Thread: Zack arrived

he is doing really well today.

He has ventured out and down the passage into the bathroom and the end of the dining room. There has been much hissing and spitting from all today but he just runs back into his room. He loves his room!!!

Sometimes he just sits there with the door open and looks out, then has a wash and a play and sits at the door and looks out again - he seems to want to stay in there at the moment so I will be leaving him in there.

What do others do to integrate the kittens with the big cats????

In the past I have just supervised but we now have 2 big dogs so Louie was in a big dog cage at 1st so he could get used to everyone safely, he spent most of the time out of it but I put him in it a night just incase, also we have the cats feeding station on a worktop in the utility so the dogs cant get it & it took him a few days to work out how to get up there

Funny how Zack headed for the bathroom

We normally do the same as you to begin with & sleep them seperate for first two or three nights but try to get them doing something all together during the day,feather stick normally works very well until Welly grabs it & takes it onto highest shelf out in pen & then it is normally plucked by the time you can get to the rescue. I have found though that after that initial meeting it has been easier to put them to bed altogether fairly soon.Mine all have their seperate feeding stations in the room & the older ones don't seem to mind about the babes being in with them but when they are let out in the morning then the hissing can start again if things are a bit hectic,one of the older ones wouldn't give up on the babes so we just keep a hand sprayer filled with water handy in case things get a bit too much,one quick squirt to the main aggressor & it soon seems to quiten down,so much so that now if you just pick the spray up they will run & find something positive to do.Weird really as they just love the pond fountain & let that spray all over them & think it is great fun.Might be because mums "stern look"isn't on the end of it.....

Slowly does it I think is the best way. I don't have other cats but like Louis I have two big dogs. It took three days for Simba to get used to them and 7 days for the dogs to get used to Simba. I kept them apart to start with but they could see and smell each other through a gate. At night time they were totally separated then little by little during the day and under close supervision I let them together. It took about 2 weeks before I felt I could relax a bit - at that point I knew the dogs weren't going to hurt him on purpose but felt because of thier size they could accidently stand on him or something. Now though I worry more about the dogs getting hurt - Simba is quite the little villan and will wait in ambush for them and launch himself at them - either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid - not sure which yet

Not sure what it's like with cats but the fist time I saw the dogs and Simba touch noses was such a thrilling moment.

He was out a bit last night and Timmy was good with him and just stood there and let Zack pat him with his paws. Sarah on the other hand was a different story - she continued to hiss and spit at him and on one occasion chased him. I think I will take your advice and keep the water bottle handy as I know she doesnt like that.

I have 2 dogs as well but they wont be meeting him for a little while. They can get used to seeing him through the glass door for a while before they meet. My heeler I am sure would be fine but the Cocker Spaniel might need to adjust.

Usually we've let the kittens have the run of the house. We've never had any problems. For the first couple of weeks there's some hissing from the older cats, but that's all and that's all we've had with Charlie Brown.

I'm hoping things will be the same with Gryfn.

Oh Dear

Someone has taken my quiet kitten and replaced him with a tornado!!!!

I let him out into the big wide world of the house and he has taken over. Sarah is still hissing but she even has got sick of him and gone to bed in my room. He has jumped on every possible thing he can reach - bashed timmy in the head on the way past, pinched some of their tea, splashed the water out of their bowls ( not his) and made me dizzy!

He did have a short sleep on my lap with timmy between rounds.

he's made himself at home then

Great fun isn't it,he really looks a confident little boy in his photos now,thats why I always find it better to let them sort themselves out sooner rather than later though.One of my boys was fifteen weeks before he came to us because we had holidays booked so we kept him more to himself for longer to let him settle in before facing the others & boy did he have attitude.He just looked down his little nose at them,took just what he wanted off of them & basicly kept them out of the sitting room,it took quite a while to intergrate the oldies in rather than the other way round.All part of the joys though,have to say I find the boys harder work for the first few months but then they suddenly become village idiots where as the girls stay bright busy bees all the way through.
Look forward to next instalment & news of what he has got up too,could be an interesting few weeks,for us I mean....!