Introducing adult and kitten

[Gisele]

Hi all,
After we lost our lady to HCM in October I put myself on a long waiting list for a kitten with a reputable breeder.

Then in may the local rescue had a 5 year old female with eye problems needing a home, so we adopted her.
She’s called Alaska, since we’ve had her she has had her right eye removed and I’m taking her to a specialist to see if we can save the other eye from going the same way. She can see out of her left eye ok, she’s a brilliant bug hunter despite only having one eye.

Our breeder has contacted me and we will be due our kitten in October, but I’m starting to get anxious about the idea of introducing them to each other and how we will manage with 6 year old (she turns 6 in September) and a kitten. I know sphynx are a little more social than the average cat but I’m still a bit worried.

We live in a one bedroom apartment with an outdoor catio.
I’ve been in talks with a behaviourist and we’re in the process of putting up cat shelves in all rooms, I have locations for 3 litter trays and we will have a cat tree in each room so they will have a lot of vertical space. I was thinking even a box/crate with a microchip cat flap so Alaska can get away from the kitten.

Has anyone else had any success with introducing two at very different age groups, especially in smaller spaces?

Any tips will be of great help!

 

[Catzzzmeow]

Congrats on your new baby @Gisele. Hoping you can share a pic with us. Hoping this info might help Introducing a new adult sphynx cat or sphynx kitten into the home

For us it was just take is very slowly with introductions.

 

[Toa and Ross]

Congrats with your new baby! Most of the time a kitten can blend in the household without to much issues. But I don't have experience with introducing a kitten with a almost blind cat. Hopefully members with experience will chime in

 

[Gisele]

Congrats with your new baby! Most of the time a kitten can blend in the household without to much issues. But I don't have experience with introducing a kitten with a almost blind cat. Hopefully members with experience will chime in

I really hope that’s the case with mine. Do you find specific sexes get on better? I’m not sure weather I should get a male or another female for Alaska.

Congrats on your new baby @Gisele. Hoping you can share a pic with us. Hoping this info might help Introducing a new adult sphynx cat or sphynx kitten into the home

For us it was just take is very slowly with introductions.

Here she is looking like a Star Wars villain

 

[Beckinboots]

Haha, I often say the we should have called our boy Emporer Palpatine instead of Rankle.

 

[Condo commando]

No experience with a cat like Alaska but my cats have done well together. I credit it to having enough food for all of them so no one has to fight for their meal. I feed them 3-4 times per day and each one has his/her own bowl. I watch them so the fastest eater can't go and start eating from the slowest eater's bowl. No one goes hungry and I think that contributes to the harmony. Everything else is shared including my lap.

As far as personalities, I don't think gender has anything to do with it. However, if you're looking for a really friendly cat look for a red or orange kitten. They're called red but if they had fur it'd be orange. One of my Sphynxes is a red and he loves everybody. I've had 2 foster cats and he just walks right up to them and sniffs them. The other cats are a little scared but funny enough they realize that he comes in peace. They touch noses and that's it. This is the FIRST time they meet; I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. He's my first and only orange so it's a small sample size but google on orange cats and a lot of people say orange cats are more friendly. Food for thought if there's a red kitten in the litter.

 

[Toa and Ross]

In my experience gender doesn't matter. It's more about personality's that get along. I can imagine a more "mellow" or relaxed kitten would fit since Alaska is nearly blind