Hey everyone, so I am bringing home my new 12 week old Bengal next week and I am taking 8 days off in a row to make sure he and my two existing rescue cats adjust well to one another.

So my question is about how to handle sleeping arrangements. My 2 existing cats always sleep in bed with me, and one in particular has a pretty wide jealous streak. I don’t want to make the kitten spend the night alone as he will have enough changes to deal with, and I want him to bond with me as much as possible. I’m hesitant to let him have full contact with the others the first few days, but I’m not sure what will happen if I shut out my existing 2 boys.

Any thoughts?

Welcome to our forum. Unfortunately, you are going to have to keep your new kitten in a "safe" room. This is to allow your new kitten to de-stress and become comfortable in the new surroundings. Very few kittens re ready to join a new family immediately. Your boy has been with mom and siblings and has familiarity with those smells including the humans there. Now this small kitten is taken away from everything he has known and has a new human, new smells, other animals. Did the breeder have other domestic cats?

The proper way to introduce your kitten to your other cats is to keep this kitten in a safe room. It can be a bedroom for bathroom. Have a litter box, food and water, toys, and a cat bed available. Will your kitten cry? Probably! But, more than likely, your kitten will be scared, especially smelling new cats, and want to hide away. This does not mean you can't visit the cat or even take the cat out of the safe room. However, the kitten does not need to come fave to face with your other cats yet. Then you will want to start swapping scents. Rub a towel or sock over your cats and exchange the scents for several days.

Once you are prepared for a face-to-face introduction, know that there may be hissing and growling. The best way to start is to feed the cats in the same general area -- food is the distraction. You can also try playing with the kitties with toys -- making the toys the distraction. You can also hold the kitten in your lap and allow the other cats to "sniff" the kitten, but be careful of kitten claws coming out.

You will never leave the cats alone together until you are sure they can co-exist peacefully in your home. This would mean keeping the kitten in a safe room while you are gone.

As for sleeping arrangements -- bengal cats especially want to be with their owners, so I'm sure the kitten will want to sleep with you. Put a cat tree in your bedroom for another sleeping area.

If the introduction is done properly, the cats should be fine. It takes time and patience. You can't expect them to be best friends overnight -- it has happened -- but it usually will not!

Feel free to continue to ask for advice. We are here for you.

A couple of suggestions:

1) Same smell for everyone. Some people suggest sprinkling everyone with the same cologne or body powder so everyone smells alike. I prefer using smelly soft food or hairball medicine. Your existing cats may find themselves licking and grooming the new kitten as a result. In any case, everyone will be distracted by having to clean up the food on their fur. And they will also smell the same.

2) Tell the existing cats that the new kitten is "their" kitten and not your kitten. Make sure you give them extra loving, and refrain from being swept away by the new kitten's cuteness (I know, yeah, right!). Sometimes if the kitten meows and sounds like it is in distress, other cats will rush to its aid. Especially if they think the kitten is "theirs". You might avoid being the one holding it while it is meowing. Perhaps a friend could hold it, and then they can be concerned and not jealous when it meows. If you hold the meowing kitten, they may not be very sympathetic,

3) Maybe take naps with the kitten in the afternoon? Or visit the kitten in its safe area in the middle of the night.

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The little monsters 3

Don't forget a safe litter box situation. 3 cats should have at least 4 litterboxes. Your kitten needs a place he can feel safe using the box else you're bound to get into trouble with inappropriate elimination.

What is motivating you to get a kitten when you already have 2 cats, one of which is the jealous type?

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~ Kyenta

I understand some people just LOVE cats. I am one of them. I would have a houseful, but my husband doesn't even particularly want the two we have now. Sometimes you have to think along the terms of bringing home a new baby to older brothers or sisters. They tend to get jealous of all the time to new baby is requiring. As long as you realize you are going to have to spend a lot of time integrating the household and you are prepared to deal with any behavioral issues that may arise with your older cats. you may be fine. Know it can take months.

