Old cat gets aggressive to new baby cat. what to do?

Question

just recently we adopted a baby kitten about 4 weeks old. the other cat we have is 8 yrs old in actual years. when i introduce them together, my old cat hisses and strikes the kitty.

the baby cat simply hisses due to his normal defense actions. what can i do to bring them together?? is this more territorial oriented? i does not seem (the old cat tries to avoid the kitten)

HELP i dont want my old cat to kill my kitten or hurt him!

Answer 1

try keeping the kitten in the bathroom or another room where your other cat can smell but not see him.  4 wks is really early to get a kitten, be extra careful with him, I definately wouldn't leave them alone together. It usually just takes some time but they'll work it out!

Answer 2

i have just overcome the same sort of problem, i have a year and a half female and a 6 month male (her son) they've just abut accepted the 'newby' all we did was supervise them when they were together, there were a few hisses but the older 2 were told 'no' and they know what it means, we fed the kitten away from the other 2 to start and put him in his wn room at night just to be safe, make sure they meet and play in a nuetral area (i.e somewhere your older cat doesn't sleep or eat) don't shove them together, and give yu older cat alot of attention whe there both in the same room

Answer 3

First you should NEVER force one cat on another... (push them together)

Most likely your 8yr old will never completely accept the other one.

so the most you can hope for is just tolerance.

NEVER stick them in each others face.

Tell your 8yr old how much she means to you and give her a bit more attention now...

the kitten natually will get a lot of attention..

Ok now REMEMBER YOU ARE ALFA CAT of the house... so you must moderated any squabbles that come up.  Make the Alfa cat leave the kitten alone... inforce the "NO" rule.

Protect the kitten...

Of the cats the 8 yr old is alfa... so you have to respect that too.

eventually the kitten will have to respect that.

Don't let her beat up the kitten.. until it is about 6 -9 mo old (which of course you will have the kitten spayed/ neutered by then)

THEN THE KITTEN IS OLD ENOUGHT TO DEAL WITH IT AND NOT GET TOO BADLY HURT.  Allow the 8 yr old to set the rules and enforce them.  

good luck (your going to need it!)