Hello~! So...I may have royally messed up introducing my resident cat to our new kitten...
Sorry this is going to be a long story...
I brought Alfalfa (Alfie/Alf for short; male, 4 months) home on Sunday. I knew I should've waited to introduce him to my cat, Clover (female, 1 year 9 months), who I've had since she was about 2 1/2 months old. My timing might be really bad too. I just moved out of my moms house where I lived with Clover -- we've been in our own place just me and her for just 1 month. She seemed to be okay with the new place and I had been actively looking for kittens. I brought Alfie home i Clover's crate and set him down for Clover to inspect. She did and she was okay with him at first -- just sniffing at him and looking at him. I took Alfie into my room where I intended him to be separated from Clover, at least at first. But he was so curious I let him roam the apartment -- it's not very big so I thought it would be okay. Clover was not okay with it and hissed/growled/swatted at Alfie. So I separated them again. But then I wanted to lay on the couch so I brought him out and he cuddled with me on the couch while Clover watched with contempt. I guess I was being selfish since I didn't move him or try to comfort Clover until bedtime.
That first night we all slept in my room together. Clover is accustomed to sleeping with me on my bed so I didn't wanna kick her out on account of the new kitten. I closed the door -- Alfie was laying at my feet and Clover was near my head. I woke up in the middle of the night to Clover growling at Alfie, both on the ground and not in bed.
To add to the confusion, my mom went on vacation and so I agreed to watch the family dog, Simba. Clover was introduced to Simba VERY slowly when she was a kitten. It was really hard to get her to be okay with him despite Simba being older and with us for longer. Clover likes (tolerates) Simba now and I thought that having him around might remind her of when we lived with my mom. I (probably mistakenly) introduced Alfie to Simba. Simba is a morkie (maltese-yorkie). He's a really good dog -- he just really likes sniffing. Alfie hissed and growled at first but during the night they both were in bed with me and Alfie let Simba sniff him. Alfie even inched closer to Simba himself, curled up against Simba's back. Simba was a little afraid of that and moved but Alfie didn't mind. I left the door open to my room that night because if I close it the dog will scratch, whine, and bark all night. Not to mention Simba cannot get on my bed without my help, it's too tall for him.
I let Alfie roam around again yesterday and he ended up getting into Clover's toys, her litter box, her cat tree, her scratching post. I haven't had a chance to get ALL these things for Alfie as well so I thought it was harmless but when Clover started growling and hissing at him I knew it wasn't actually okay that he was doing that. Then Simba threw up and had diarrhea last night so I had to take all of them out of my bedroom to clean it up.
Not to mention, Alfie has been very shy and possibly sick -- his eyes and nose are dripping a lot. I have a vet appointment set up but I can't get in till Monday the 17th. AND Alfie has taken to running from me every time I approach him. And last night he whined nearly all night, I got him his water and food and box all prepared but he still cried out and wouldn't lay with me for very long. Does he hate me?
Is there any way to remedy this? How do I accommodate both cats and the dog? The dog doesn't like closed doors but Clover will wander into my room and find Alfie just to growl and hiss at him and then leave. Doesn't seem like a good sign to me. I don't want their relationship to be ruined! How do I
TL;DR: How much can you botch introductions between cats & new kittens/dogs and new kittens before it's too late and the damage to the relationship cannot be repaired?
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/f2rasj/botched_kittencat_introductions_can_this_be/
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