Hi All,

I have a question for all of you and hope I can get some feedback.

My girlfriend and I are set to pick up our new Bengal kitten, who we have pre-named Pixel, next Monday. While at the Pet Store picking up things for Pixel, we saw this absolutely ADORABLE Tabby kitten. It looked so sad and lonely, so we decided we should rescue it. And we did just that.

Here's a photo for reference, her name is Iso:



She has been acclimating very well. We will be moving to our home in a bit, but currently Iso gets along very well with the adult female cat in the current household. The adult male is very timid, and so is super skeptical about her. They just keep their distance from each other.

We decided to wait until Monday to pick up the Bengal so we didn't have to move her twice.

This leads me to my concern. Being that they are both kittens (both under 6 months) will it be likely that they will get along, age and develop together, and therefore take kindly to each other? Or do kittens sometimes hate each other right off the bat?

The last thing I want is cats that dislike each other and increased stress levels in the home. And advice, suggestions, guidance would be greatly appreciated.

They should be fine. Slow introduction is recommended with scent swapping. Keep them in separate safe rooms and scent swap with a towel and eventually have them eat in the same room. Go slow and don't toss them together too quickly. They need to be familiar with their new surroundings and build their confidence. Make sure you have cat trees or shelves for them to play on. By the way, If I had a kitty named Pixel, the next one would have to be Vector! Cute name though.

First of all, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your kittens.

You're going to have more problem getting your adult kitty to accept the kittens. The kittens should do okay together and even the adult cat should handle things well if you introduce everyone properly. The kittens need to be in a safe room -- with two of them not from the same litter, that could mean two separate rooms with food, beds, litter box, toys. We have had so many members come on and post problems with the cats/kittens not getting along and we've had to walk them through the proper way to introduce them so they are already familiar with each others' scents before they are thrown together. That means, swapping out the scents from the other cats with each cat. Your adult kitty already knows something is up!

You can take the kittens out of the safe room to play with them -- include your adult kitty. You never want to just place the kittens down on the floor with your other kitty and hope for the best. You'll get hisses, possible growling, swipes, and sometimes even attacks. Introductions come over the span of weeks and, unfortunately, many owners aren't interested in taking the time and having the patience that this takes. They want to put the kittens and cats together and hope for the best. Sometimes it can work out.

The bigger issue here is that your bengal will ALWAYS be energetic and a handful. Moggie kittens will grow up to be lazier and sleep more. While the two are kittens, they will entertain each other and play with each other -- sometimes quite aggressively.

It was wonderful of you to adopt this beautiful little girl. Your bengal may be a little stressed out in the beginning due to being taken away from mom and siblings and your home is a completely new environment for her. So you can expect a few issues. Make sure you have at least three litter boxes in your home. Your bengal need a cat tree or climbing shelves since they love being high up in the air. Lots of scratching posts around if you want to save your furniture.

Good luck with your move and getting the family all together to be happy and loving! Keep us posted.

Sherry, thanks for the advice! Luckily, the two adult cats will be staying with my girlfriend's parents. Therefore, only the two kittens will be with us in our brand new home. We'll all have to get adjusted together!

I was definitely concerned about the energy level differences, and am hoping that doesn't become an issue later down the road. But with both being very young, hopefully that issue doesn't arise for a while. We have already purchased a few cat trees and toys and are very engaged and enthusiastic about it and will most certainly provide ample stimulation for both.

Jill - Glad you like the name! I'm a heavy photoshop user as well, but only for photo editing. :)

Thank you all for your replies. I hope they get along!

What's done is done so it probably doesn't help to worry about it at this point. But multi-cat households are kind of crapshoots. You don't know how socialized the two are to other cats, nor if their personalities lend themselves to "playing nice" with other cats and sharing things. I think the biggest risk is that the two will just have very dissimilar levels of energy when they are older, meaning that a high energy bengal will be dissatisfied with a playmate who just wants to sleep, and a mellow, gentle cat will feel terrorized by this high energy devil. I think the best thing you could do to stave off such problems would be to make sure your home is well catified (with shelves, trees, etc).

_________________
The little monsters 3

Having just the two kittens might be a lot easier, but they will probably run YOU ragged! LOL. Settling into a new house is hard enough on adults -- much less kittens, but it will be a fun experience for you all, I'm sure.

They'll definitely want to "help" unpack lol

Diesel was 1 when we moved and he was into every single box I opened. He also would run off with random small things that he could drag out of the boxes. He's a very "helpful" boy.

_________________
Dallas, TX USA
Diesel - snow Bengal born 09/01/2013 adopted Feb 2014
Tuck, Chloe, Buddy, Lewis & Tia - rescue kitties
Clyde, Bleu & Coal - Great Danes

At least the move was with just one kitten!!!! Moving is the worst! I don't mind packing, but the unpacking takes a whole lot longer. Glad your kitty was so helpful. Now you bring in a new kitty. Ironically, your home will not be filled with the scent of your current kitty yet, so perhaps things will go better. Good luck! Can't wait for an update.

