oh no! - I guess Jacky would have some advise on that, but isn't it a case of keep trying, see how it goes, may be Ripley will get used to kitten? where are you based, RaySen?

We'll see what the guy thinks when we gets here if there is any other suggestions also but Ripley has never hissed before, she's really angry now since hissing and backing away from us. Its a hard one to call
Based in ipswich

Quick update is that the guy from cats protection has been round and was happy with how comfortable the kitten is, we all discussed further integration ( we don't really have the opportunity to keep them separated completely,) and we all agreed to keep the kitten for 2 or 3 days letting them slowly meet each other when they are ready)/ want.

I am more reassured in reading on this thread and other sites that hissing and growling initially doesn't nesercerily mean a no go from the straight off. Both me and my boyfriend have a week off work with no plans so we are both around all day every day.

Fingers crossed my little Ripley warms to little kitty

If we were dictated to by our Ruby Billy would have been returned a long while ago.....it is like having a new babe come into the household & getting lots of attention & the others feel pushed out I would have been very surprised if there hadn't been some reaction from Ripley & no doubt you were all up tight about the introduction too which Ripley would also have picked up on,I am all for carrying on life as normal which includes leaving them alone together to get on with things but just be in the background & aware,one of the quickest routes of togetherness is if you can get them both interested in playing,good old rolled up paper works well as does a bag with bits in it. I wish I could record the noise R makes if she gets chased by Billy you would think she was being murdered & if she catches us looking at her when she & B happen to be playing together she winds up again but when he was poorly the other day guess who was the first one checking up on him. Stick with it give Ripley the attention she has always had don't tell either of them how good they are being as they will play off of it just enjoy them getting to be friends & like in this household I can bet you will be whispering ohh have you just seen them walk side by side or look they nearly played with each other etc etc... I can see it all happening,been there,done it & have got a lot of Tshirts some of which are quite worn out now.....xxx

I have lots of plans for the unlikely scenario where we do get Neevie her friend too - one of them being that I think I'll get the new cat to sleep with me the first night, so he gets my scent on him and Neevie might accept him better this way. foolish? may be... but it's one good excuse to cuddle all night with a kitten "for his own good" so I'll do it. :-p

I wouldn't worry about the hissing. I had 2 foster cats and then got asked if I would take a little 4.5 month old kitten on and I said yes and was gearing my self for major drama from my 2 existing cats to this new terror to the household!! As it turns out they couldn't of cared less but the new kitty was hissing for all she was worth both at the other cats and me!! So I kept talking to her and getting close to her etc and by the 2nd day she stopped hissing at me and then the 3rd day she sat on me. It took longer for her to stop hissing at the other 2 cats but after around 5 days she wasn't hissing at them and a month on 2 of them are tearing round the house chasing each other and being a nightmare lol. So I would keep on going with it, maybe if the new kitten starts sleeping on a blanket and then after a day you can put this where Ripley sleeps most she will get used to the smell of the new kitten. And as jckkerrison has said start playing with them both as this helped with my 3.

Good luck!!

Originally Posted by jckkerrison

If we were dictated to by our Ruby Billy would have been returned a long while ago.....it is like having a new babe come into the household & getting lots of attention & the others feel pushed out I would have been very surprised if there hadn't been some reaction from Ripley & no doubt you were all up tight about the introduction too which Ripley would also have picked up on,I am all for carrying on life as normal which includes leaving them alone together to get on with things but just be in the background & aware,one of the quickest routes of togetherness is if you can get them both interested in playing,good old rolled up paper works well as does a bag with bits in it. I wish I could record the noise R makes if she gets chased by Billy you would think she was being murdered & if she catches us looking at her when she & B happen to be playing together she winds up again but when he was poorly the other day guess who was the first one checking up on him. Stick with it give Ripley the attention she has always had don't tell either of them how good they are being as they will play off of it just enjoy them getting to be friends & like in this household I can bet you will be whispering ohh have you just seen them walk side by side or look they nearly played with each other etc etc... I can see it all happening,been there,done it & have got a lot of Tshirts some of which are quite worn out now.....xxx

Ah thanks for that, it does make me feel a lot better. Step one is getting Ripley to stay in the same room as kitten. She has shown a little more 'advebture' since this morning and whenever Me or Matt Go and see her she is fine with us, normal. She came down and ate her food as normal (meowing and stretching up the counter as I was dishing it up).
I'm going to sleep upstairs with Ripley tonight (she always comes up when we go to bed sleeps at the bottom of the bed) and well keep kitten downstairs, Matt May even sleep down here with her.

I keep saying I think it's because she is an indoor cat so hasn't "met" any animals since she was taken from her litter 1 year ago. I'm just so eager for Ripley to know everything is okay and its still her house too but I don't want to smother her, I think allowing the introduction of them earlier was too soon and freaked Ripley out some what (kitten wasn't fussed at all by the hissing).

I'll get a photo posted of little miss kitten soon for you to enjoy. She is beautiful!