Cat doesn’t want to be pet after bringing in new kitten?

by Kelsey
(Arizona)

Hello! I’ve had my cat for about eight years and she has lived with dogs and one other cat before. I recently moved out of my parent’s house (yay college) and my cat has been an only pet for about a year now.


We decided to rescue a kitten and have been following the slow introduction rules with them. It has only been a few days, so everything is still new.

But now my older cat doesn’t really want attention from me and gets upset when I do try to pet her. She growls and hisses. I’m assuming this is because of the stress?

I’m just worried she will become a recluse now and feels as though this kitten is replacing her, which is not the case. Would appreciate advice and support!

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by: Sandra

Hi, I've been through that some years ago. My older cat had no problems with the new kitten, just with me.
But as soon as he realized that he had no reason to be afraid of being replaced, that I still loved him even with a new kitten around, he came back to being the loving cat he was before.
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by: Kurt (Admin)

Congratulations on your new kitten! In the beginning, it's best if they can't see each other so you can use smells and territory/scent swapping to get them used to each other.

Have they seen each other?

If they've seen each other and there has been growling and hissing or other behavior changes on the part of your resident cat, then I'd make a change so they can't see each other for now.

If they haven't seen each other yet and these behavior changes have occurred, I'd take that as a signal to take a little longer with the introduction process.

In either case, I'd try to use toys and playtime to burn off extra energy and stress, and pay just a bit of extra attention to your cat each day.

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