Our new kitten (9 weeks) is absolutely terrified of our current cat (9 months). How can I make this transition easier?

My boyfriend and I adopted our cat Mino (9 months/F) when she was 8 weeks old. She was super social, inquisitive, loving, and outgoing from the get go. She instantly warms up to new people, loves all dogs she’s met, etc. She’s all around a great cat. We figured we would get her a companion cat as she loves to play and run but we both work and I’m a student so we are often out.

So we are currently fostering to adopt this new kitten (9 weeks/F) and we got her 4 days ago and have been keeping her in our bathroom/walk in closet. We were told she is playful but may be a bit shy.

Starting frol the first night we got the kitten, we have been feeding them together on opposite sides of the door, allowing Mino to watch the kitten through the glass backyard doors, swapping out their blankets and toys to let them get each others scents, switching them in and out of the bathroom to get familiar with each other, rubbing the same blanket on them to familiarize smells, etc. We have a Feliway Friends plugged in as well.

Mino has been actually quite wonderful. The first night, she hissed once but mostly just wanted to watch the kitten. The second day, she was OBSESSED with watching her and would wait outside the bathroom door. We let them meet with the kitten in a kennel and Mino was pretty interested and wanted to smell her. We switched Mino to inside the kennel and the kitten to outside and the kitten simply ran away. We then let them both out of the kennel and Mino was rolling around wanting to play but the kitten wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. Mino will walk up to the kitten and try to pat/swat her but it doesn’t seem overly aggressive/claws arent out. She will try to go up and smell the kitten but each time the kitten scurries away/hisses/freaks out.

I know this can take a while, and Mino has done extraordinary well, but at what point do different personalities make it a mismatch? Is there anything I can do to make the kitten less afraid of Mino? What other steps can we take to make this transition easier? Will the kitten’s personality be open to change/can she become less timid?

Thanks so much in advance.

submitted by /u/ck_ds
[link] [comments]

from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/he7gp8/our_new_kitten_9_weeks_is_absolutely_terrified_of/