Thread: How to integrate a second kitten

Thanks everyone for your advice. Thought I'd give you a bit of an update...

So, since her arrival, Wicca has adopted the dining room as her base of operations; it took a bit of coaxing but she's sussed where food and litter trays are and happily uses both as when necessary. This morning I'm working from home and she's venturing out into the larger part of the house, with regular brief visits to the study where I'm based. She's incredibly playful and super affectionate - not sure she's up to Candes's Loverboy levels but she's certainly more demonstrable than Freyja was when we first brought her home.

Freyja, locked herself in the top floor of the house - two floors away from food and litter tray, and a floor away from water. Saturday night I brought a tray up to our bedroom and some kibble as it was clear Freyja wasn't going to leave the bedroom and as she HATES to be shut out of our lives I had no intention of locking her out of our room by putting Wicca in with us. Sunday morning, tray and food went back down to the kitchen (the kitchen is next to the dining room, so food and toilet facilities are on the same floor as the room Wicca has adopted). Since Sunday morning, Freyja - to my knowledge - hasn't eaten anything. She may have used her litter tray since it's been back in the kitchen, but I'm not sure about timing.

I expected this hissing, growling and anti-social behaviour, but I didn't expect Freyja to isolate herself in part of the house. So today, we've shut the doors to the top floor rooms to force her to mooch about in other parts of the house. We're not forcing the two cats together, just cutting off the places Freyja can hide to avoid Wicca.

With all the hissing and growling, Freyja hasn't given us the impression that she'll attack Wicca, but she's tried to box me several times when I've decided to fuss her regardless of the growling - not sure how best to manage her when she's in that mood, but I wanted to show her that nothing would make me love her less, even growling and hissing at me. I realise I maybe crediting my puss with far more emotional intelligence than a feline deserves though! Whilst Wicca's been invading the study today, I've noticed that Freyja's hissing and growling has reduced considerably (at least at Wicca; I'm still getting it in the neck though) so I think that must be a good sign. And Freyja's not angry 24/7, either.

So I'm not worried that Wicca's going to be beaten up, and I'm much less worried about the abuse directed at me, especially after reading some of your experiences, as I suspect that this will pass. What bothers me at the moment is Freyja locking herself away and not eating, so I've brought some food into the study today just to make sure she's put something away, but I figure if I keep doing that it'll make it easier for her to avoid the bottom floor. And I'd like to let her out in the garden as she loves it out there and sees it as a treat, but I'm worried that she'll get the wrong message (i.e. that she's not wanted) or that she'll try and leg it over the fence.

And the smell of damp is still here, with no loss adjuster arriving until Wednesday now. Fortunately, the study ceiling hasn't bowed any further, so I'm optimistic that it won't collapse! Whilst squashing both my cats under a fallen ceiling might resolve one of my immediate issues, it's not got much longevity!