Since I've had Pepper and Tippy I have kept them in a large metal dog crate. When I take them out to play and eat I confine them in my hallway...........it is a very good size hallway so they have plenty of room to play and run. Well now that they are 5 weeks old, Tippy has learned how to climb the gate that seperates them from the kitchen. And because they are so little they have yet interacted with my other animals. I have 3 older cats and 3 dogs.
My next step is to let them run around the kitchen, because with them knowing how to climb the gate it is now going to be difficult to keep them in the hallway. The dogs I can put in the living room so they are no problem keeping them away from Tippy & Pepper. I'm more worried about the other cats. I have a male cat, Mickey, who is about 9 yrs old. Then I have 2 female cats......Mama, who is probably around 6 or 7 yrs old. Not sure because I found her as a stray giving birth. Then there is Pandora who is 4 yrs old. She is one of Mama's daughters. Mama and Pandora seem quite interested in the kittens, but as soon as they would get close to the gate and try to sniff them, Mama and/or Pandora will start to growl or hiss at them. Mickey seems more afraid of them. Now Mama always growls at Pandora........even though that is her daughter, as soon Pandora got over a year old, Mama and her became enemies. They usually will swat at one another until one leaves the area.
So my question is.........how do I go about introducing them to the kittens??? I let Tippy and Pepper run around the kitchen for awhile this morning. Mama was under the table watching them the entier time. But every time one got a bit close to Mama I would deter them the other way. Should I just let them be and let them investigate the older cats by themselves? Or should I put the older cats in another room so they can't interact?
I will be keeping Pepper, so eventually he will have to interact with all the others. But right now they are so tiny, I'm afraid one of the other cats will hurt them.
Any ideas any of you may have will be very much appreciated!!!
Thank you!! :)
