introducing my cats: tell me what this situation means and what i should do.?

[Soulblaze]

so i brought my second cat home today which is gonna be a companion for my 7 month old kitten. the new kitten is 8 weeks old. before i tell you about what happened, my older kitten used to meow when i had him for like 4 days and then he stopped... completely! until i brought the new kitten today. i kinda thought that was cute. it is was like the older kitten wanted me to get the younger one out of the crate (i kept the younger one in the crate to avoid any chance of fight). as the kitten was meowing, the younger one was trying to get out (and meet him i think) and they were smelling each other's nose through the holes in the crate. i read that as they liked each other and wanted to meet. so i opened the crate. it took a lil while for the younger kitten to get out even though the older one was meowing in front of the crate as if he was calling the other to get out. so the younger one got out. after smelling the borders of the crate and the floor a little. and was in front of the older one. and here is what i didn't understand:; the older kitten raised it's paw i think he was gonna hit/attack the younger one so i quickly came and closer and the younger kitten went back in the crate and the older ( the scared) jumped back into his cat house/condo/tree. so from what i have just said what do you think was the intention of the older cat by raising his paw? what should i do.
oh and when the younger kitten went back into the crate i took him and put him in the closet in the bathroom. i was gonna keep him in my room like the other cat but i am keeping him in the bathroom until i know what to do. and i hate plugged in the feliway diffuser in the room since yesterday to help everything...

 

[Osiris]

The older kitten could have been raising its paw to start playing usually when a cat dosnt like another they will growl or hiss thats the sign and no matter what they have to be around eachother they have to get used to it. Many people would have said what you did was wrong taking the kitten and putting in the crate and then putting it in another room. You should of le tit go on a while longer if the oldest one jumped on top of the other then thats whne you should of taken action. I have tw cats and they dont get along they use to fight and I would break it up but they learned to live with eachother sometimes they play but most of the time they ignore eachother

 

[HorsefreakHeather]

Curiosity is a very good sign, you never mentioned hissing or trying to attack right away, which is even better. They just need time to adjust. I recommend keeping the kitten in a separate room until the New cat is used to his/her smell. Introduce them to one another each day through the crate until you are fully comfortable to let them meet each other face to face.

Your cats will need to work out the domanice themselves. There may be a little bit of fighting. When my parents brought home a female kitten home to our house with one 8 month old male kitten, they had a few squabbles of who owns what. In the end, they were best friends and snuggled together all the time. They lived their entire lives together and even when my male cat passed away (after 12yrs) my female cat would search for him. She passed away when she was 16yrs old. When we brought in a stray female cat off the street, my cats took to her with no fights, mainly because she surrenederd to their domanice.

I just have one more questions, will your cats be neutered or spayed? If you have two unneautered males, they will have A LOT of fights and may never end up fully liking each other. I have seen cases where unspayed females will do the same. If they are neutered or spayed then the fights should stop after a month or so.

 

[Samantha Jansen]

Hey, so i kinda had the same problem you did. I had two 8 week old kittens and brought in a 10 week old kitten. The 10 week old kitten hated the two younger ones and vise-versa.

When the older one would go around them they'd hiss a smack each other, they wouldn't use there nails, and if one did it would go in the bathroom fir 5 minutes, after about a week they finally started to like each other. They all get along now for the most part. So don't worry about hissing or swatting unless it get serious.

Most people don't understand why cats hate each other so much, it's cause they like to be by themselves unless the cats are brought up from birth. But if you start working on it now they should be fine!

I really hope this helped if you ever need anymore help, you can always drop me a message!

 

[ZZZZZs]

Totally normal feline behavior.
The bigger kitty is just asserting his bigness and priority in the house. you did right to call a time out, tho.
Just let them play under a door for a few days before letting them have actual contact. Rub Big Kitty with a towel and then rub little kitty with the same one, then back to big kitty. This makes them smell more "right" to eachother. Feliway is GREAT!
Just monitor their time together so that the little one doesnt get beat up on....but remember cats and kittens play pretty rough.

 

[alcyonblue]

Introducing a new cat is a difficult timd for all.
I think you need to understand cat behaviour and body language. messybeast.com is a great site that has an article on how to introduce a new cat. I suggest you keep both cats separate so that they can each have a space where they can feel safe. Gradually let them see each other but no contact, then allow them to sniff each other but still keep them separate. It will take time.
The short answer to your question is that the older cat raising his paw was likely to be a smack or hit to the younger cat, and a normal response in the situation. I think you were going too fast with the introduction.
Remember that the older cat is likely to want to be 'Top Cat' in their relationship, and this is established by aggression - and submissive behaviour on the part of the kitten.
Keep the attention and love going for the older cat, and as much as possible keep to the daily routines that the older cat is used to.

 

[esme]

ok so cats are very territorial my cats love each other but my older cat will often remind my younger one that she is the boss.You basically just need the two cats to understand this the only way to do this is to let them both be in a room together but you need to be with them dont get involved unless the older one is really hurting your younger one just watch.