A very cute kitten appeared in our backyard in the early fall, no chip, no hits on the found-cat boards. We'd really like to keep him, and did the full recommended slow intro to our two adult indoor-only cats, (including a health quarantine and the shots, neuter, feliway, etc). We've gotten them to the point where our cats aren't really distressed by his presence, just wary and annoyed; but they still aren't able to be in a room together for any significant amount of time because he inevitably tries to pounce on them.

Kitten has his own room at night and on days when we aren't home. He's an infinite-energy baby, but we're doing everything we can to keep him enriched in an enclosed space (long play session with the Cat Dancer,cat wheel that was a bust, puzzle feeders, cuddles, etc).

We also harness-trained the kitten, which is really helpful when he's out with the other boys, since it restricts his ability to chase them. But he still tries to, and we seem to have plateaued. Basically, if they're in the room he laser-focuses on getting to them and isn't interested in anything else (I get it, I'm also obsessed with them).

We tried the "maybe they just need to assert themselves" at first, but this kitten was clearly raised by humans and doesn't understand cat body language/hissing. He'll keep lunging at them whenever he can get himself tucked around a corner to pounce. He's initially trying to play, but if they whack him back he'll get overstimulated and escalate; we definitely don't want them actually fighting, which they escalated to once in the early days before the harness. The boys are great at expressing "don't do it", but will generally run away instead of fighting back, and he'll chase them down..

The kitten goes back in his room for a cool-down whenever he pounces at them, and the boys don't seem stressed when he's not around. They've also been pretty patient at giving him multiple chances; if there's food in the picture everyone will eat next to each other for a bit before the tail-swishing starts again

I wish I could just explain to his little walnut brain that he has to make friends FIRST, before they'll play with him. I hate keeping him quarantined away, but I also don't want them all to have any really bad experiences that we can't recover from, and the older boys don't deserve to live on edge full-time. Any advice would be deeply appreciated.

Cat tax (kitten, boys)