Thanks so much @ignatius. Very helpful.
I just got a new kitty this week. My two Siamese ladies died in the last year, one at 19, one at 9 last fall. Both renal failure. The younger one broke my heart, as her death was fast and renal failure a total surprise. I was not sure about getting another cat, but my daughter is here in town after Peace Corps evacuation and fell in love with this ragdoll/Balinese rescue on line. So here she is, charming us all after having been found on a farm last fall and going through a c section, infection, and broken tail. She turned into a butterball in the rescue process however. Hopefully the vet appointment will help me figure out how to slim down an overweight cat. But weāll take her as she is well mannered, loving and beautiful. I did learn about the problem with long haired cats and care for their under carriage from the rescue mom. So I am cleaning her with baby wipes daily and trimmed the ābikini furā with sewing scissors already. As I said, she is an easy girl to have around
Picked up our little Bengal kitten today. She cried the entire way home, but she seems happy enough (currently hiding under a dresser) in her safe room. She has been playing with a tiny ball already. She seems like a spunky one.
Our older Bengal, asleep under my sonās comforter, didnāt even come to see what all the crying was as we walked by the door.
I suspect bedtime tonight will be difficult, but we will figure it out.
I volunteer at the local shelter. One thing I suggest is play with her as much as possible right before bedtime. Hopefully she will be exhausted and can sleep well. Tonight might be the first night she slept alone. Good luck!
Kitten name, please?
@1214mom , my friend is somewhat of a cat expert and she does a very slow, staged introduction of new cats much like the previous poster. New kitty starts in a room (usually a bathroom) with the door closed. Eventually there may be some sniffing and pawing under the door. After a time there is a monitored āintroductionā through a pet carrier or gate, very brief. Then just slowly keep giving them more and more interaction time/space. Also make sure that the senior cats have a dedicated space where the new kitty is not allowed, at first.
When I introduced a dog into our house with two cats, we used ātreat timeā which worked well. Itās basically giving them all treats at the same time, near to each other but everyone has their own treats and own space. My idea was positive reinforcement (treats) of being near each other. (It also taught dog to stay away from kitty food and treats but you donāt need that part).
As a funny story, over the winter we fostered two young kittens. They werenāt immunized so they were not allowed to interact with the home cats. They were in a bedroom closed off the whole time. Over time the cats figured it out and would sit at the door like āwe know something is going on in thereā. There was some sniffing at the door crack. Then one day, I walked down the hall and one of the cats was staring through the heating vent/grate which goes directly into that bedroom, and the kittens were on the other side peeking through with much curiosity. It looked like a jail visit.
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Kittenās current name is Swirl, and it will likely stay that. The littler had ice cream names - Oreo, (chocolate) Swirl, macadamia nut (Max), fudge (Ripple), almond (Joy), butter (Pecan), Cookie (and cream) and chocolate (Chip). A mom and daughter had litters within a day of each other, so there were 8 kittens and 2 moms.
Ice cream is one of my favorite things, (which may be part of the reason we got her. Other story is COVID just makes people do stupid things) and she is a marbled bengal so has swirls on her sides. Seems like a perfect name, but when my son comes tomorrow we may throw around others and come up with something different.
Itās been 10 years since we had a kitten. Swirl has already figured out how to climb up the bed and then on top of her carrier, and she jumped across to a low dresser. (Bengals like to go to high places).
We just had our entire house painted, and I was thinking about getting āniceā drapes, but received the Costco ones today. Kittens and nice curtains donāt go well together.
We will likely be home at least another week due to COVID, so she should be pretty well adjusted before we go back to work.
I was warned she might not eat much today. But sheās a little chow hound and seems to be adjusting pretty quickly.
I think @ignatius covered the cat intro very well. My only advice is to be patient and spay her as soon as she is old enough.
Such a cute thread!
The kitten seems to be fine, but our older cat is not doing well. Kitten is in a safe room, but when we have kitten scent on us and try to pet our older cat, we get big hisses. Hopefully she will get used to it over time.
Tonight or tomorrow night we may try feeding them across the door from each other, but we will see how they are doing during the day.
We did the ābig revealā and let our kitten and our 10 yo cat meet this weekend, after following much of the advice given here. Lots of hissing from the older cat, and an occasional growl, with a swat or two mixed in. Stressful for me, and Iām glad I had my son come and help, because he did a better job with them than my husband or me initially.
The little kitten is really brave, and hasnāt been very deterred by the older one. (Sheās pretty adorable when she does her āpuffy tail and big back kitten thingā). We try to let them ādo their thingā but we have picked up the little one a couple of times when she was blocking the older one in a corner. She so wants to engage with the big cat that looks a lot like her mommy.
The older one is getting closer while watching us play sometimes, and Iām hopeful sheāll come around sooner rather than later.
