New kitten will be here tomorrow!!

[Ishani Birch]

Hi all!

So my little Freya will be arriving from Quebec tomorrow night and I am so so so excited. I've been waiting since March. She's just shy of 12 weeks (by about 4 days I think) but as already received her shots. I've been reading previous posts about introducing kittens to cats but I wanted to ask again as most of them have been case dependant advice.
I have a one year old intact male named Sterling, he's a stud for local breeders which is why he's still intact, he's never sprayed (knock on wood) and is so gentle and loving with us, but aside from breeding sleepovers has never really spend any time with other kitties, particularly in his own house. Our little girl Freya will be home tomorrow (Thursday) night, but Sterling won't be home until Friday or Saturday, since he's at a breeders right now.
My first question is about the quarantine room. Sterling isn't allowed in the bedroom when we aren't home, so Freya will be given free range of the bedroom during the day, and she'll be in a large crate in our walk in closet at night. My question is exactly how separate do they have to be for the first two weeks, after a week is supervised visits while she's in the crate okay?
And secondly, what should I expect from Sterling? I'm a little worried since he's intact he will either spray or be very aggressive to an intruder in his home. Of course they won't see each other at first but.. Still being paranoid

Any thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated!

 

[John Campbell]

Congrats on the baby... It will be the longest 24 hours of your life waiting on her.

I can't speak for all on quarantine and you may want to contact your breeder. My breeder recommended total for 1 week, but I think most recommend 2 weeks.... Gives them time to sniff under the door and get an idea of who is there... Don't take my word for it.. I am sure a local breeder here will have much better advice.

 

[Carykd7kau]

So happy for you to get the new baby.
My understanding is 2 weeks. I am not a breeder, so I won't say too much, but I think your quarantine Will be ok. BUT as I say, I am not a breeder.
I will let someone with more understanding of cat behavior address what should be expected from Sterling.
I will say I am happy for you. Pictures of Freya as soon as it is practical.
BTW is Sterling a Savannah?
Welcome!!!!!

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Definitely two weeks for quarantine, I'd expect your breeder has already given you information on this?

I would think carefully about how you manage your household if you have a young female kitten and an intact stud male cat. I assume you are wishing to breed Freya at some point? But please keep them separated from ~5 months of age without close supervision or possibly always... you don't want Freya being a child bride... it's not fair to her to get pregnant too early, she needs to do some growing herself. Male cats usually can sense a cat going into heat before they show overt signs of it hence can already have bred the cat before you know it. You need to be aware of this..

And yes, Stirling might well start spraying with a female in the house. And yes an intact hormonal male is an uncertain creature hence predicting his actions is difficult. He probably will love the kitten, but stud males have been reported to sometimes attack other kittens ...now that he is an active stud his hormones likely are high and that makes it hard to know exactly how he will react.

 

[Patti]

This sounds like a pretty dicey situation. Firstly, let's talk about the purpose of a quarantine period. There are several reasons to do this. It is put in place in order to to ensure the new kitten is completely healthy before exposing her to other cats. Moving to a new home can be stressful, stress lowers the immune system, and this can open a kitten up to illness. Most illnesses (viral infections, etc.) will present themselves within two weeks, thus the two week quarantine period.

Next, the kitten is being introduced into an entirely new and overwhelming home. She needs to become accustomed to her new family and introduced to the home gradually, starting in one (quarantine) room, then once she settles in allowed into other parts of the house.

Sterling also needs time to realize there is a new kitten in the household. He will smell and hear Freya and this will help him become accustomed to the fact that he has a new roommate. Most cats are territorial and need slow introductions to accept new members of the household.

Most importantly, Freya also needs time to bond with her new humans. If introduced to other cats before developing a bond with you she may very well bond to Sterling instead.

However, it's after the quarantine period that I am most concerned about. Having a young female kitten around an intact male is a teenage pregnancy waiting to happen, unless you spay her before four months of age. If you intend to keep her intact I would recommend you plan on always keeping them separate except when you are ready to breed her. A male will most likely be merciless and relentless if given free reign with a female, whether she is in heat or not. Even if he isn't, many female cats cycle on a monthly basis, sometimes even more often - this means Freya could potentially get pregnant three or four (or even more) times a year (females often start to cycle again when their kittens are a few weeks old).

Then raising kittens is another matter - you need to have Freya isolated when she is giving birth and raising her kittens. Male cats have been known to kill kittens on sight - they have no idea, or care that these are their offspring, what they care about is the competition that kittens present for their females.

As you say, each situation is unique and these are generalizations. Ultimately, you will need to decide what is best for your household, and your cats. I will look forward to hearing how things go with Freya and Sterling, and will keep my fingers crossed that her transition into your home will be smooth and effortless.

 

[Michele&Will]

Love the name! Post pics asap! Thats a long time to wait, we waited two weeks, and I read/bought everything for him, hours and hours or getting ready until I almost pulled my hair out. Glad the wait is over!

 

[Ishani Birch]

Brigitte and Patti, absolutely agree with you both, Sterling is remaining in his half of the house, and Freya will be inheriting the other half, I wasn't planning for any unsupervised contact between them at all (sorry should have mentioned that), and yes the breeders I know went over the quarantine with me, I thought I'd get a 2nd+ opinion on the whole situation. I don't want any teen pregnancy for my little girl. We are considering one litter with them but I'm going to see how it goes, if having her intact around Sterling is too much then she and possibly even Sterling will get fixed and spayed.
I do know it's a risky situation and I'm not willing to put the possibility of breeding over my fur babies, no kitty mill in my house. So thank you so much for all the feedback, it is nice to know I wasn't being overly paranoid. I'll post pictures and updates as soon as I can!! She arrives 10:55pm pst.

 

[Carykd7kau]

......... I'll post pictures and updates as soon as I can!! She arrives 10:55pm pst.

Oh can't wait!!

 

[Patti]

Three hours and counting...

 

[Bekki]

Supa excited for you!


"Those who wander aren't always lost"