New Kitten Advice

[blackcat]

Its confusing when you read conflicting advice.
Thanks again.

Not so much conflicting , as that there are multiple solutions. You read the advice and choose which seems best suited to the needs of your individual kitties. Like I said in my first post, each kitten and each dog reacts in different way to the fear/excitement reaction of the other. Patience is essential, as is an awareness of the nature of your eisting animals and a willingness to learn the nature of your new ones. You sound as if you have your head screwed on the right way so I am confident you will work it out.

[Ros101]

Its confusing when you read conflicting advice. I think I'll stick with them just in the front room for now, until they get more used to us, before I introduce dogs! And the Feliway spray sounds good.

But if the kittens are frightened and your dogs are boisterous, then the approach you are adopting seems a little confronting for the kittens. They have nowhere to go and are surrounded by doggy enthusiasm. Try putting several boxes and blankets in the run so they have somewhere to hide, or if you can stand the inconvenience then the under-the-door mutual sniffing is possibly better still.

Yes we did put a box & blanket in the pen for them to hide in.  I did read somewhere to feed the dogs & cats either side of a door, so they smell each other while eating which I might try.

Thanks again.

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

These two links might help with your new babies:

http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php?topic=4793.0

http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php?topic=4790.0

[Millys Mum]

Your girls are still at a good age for bringing round and i would hold off with dogs/moving into a busy room/hoovers for a couple of weeks while they get the hang of living in a home. Its very different from living in a shed.
Food is your weapon, another member is having good results by handfeeding pilchards 

Some breeder producing unsocialable kittens, theres plenty of them already.

[blackcat]

Well, with my dog, and my two new kitties, I knew the dog would not be a problem as he responds to instructions like 'be nice' by being nice. The cats gave two different responses. Smidgen, who had a large dog at his old home came out spitting and hooking his back and generally telling the dog who was in charge which left Shadow reduced to an embarrassed heap. Esther,who obviously had past experience with dogs but, who as a rescue, could not tell us about this, hopped straight out of her cage and bobbed on her hind legs to give Shadow a kitty hug. Love at first sight  . But if the kittens are frightened and your dogs are boisterous, then the approach you are adopting seems a little confronting for the kittens. They have nowhere to go and are surrounded by doggy enthusiasm. Try putting several boxes and blankets in the run so they have somewhere to hide, or if you can stand the inconvenience then the under-the-door mutual sniffing is possibly better still. Feliway is going to be essential if they have not been socialised, as your house sounds pretty lively ...

[Ros101]

Hi,

Thanks for advice so far. The kittens are just over 8 weeks old, and they came from a breeder, but she was just looking after them for someone who couldn't cope with them. I don't think they had as much interaction as they could have done, as she did say because she'd had a litter of her own at the same time, they had to stay outdoors (with heating etc), so didn't get as much socialisation as they could have done. Although they were happy in her company, purring etc.

I am keeping them in our front room away from hustle & bustle of daily life, and away from the dogs!  Our main family room is the living room so I thought I'd try putting them in the dog pen in there some of the time, to see daily life and to safely let the dogs see them. I didn't know what the best was to do with the dogs, as some advice I've read says to get all the introductions done at once, and some says to let them build up their confidence first!  How long would you leave it to let them see the rest of the house, and introduce them to dogs?

[blackcat]

Can't find the pix, but how old are these kittens and where did they come from? If very young, then they will probably be missing their mum and be afraid of their new world. If from a rescue, they may not have had a chance to be handled too much. try putting pix in your message using the ATTACH function just below the message, but don't use big ones. They need to be less than a50 kb in total.

First bit of advice is to stop trying to pick them up and cuddle them and give them time to come to you when they want. Also, slow down on the doggy introductions as pooches don't always know when to back off if the kitties get frightened. With some dogs, this just excites them more.

Welcome to the site and I am sure you will get heaps of advice and help from all here.

[Millys Mum]

 
How old are your kittens? With nervous types it helps to keep them in a smaller area, too much space kinda goes to their head!  One room with all their stuff is ample.

You can try handfeeding them and just stroking whilst they eat, dont advance to picking up until they are happy being touched.
Rod toys are also really good for luring them towards you.

Main thing is to be patient and give them time. Once they are happy and settled start to introduce the dogs.

[CurlyCatz]

Hi Ros, i just saw your babes and they are lovely.

How old are the kittens ?

You'd be best to confine them to one room or if this isnt possible a large crate style cage (dog cage ?)    If they are scared then go at their pace, keeping them in a quieter room where they can observe but see you at the same time.  Gentle speaking and occasional stroking is better than picking them up and trying to "tame" them.

Also get some "feliway diffusers" or even the spray and also you get feliway friend spray for yourself, this is synthetic feline pheramones and helps calm and relax cats. (if you use the diffusers remember to unplug normal perfume type ones.)

I would keep then away from the dogs until you have gained their trust but introductions can sometimes take weeks for the more frightened babes.

good luck, i'm sure you'll get there eventually.

[Ros101]

Hi everyone,

I've just posted a hello with some pics on the introductions board, but I wanted some advice on my two new kittens.

I have only had them 4 days, so still really early days, but they are both really scared of us, run away when we try to stroke them, squirm if we try & hold them, and are really jumpy when we go towards them.  It has been a while since I last had kittens, but I seem to remember them not being scared of us.  They have definitely improved since day 1, when they just hid behind the sofa, as they are now playing in the middle of the room, sleeping on sofa etc and we can play with them with a fishing rod type toy. We sometimes sneak in a stroke if we pull the toy past us.  I just wonder if you can offer any advice to help them overcome their fear of us.

Also, I haven't properly introduced them to the dogs yet, but I did swap their blankets so they can get used to the smells, and today we put them in a dog play pen we had for the dogs, and let the dogs sniff them. The kittens hissed, and the dogs were excited, but I wonder what your views are on the best way to introduce them as they are obviously slightly nervous anyway.

Many thanks.