The members here give excellent advice ... so take it all to heart. Plenty of catification in your home -- multiple cat trees, plenty of litter boxes, lots of play time with you -- you may get there sooner than you think.

Thanks everyone, all good advice and it’s all been taken to heart & acted on. I have an entire room set up for the new kitten, with nothing but cat things in the room. There’s 3 windows, each with its own cat tree for him to be able to look out. I have tons of scratching posts, toys, a big empty dresser with 2 drawers pulled out and pillows placed in. I will have 2 baby gates stacked one on the other between him and my other 2 boys. I plan to feed everyone on either side of the baby gates, with cardboard between them for the first couple days, so they can hear and smell, but not see each other. Going to go slow and gradual with the introductions, like I’ve seen Jackson Galaxy demonstrate on his show.

I have a sleeping bag, and may sleep part of each night with him in his room, and still let my existing cats have some time with me. I’ll be home for 8 days straight so everyone will get lots and lots of attention.

If it doesn’t feel 100% right to pull the baby gates after 8 days, I believe he’ll be set up pretty well in his nursery while I’m away at work.

My motivation for getting a Bengal? I’ve been a cat guardian my whole life and have always wanted a hybrid. I’ve wanted one for the challenge, and the heightened “Catness”. This is in order to build a bond with an animal that’s one step closer to his wild roots, and be able to have a greater appreciation for felines in general.

It sounds as if you have everything ready and taken care of! That is awesome on your part!!! You are proceeding the correct way, according to Jackson Galaxy! The fact that you will be taking time off to help the new baby to settle in is wonderful. I hope you will keep us informed on how things are going.

I just meet the breeder, and got my new baby. OMG is this kitten amazing! He is larger than life, and louder than my adult cats. I am completely in love.

Are you over the moon??? LOL Let the adventures begin. Please let us know how things progress.

Well I am happy to report Mambo (the kitten formerly known as Riley), is totally thriving. He was a little tired yesterday but that didn’t stop him from playing the “Da Bird” game with me for hours. He ate well, and he’s 100% with the litter box. He is behaving with perfect confidence and ownership of his room I have him set up in.

There was one incident, if ya even want to call it that. One of my two existing cats (a normal DSH mutt), pushed the cardboard line of sight barrier back enough that they got a good look at each other. Naturally Sunny let out a normal cat hiss. Mambo immediately took a tall confident stance and let out an extraordinary and loud roar/growl/sing-songish vocalization that honestly kind of made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. My other 2 cats started running away cartoon style with their feet and legs going full speed, but they weren’t getting anywhere at first. They finally got traction and ran away to the living room all slinking down low. Mambo just watched like “Where you guys going?”. The other 2 whom I ran to console and reassure, just looked at me like “I don’t know what that thing is, but it’s NOT a kitten!”

I’m taking the introduction VERY slowly and deliberately. It’s very important to me that everybody winds up best friends in the end. But at 12 weeks, whether he knows it or not he is already establishing his dominance to become the Alpha.

That's pretty remarkable how quickly your kitten has adapted. You need to be careful about the whole sight-blocker thing. The whole entire point of it is that the resident cats have a good experience (eating their favorite food) and smell the kitten, and start to associate that smell, with good things. But when the exact opposite happens, they have a scare and a bad experience, and associate THAT with eating there, and the smell of your kitten... it's actually reinforcing their resentment of the kitten.

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The little monsters 3

That’s exactly right, and exactly what I don’t want. Tomorrow and this weekend will tell a lot. I’m hoping for everyone to get the idea that there’s a new guy, or guys around, and that it’s basically okay. I’m here almost 24/7 through Sunday night.

Looks like Mambo will have no trouble letting your other kitties know who is now boss! LOL. He probably had to stand up to his siblings a lot and ruled over them -- and he isn't going to allow a bigger cat any leeway.

I'm sure you are really enjoying this .... and just know that, at some point, you will probably have all three kitties sleeping on top of you, with you, pushing you out of the bed.

Keep doing what you're doing. It will work!