Unfortunately, things are not going as well as we had hoped.

For Reference:
Iso - the first kitty we adopted from the pet store
Pixel - the bengal we got from the breeder

So, we have moved in. Not fully settled, but sort of there. Iso hasn't been particularly fearful of anything, but is still acclimating. She peed on the bed once. Then we didn't have an incident, and another night we let her run around the bedroom at night. She got between my legs and peed again, so we put her in the litter box and washed the sheets and have been keeping her in the bathroom in the night.

That brings us to Pixel. We brought Pixel home and this has been a stressful experience. She is absolutely petrified of EVERYTHING. Any noise in the house, if I talk, if the TV is on, anything will send her into panic and she'll go hide. If we go into her room with a toy and just let her warm up she starts playing a little bit, but the second either of us moves or reaches our hands out, she runs crouches and gets as far away from us as the room allows, until we start playing with her again.

I made the mistake of trying to introduce the two a little too quickly. Iso hissed at Pixel many times and would not be near her and was growling. Yesterday was the first time we've really brought them together for an extended period of time. We put them both in an open area with toys and such and used a stick-wand to keep them entertained. They were playing individually near each other, but once they were able to concentrate on each other, Iso would hiss at her and get away from Pixel.

Pixel is interested in Iso, but Iso will hiss at her, and when that happens, Pixel goes into the corner and cowers :( Eventually, Pixel warms up and is again interested in what Iso is doing. They seem to not mind each other THAT much if they are playing because they basically ignore each other and focus on the common goal.

We tried scent swapping with blankets, but Pixel pushed Iso's blanket out of the bed and slept. I'm not sure if Iso sleeps on Pixel's blanket because Iso tends to wake us up by meowing at the bathroom door.

We're going to continue the supervised play time together for a few days, and maybe try even switching rooms, since Iso is downstairs in our bedroom, and Pixel is upstairs in the guest room.

Other than that, I never knew how much this could stress me out. I just want them to get along and play, but i'm constantly worried, and afraid to let them roam the house because of a few accidents, and the way they interact.

I just frown and get bummed when I get home, and it's like back to square 1 with Pixel and trying to gain her trust.

For those interested...

Iso:



Pixel:

Oh, so cute!!! Well, we try to warn cat owners that introducing two kitties may not go well in the beginning. Introductions must be slow and supervised. Pixel is obviously stressed out from being taken from her mom and siblings and put in a totally new environment with new smells, another kitty and different humans. Allow her to hide because she feels safe there. Continue to try and engage her in play time. As far as the peeing accidents -- stress is a huge factor in that. And that brings me to the stress that you are feeling over this. The cats can sense this. So ..... what to do next! This will take some time -- could be months. You have to be willing to put in the effort and have the patience. Introductions go slowly over a couple of weeks. Scent swapping is what happens first when the kitties are separated. You've got Pixel, who is just not ready for the whole "family" thing just yet. You can feed the kitties in the same general area. And bring them together to try and play with toys. We've had countless posts on here about trying to get the kittens to get along -- and we try to keep the owner sane in handling this. We usually ask for daily updates and walk through what happened for that day -- good or bad. But, always, within a few weeks or so, things are going fabulously and the kittens get along great. Don't feel that you've made a huge error in judgment. You're going through what a LOT of owners go through. They survived and so will you and the kitties. Keep us posted. And to top it all off -- you've just moved and are trying to get settled into a new home as well!

Hi Sherry,

Thank you so much for the reply and encouragement. All of the guidance really helps relieve some anxiety.

The main issue lies with my impatience. And I am well aware that I better get used to slow process. We will definitely employ the tactics that you have suggested. However, getting them to eat together is really not an option right now. Pixel won't venture past the stairs into the living room, and that's where we congregate most. We may need to introduce them more gradually before moving to that step.

I gained Pixel's confidence, picked her up and brought her downstairs. Apparently she was really VERY scared, because she laid into my arms with her super sharp claws. I let my temper get the best of me and yelled at her, and she ran as fast as she could back upstairs. I immediately felt horrible and let her be for a little, then brought her food and played with her. She was scared of me for a while (with good reason), but then warmed up a little later.

Today, Caitlin and I will be in an out of the house. I'm going to go home after work, make sure they are okay, maybe top their food off, and then go to my appointment. So later tonight we will go play with each one individually, and try group play time on Saturday.

Do you recommend a room swap so Pixel feels a little bit closer to us? Part of me feels some of the issue is how isolated Pixel is from where most of the activity in the house is. There are also more places to hide and a taller cat tree in our bedroom, so maybe it might be more comfortable? I'm just not sure how to get her into the living room since she's so scared of going out there.