People with 2 cats

shellydiane820

How long did it take them to tolerate each other?

[Deleted User]

Just a few days. Simon and Chicken hissed a lot at first, but calmed down rather quickly. Simon (the older cat) would try to carry Chicken around in his mouth. It was weird.

mandapanda78

Well... I've had them for 9 years and they still fight at least once a day. But I'd say it only took a few weeks to be considered "mostly harmonious" or at least to get to the point where I wasn't afraid of leaving them together without human supervision.

tidetravel

I'm no help.  When you have as many as I do, they're all like, "Oh, god.  Another one."  ::eyeroll - go back to bathing themselves::Obviously what I'm saying is you need to get a few more right away, and then they'll all be bestest friends!

Brie2010

There was probably actual fighting and hissing for the first month.  The second month that mostly ceased and they avoided each other.  By month three, we found them making out regularly.  And they were both adults when we adopted them...kittens should adjust much more quickly, especially once they are neutered.

georgia_bride09

I got mine within a couple months of each other and they were both still kittens, so they took to each other immediately, so no help there. BUT, my mom had a couple cats, and my sister introduced a new one into the mix, and honestly, it doesn't take that long at all. Once the original cat realizes the new cat isn't going anywhere, he/she relents and the new cat usually is eager to be friends anyway, or at least eager to become acclimated to your house. There are definitely exceptions (my mom has one anti-social cat), but generally, they'll begin to get along before too long. You getting a new kitty already?

salt78

Like 5 days. I think you have a better chance of it happening faster because they are both boys.

shellydiane820

All they do is fight.  We try to keep them around each other when we are home, but when we aren't home we keep them apart.  JT doesn't let up on Ming.

mandysmear

All the male cats I have had have always gotten along.  Females?  Not so much.  My cat hates my dog.  She always attacks him.

tidetravel

Oh yeah.  You said one of them still has his balls, right?  They'll get along a lot better once you remove the testosterone.

georgia_bride09

Simon (the older cat) would try to carry Chicken around in his mouth. It was weird. Aw, cew, that's cute. Simon was trying to be a mommy cat. That's how moms carry their kittens.

shellydiane820

We got another kitten on Sunday.  They are about the same age.  Approximately 4 months.  JT is getting neutered tomorrow, I hope that helps.

aMrsin09

I think it depends on the cats.  I had my large male who had been an only cat all his life and then adopted my little girl.  It was about a month before I felt comfortable leaving them alone all day unsupervised and two months until they were eating side by side. I had to re-home my little one and she went into a home that had another male who was used to having other cats around and was lonely being an only cat.  Her new mom emailed me and said that by the third day, she woke up and they were both sleeping next to each other on the end of the bed.

salt78

Oh yes. That will definitely help. Oskar was older and already neutered when we got Grover.

shellydiane820

Haha! Tide, we tease JT about loosing his manhood.  He's just going to be an "it".

Brie2010

Also, separating them for the first week or two helps.  We kept Southie in the bedroom most of the time for the first week or two and let them have a few highly supervised play dates to get to know each other.  Oh, and drugs help.  If they like catnip, that might relax JT and mellow him out a bit.

salt78

I definitely second catnip. I got Oskie a new catnip toy when we brought G home and I think it helped. Now they recreationally use drugs together.

J&K10910

When my parents got a kitten after having had their other cat for 7 years, the older cat hid under my dad's bed and came out once a day to eat, drink, and use the litter box.  For 6 months.But that's chicks for ya.

shellydiane820

oh yes, there is always catnip in the house.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

A few days. Nimbus is REALLY in love with other cats and wants to make friends fast (but really shy with people), and even though he was the first cat in the house, he is not at all dominant. Gus is very go with the flow, and doesn't love but doesn't mind Nimbus. Wherever one is, the other will usually show up and they'll sleep near each other. So basically, after Nimbus got over the initial shock of seeing another cat in the house, he was in love.When I was a kid we had an older calico and adopted a 1 year old calico who had crazy energy (but was really sweet). The younger cat loved the older one, but the older one (I think she was 14) could never get used to the baby. It changed her personality. She got a lot more finicky. But then, she had never lived with another cat.

Brie2010

Also, if they like wet cat food, feed them that together.  It will help form good associations. This is no help when you have one cat that refuses anything but dry food and strawberry cream cheese, but I've heard it helps for normal cats.

wadingmoose

Ummm, I got the second cat in 2002 or so and every so often Tigg still takes a big swipe at Bailey.  But they also have their guilty moments when I catch them curled up together on the bed.

shellydiane820

We try feeding them together but JT eats all the food because he's a fat kitteh.

hccpsu

It can also depend on the age of the cats.  My first two were kittens, so it only took about two days.  I kept them in separate rooms, but they were both at the door, wanting to see the other, so I let them be together.  There was some hissing, but after two days they curled up together and went to sleep. When DH moved in, he brought his two younger cats (mine are now 14, his are around 5).  That was nine months ago and mine still can't stand his.  We kept them apart for a couple weeks, did the smell introduction, etc, but my two aren't having any of it.  I wish now we'd kept them apart longer and taken things more slowly. Some people also like the Feliway plug-ins or spray to help calm them, but it hasn't worked for our crew.

britne28

When I moved in with FI last summer he had two cats and I had two cats and we got a dog.  A bit insane.  Britne (one of my cats) did a bloodless coup and became the alpha cat right away.  There were fights here and there but each cat had space they could go to. Unfortunately we had to put Enzo down this summer and I came home last Tuesday to find that Caesar died that day.  A tough year.    So it is just my two cats and the dog.  The dog is scared of the cats.  Sigh.

BubbleJ

Maybe 3 months. The older one still rules the roost, but she has stopped attacking the little one for no reason now, which is good.

Carebear517

About 2 weeks before we felt comfortable leaving them alone together. Our oldest cat was 4 months old when we brought in the other one, 2 months old. I read that 3-4 months is a time in a kittens life when they play very roughly so maybe once they get past that stage they'll settle down.

thesuninherhead

Sorry to post so late- catching up on what I missed over the past week- but it can take awhile. For kittens, it tends to happen quite fast- I know that when I got Naia, Nomad hissed etc for about 5 days before he started to come around to her. They were 9 months old.

 

Meanwhile, when Nomad passed and we got Tapi and a month later, Chomp, it took Naia the better part of 6 months to get used to- and she's still not 100% with them. But, she was much older with this introduction (3 years), and I think that is part of the issue.

 

As others have mentioned, having both boys desexed will help. Also, it helps if you do the 'safe room' introduction when you first get a new cat- although in this case it might be a little late. How are they going now?