Introducing a new pet into the household: a kitten!

[daisy'smom]

Today I adopted a homeless kitten. He appears to be about 10 weeks old. He is very sweet and he is at the Vets office today getting neutered, deflea and dewormed, a blood panel and immunized. Tomorrow afternoon he will be coming home to meet my 1 1/2 year old Chihuahua, Daisy.
Do you have any tips to smooth the way for his homecoming?
What happened when you introduced a kitten to your Chihuahua?

[Romans Mom]

Congratulations on your new furbaby! How are your new kitty and Daisy doing? I don't have a cat, so I can't help, but it seems like it would be good not to leave them home alone in the same room for a few weeks or so. Also, from what I've read and heard here, the cats usually stay away from the Chihuahuas unless they want to be around them. When we delivered Elle's brother to his new home, the cat walked through, stopped, looked at Sonny as if to say, "Oh brother!", and slowly walked away. Now that cat, "TT" will purpously lie in the way while the two dogs run through the house, so they will run and skid into him--all for fun! I'm told they get along great all the time.

[2Chiwawa]

After I had Gracie and Sammi I adopted a one year old male cat. There was no agression but Sammi Girl started humping all the toys as some reaction to the presence of the cat. Really. Then about 8 months later I rescued a second male cat, a five year old. Sammi is agressive with the second cat. She will pointedly chase him and bark at him. She also began to chase the first cat a little too. None of this is dangerous but she is much more worried about the cats than Gracie and more aware of them now that there are two of them. Gracie mostly ignores them. I'm glad I did not get a kitten now that I know Sammi might have chased it around the house. She is still humping everything in sight. But that is an entirely different subject...

[daisy'smom]

Thank you for your responses:
I love this little kitten! He wasn't microchipped so I had it done and now he is registered to me. The vet really treated him well and returned him to me on Tuesday clean, flea free, Blood panel done, immunized, worm free and very happy. I bought the 6 month package deal for follow-up treatment including the rest of his shots and 6 vials of Frontile Plus for cats just like we use for our dogs even though we want him to remain a housecat.
So far I have not introduce the kitten (Max) to my Chi (Daisy). Max has seen Daisy today through a door that has shutters and he didn't look scared but Daisy didn't notice him yet. Max is in the bedroom wing of the house and Daisy is closed in the Kitchen wing. I have been just approaching this gradually as Max is still healing from being neutered. His claws are as sharp as needles and he accidentally got them caught right in my skin without even trying. I clipped just the tiny sharp tip off of just his front claws and he was relaxed through the whole process.
Since I got him back from the vet on Tuesday I have noticed irregularities in Max's fur that indicated past wounds that were already healed at his age of about 10 weeks old. It just leads me to guess what traumatic fight he may have been in several weeks before I found him! He has a tiny scar on his jawline like a puncture wound just below his mouth and a one inch long one on the outside of his back "foot", and a couple of tiny dots on his front left leg. I am thinking another cat fought with him or he escaped some other animal with small sharp claws and teeth by running to the middle of the hedge where I found him outside the office.
He is very dainty and cuddly with an interesting fur pattern. He is Tabby color and pattern on his long skinny tail and his back and sides and most of his head. He has all white legs, tummy, front of neck up to his mouth, and a white collar shaped ring around his neck. Trust me, the effect is quite pretty.
I have been giving Daisy lots of attention so she won't put the sounds and smells of a kitten together with getting less attention. Daisy doesn't sleep with us because she runs around to much and doesn't settle down so the kitten gets lots of attention sleeping on the bed with us and whenever we are in the bedroom. I think if we both hold each of them while petting them, my husband and I can enter the same room with them tomorrow while leaving the bedroom door open. Max has learned his way around there if he wants to run back to the bedroom and jump up on top of a television or another piece of funiture if he gets too scared. I am going to try not to put this off for too long.

[Romans Mom]

Hi Daisy's Mom. Max sounds adorable! :wub: You gave a great description. Poor little guy sounds like he was really bunged up but on the mend thanks to you. :-) I think it's wonderful you found him and are giving him the best home ever.

I've always wanted a cat that would never go outside. I was going to do that with my last three, made the mistake of taking them outside for just a little while, then that's the end of that--they always want to go in and out when they want. LOL

I can't wait to hear how Daisy and Max are when they meet. I'll bet they'll adore each other soon!

Chi hugs to Max from Roman and Elle while Max is on the mend from his operation. :flower:

[Hercules Momma]

Congratulations on Max! I'm so glad you were able to take him in and get him all fixed up with a great home! I hope that Max and Daisy will be good friends.
I've got two older cats that aren't thrilled with the pups, but they don't totally hate them either. The pups will run and try to jump on the cats and clean their ears, the cats put up a little fight, but secretly I think they like it. They just want to act like the puppies are annoying them. Both of my cats are indoor cats and they are declawed, so when they get upset and swat at the pups it doesn't hurt them.

Please post pics of Max and Daisy!

[2Chiwawa]

Wow, Max is sure a lucky boy that you found him and took such good care of him. I'm sure everything will work out just fine. I am a total believer of keeping cats indoors. They do not need to go outside. The last two cats I had and the two I have now are totally indoor cats and they are fine. They live longer and you have way less worry and vet bills. I also do not declaw. I keep their front nails trimmed very short with a regular human nail clipper. I hardly ever clip the back nails.

Best of luck with Max. He sounds really beautiful and very loveable.

[daisy'smom]

I learned how to download my babies pictures but I have had trouble putting on the website. I made them small as required in Avatar settings but still got an error. I'd love to share them.

[Romans Mom]

Daisy's Mom, Are your pictures filed as JPG? (I'm just trying to see what problems there could be with you getting the pics on) :-)

I love your Avatar. Daisy's adorable! :-D

[daisy'smom]

Hi:
I had a lot of fun with the features in the media program, (cropping, etc.). I got so involved with the computer last night I didn't notice the time until it was 2 a.m.. I am going to be tired tonight!
I saved as a jpg file then got them on the avatar location. A dropdown menu had "all files" that I changed to "jpg".
Those are my first pictures. I will get better ones with practice and I will post them for you.
I guess what I it is that I don't know how to do now is how to get pictures on a link in a message.

[Romans Mom]

Hi Daisy's Mom, Go ahead and practice on posting pictures. If the post doesn't work out, we can edit or delete it for you. I've been playing around with my photo program and finally know how to "crop, copy save." That should get me better looking pics now. I've also found out I have free, HP Photo Smart and it's been a lot of fun also.
----------------------
I just walked through loading a picture here:

Hit POST REPLY (for your post)
Hit MANAGE ATTACHMENTS
Hit BROWSE, do to get your pics, hit the picture so it appears in FILE NAME.
Hit OPEN
Hit UPLOAD... and wait. :roll:
Close the window for MANAGE ATTACHMENTS
Hit SUBMIT.

I hope it works out for you.