I have another kitten! A new friend for Chuy? Questions about introducing kittens.

2126 Views 11 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Mitts & Tess, Jun 17, 2012

J-a-x

Discussion Starter · May 30, 2012 (Edited)

Chuy the kitten.
So just a recap in case some of you haven't been following my threads. My wife and I found and adopted a 5 week old street kitten and we named him Chuy. Chuy is a pretty cool cat, very friendly and personable, except he has this habit of being super hyper and biting and wanting to play all the time. Typical kitten stuff maybe. I've followed most of the advice in here on teaching him to stop biting but none of it has worked so far. He's still a really cool cat, but he can be on the annoying side. One piece of advice I hadn't tried until now was to get another kitten so they can play with each other and teach each other how to be well mannered cats. My wife wanted to get a new cat and I resisted, that is until we found another stray kitten...

Enter Tigrito.
My wife was running this morning at 6 am and came across a tiny skinny kitten who was abandoned on the sidewalk. We named him Tigrito because he looks like a little tiger/jungle cat. We brought Tigrito to the vet today and the he spent the day there, was de-wormed, de-flead, given medicine and food and tests were done. He's free of disease as far as they can tell and they gave us the go ahead to bring him home. He is 6 weeks old.

So now I have 2 kittens!

My questions are:
Is it okay to have two male cats living together or is it unlikely that they will get along since they are the same sex?

I've read about cat introductions, but most of the articles are written about adult cats, so is it easier to introduce kittens? So far Chuy growls at Tigrito and hisses but does not try to hurt him. We'll try to keep them separated for now (Tigrito has his own litter box upstairs in the bathroom which we can close off from Chuy).

Is 2 moths (Chuy) and 5 weeks (Tigrito) too much of an age difference?

Any other thoughts of comments on having two cats live in a 1300 sqft / 2.5 floor condo? Is that enough space?

rcat

See less See more

Save

1 - 12 of 12 Posts

Mitts & Tess

· #2 · May 30, 2012

Oh my gosh that face is so precious! What a fabulous photo!

Kittens are the easiest to introduce. It helps if you get a wand toy and have them both interested in it and play with it together. They might initially be cautious of each other but in an hour or two they will accept each other. Maybe put vanilla on each of them so they smell the same. Cats go by smell.

5 weeks is extremely young. I hope you’re free feeding her as much soft kitten food as she wants and maybe offer kitten glop or goats milk to supplement not getting her moms milk. Congrats on your newest addition. I’m so glad your wife found the little one. They don’t last long on their own. Probably her mom was killed if she was out wandering by herself.

See less See more

Save

sunset97

· #3 · May 30, 2012

Congratulations on your new kitties! As for two male cats living together, that is all we have ever had. We have always had two male cats and have never had a problem.

I once heard a breeder say that she told potential buyers who wanted two kittens to go with either two males or a male and female. She usually didn't recommend two females because they have a diva attitude. I don't know if that is correct or not.

Save

shan841

· #4 · May 30, 2012

You shouldn't have any issues at all introducing them. Neither of them are going to be territorial or have the "i was here first" attitude. Play sessions with both of them is a great idea. Just get them to see that being with each other is fun, And they should be best friends in no time. A little hissing is to be expected. Just make sure you get them neutered asap because if not, once they hit kitty puberty they may not want to be friends anymore! And that should be plenty of space. Remember that cats like vertical space as well, so a cat tree would make them very happy

Save

milo22

· #5 · Jun 2, 2012

I'm going thru the same thing right now, I purchased a 5 week old male kitten from Petsave, and have two adult female, Missy and Pebbles, the new kitten, Milo is in his own room at night, and in a grate in the daytime if I'm home, the two girls hiss at him, and growl, it's been 2 weeks now, but I'm still scare to let him out with the females........... Pebbles seem to be playing with him today thru the grate, and after 10 minutes or so she wanted to bite him and she was hissing...................I really hope they get along soon, I can't wait to see them all together

Save

marie73

· #6 · Jun 2, 2012

Any other thoughts of comments on having two cats live in a 1300 sqft / 2.5 floor condo? Is that enough space?

I had four cats in about half that space, one-floor. Your cute little cats are living in a mansion.

I do hope you look in the lost and found ads, including Craigslist. That little kitten could have snuck out of the house of someone who loves and misses him very much, especially since he was flea-free and looks well taken care of. Just a thought.

Save

Mitts & Tess

· #7 · Jun 3, 2012

Chelsie said:
I'm going thru the same thing right now, I purchased a 5 week old male kitten from Petsave, and have two adult female, Missy and Pebbles, the new kitten, Milo is in his own room at night, and in a grate in the daytime if I'm home, the two girls hiss at him, and growl, it's been 2 weeks now, but I'm still scare to let him out with the females........... Pebbles seem to be playing with him today thru the grate, and after 10 minutes or so she wanted to bite him and she was hissing...................I really hope they get along soon, I can't wait to see them all together

I use to leep my kitten fosters separate from the adult cats. My vet at that time encouraged me to let the kittens in with the adults. Adults teach kittens the rules of the cat kingdom. There will be hisses and bats to put kittens in their place or to tell them "youve gone to far. Chill out were done with your continuing annoyance.

If blood is drawn or fur flying that ia agreesion. If hissing, batting and sharp repromands are heard that is OK.

You can tell kittens who were only childs. They are spoiled fearful brats when put in with other cats. Old tom cats are the best nuturers. They love to uncle kittens.

Save

J-a-x

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jun 17, 2012

Hey guys, thanks for your responses in this thread. I kept Tigrito separate for the first two weeks or so, unless we were in the house. Now Tigrito is allowed to come out of his room, he can go up and down the stairs on his own etc. Everything is good except I think Chuy is a bit rough with him. Maybe really rough. But Tigrito loves it. He follows chuy around and even initiates play fighting. I know cats are supposed to play fight but Chuy is much larger and more muscular and sometimes gets Tigrito in a sort of head lock and kicks him. Poor guy. Tigrito usually yells and we separate them then Tigrito wants to do it again. The kicking is really what bothers me the most. Is that something to be concerned about?

Also I recently noticed that many of Tigrito's whiskers are damaged from the playing/fighting. Is that a big deal? I know they will grow back but it makes me sad to see him with damaged whiskers. Still despite that he wants to be with Chuy all the time. I don't know if I should separate them again or not. If they are separated they both cry and want to be together. At least they seem like good friends. What are your thoughts?

See less See more

Save

Mitts & Tess

· #9 · Jun 17, 2012

Like you said, what are a few whiskers? This is a win-win situation. Don’t separate them. A lot of their emotional needs are being met by having each other as a buddy. Even if that buddy is annoying!

Save

J-a-x

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jun 17, 2012

I guess it's just that I keep reading that losing whiskers is extremely distressing for cats. Tigrito has probably lost slightly more than 50% of his whiskers.

Save

Penny135

· #11 · Jun 17, 2012

Sounds like the two are getting on well to me. Sit back and enjoy them.

They are very cute!!!

Save

Mitts & Tess

· #12 · Jun 17, 2012 (Edited by Moderator)

Wiskers will grow back. Ive had adult cats whiskers shaved off when preparing them for surgery. The whiskers grew back.

Evenings at my house is like a wrestle mania event. Head locks, angry cries, tackling each other, sneaking up and flying thru the air to land on eacch other. My oldest cat doing this is 10 yrs old! They never grow out of it!

Save

1 - 12 of 12 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month