How to Introduce New Kittens to the Family

Adopting more than one kitten from the same or different litters, who get along, allows the kittens to adjust to their new home with a built-in playmate. Bringing home new kittens together allows them to socialize properly by interacting with each other at a young age and keep each other company in their new surroundings. With the change to a new home and environment, the kittens need time to adjust and feel secure before meeting all of the members in your home, both human and animal.

Things You'll Need

  • Food and water dishes
  • Litter boxes
  • Scratching post
  • Cat toys
  • Cat beds
  • Cat carrier(s)
  • Cat treats
  • Cat climbing trees
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Instructions

    • 1

      Set up a spare room in your home for the kittens to spend the first few weeks in. Choose a quiet space and place food, water and a litter box in the room for the kittens to use. Give the kittens a scratching post, comfortable cat beds and some cat toys to play with.

    • 2

      Bring the kittens to a veterinarian for an exam before taking them home with you. The veterinarian will check for external parasites, perform blood tests to test for feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus, and give the kittens necessary vaccinations. This ensures you bring home healthy kittens and avoid any medical emergencies with them. You also need to make sure the kittens have no communicable diseases or parasites before bringing them home to meet your other pets.

    • 3

      Place the kittens in a carrier together, if they can fit, for litter mates or kittens that already get along. Otherwise, place them in separate carriers. This keeps the kittens safely confined for the ride home. Bring them home and place the carrier in the kittens' room. Open the door to the carrier and allow the kittens to come out explore the room on their own.

    • 4

      Spend time with the kittens in their room. Engage them in play and get them used to your presence. Sit in the room and read a book or watch television to allow the kittens to come up to you and sit near you or on your lap. Once you gain the kitten's trust, allow other adult family members into the room to sit, play and spend time with them. Have each family member provide the kittens with treats during the visits, to positively reinforce the experience.

    • 5

      Introduce the kittens to the children in your home by having the children sit quietly and allow the kittens to come to them. Show the children how to gently pet the kittens on the head and back. Have the children use cat toys on a string to engage the kittens in play. Do not allow the children to pick up the kittens, chase them or handle them roughly. Keep initial introductions brief, from 10 to 15 minutes, allowing the children to spend longer periods of time with the kittens when they demonstrate they will handle them gently.

    • 6

      Rub a towel on the kittens to obtain some of their scent. Give the towel to other pets in your home to smell. Once the pets react with no aggression to the scent, such as growling or hissing, feed the animals together, on opposite sides of the door to the kittens' room to keep them separated. Over a period of a few days, open the door and place a baby gate between the kittens and the other pets. Reward non-aggressive interactions with treats for all of the animals.

    • 7

      Allow your kittens access to the rest of your home after two weeks of confinement and introductions to the family members and pets. Provide the kittens with tall climbing trees throughout your home to climb and escape from other pets or children. Give the kittens a litter box each plus one extra, located on different floors of your home in quiet, accessible areas.