Saturday night Yesterday S2ās cat Yuri (male, 2.5 yo, neutered, rescued from the streets at 3 months) saw the cute female whoās been strolling around the apartment building and slashed through the screen window of Sās second floor apartment to chase after her. Didnāt come back. S is an expat in a former Soviet country, so was getting advice from friends in three languages about what to do. Meanwhile, THIS is what did me in after 70 days of quarantine. Heās 5,000 miles away and not a thing I can do. Spent lots of time crying on DHās shoulder last night.
A friend wound up coming over at 4 am to help S look (thatās apparently a good time to go cat hunting), and S showed her how Yuri escaped. She also jumped off the roof, and they started tracking places where Yuri could hide that were nearby. Turns out the neighbors had also seen him, and S2 found Yuri burrowed under a pile of shingles in the neighborās yard, directly across from Sās apartment window, terrified. S says heās filthy, hungry and purring on his chest. S says there may be some abrasions on his feet/claws, so was going to try to bathe Yuri (or at least clean his feet) and put on antiseptic spray. May be going to the vet tomorrow, assuming itās open. His country has been locked down hard since early March.
S is also going to give the neighbors some money for their help. The print shop down the street opened up just for S to get some posters printed and the owner refused to accept the premium S offered to pay. S will now be giving him business on behalf of the NGO he works with. Iām so pleased that people were kind and helpful to him in his adopted home.
Yuri is now home and has forgiven S for allowing this terrible thing to happen. The landlord is coming to replace the screen window this week with something sturdier than nylon. (We had the same problem here with squirrels chewing through nylon porch screening and replaced it all with aluminum mesh. Still have a big roll of the stuff, though canāt mail it to him.) Allās well.
And in other exciting news, older S and his partner have adopted two kittens! They think they are sibs or cousins ā there were two litters born within two days. No names yet ā waiting to see what their personalities say. Sās WFH office has a floor-to-ceiling window and the kittens hang out there all day. Need to warn them about screen windows!
OMG @CountingDown! What an ordeal. Is Yuriās last name, by any chance, Gagarin? Like that Soviet astronautā¦ the cat seems to like space exploration. 
All is well that ends well. Phew.
@BunsenBurner ā Yes! S originally thought the cat was female and was going to name her Leika. The vet corrected this assumption and Leika became Yuri! S celebrates the catās birthday on Gagarinās birthday, since that fits the timeline of when the kitten was born. Posts Gagarinās and Yuriās photos on FB on the appointed day.
@CountingDown, so glad it turned out well for your son and his cat, and how sweet that the other now has 2 kitties.
My now deceased cat got out a window painters left open once. As soon as he was outside he just stayed on our patio - he really didnāt know what to do.
My son tried taking our younger cat (10 now) outside on a leash a few times, but she wasnāt interested. Weāve had workers in our house that just didnāt seem to understand KEEP THE DOOR CLOSED, but fortunately we had no escapes. (Kitten wasnāt here then).
Our kitten has never been out, but she is a little escape artist so we will have to watch her closely for awhile.
Three weeks ago, D1ās cat got stinky breath. The vet checked her out and said she had an absessed tooth. There was a 10 day wait while they did bloodwork to make sure she could handle anesthesia (cat at age 10 or 11). When they put her to sleep they discovered it was actually an aggressive tumor that she would not recover from. D1 and her husband agreed to euthanize her. She was devastated, absolutely devastated. But she had her other 11 year old cat to love on and help her through it.
A few days ago, this kitty started limping. Vet diagnosed arthritis and put her on NSAIDS. D sent a video and I was shocked-it looked like the poor thingās leg was broken or hip dislocated, it was that severe. D said the NSAIDS didnāt seem to help at all.
They took her to a feline orthopedic specialist today to get a second opinion. D1 just texted me that they had to put her down. No explanation, but she is again just heartbroken.
D1 and her Dh do not plan on having children. These two cats were like their kids. I feel so bad for them, I cried when I read her text; I was so shocked at how fast both of these sweet cats went downhill.
This part of pet ownership really sucks. 
How very sad @Nrdsb4!
Iām so sorry to hear about your daughters cats @Nrdsb4.
I know how very hard it is to lose our beloved pets. We had a much loved 14yo kitty who suddenly started limping, I assumed it was arthritis and brought her too the vet.
Unfortunately, it turned out that our Gracie had a slow growing osteosarcoma on her hind leg. We were shocked and so upset as Iām sure your daughter and her husband were.
My thoughts are with you all
@Nrdsb4, so sorry to hear About your grand fur babies.
It sounds like they were well loved cats, and your daughter and husband made the right decisions, even though they were tough.
@sarha, she was too emotional to go into detail, but Iām thinking it must have been something like that.
My cat is failing, but it will be no surprise when she goes. Both of these babies seemed fine one day, then suddenly not at all fine.