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Author Topic:   Two cats living in harmony. Is it possible?
winter
Knowflake

Posts: 142
From: Australia
Registered: Apr 2009

posted December 26, 2010 05:12 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for winter     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My daughter moved out 18 months ago and took our male cat with her and now her living situation has changed and the kitty needs to come back and live with me.

The only problem is that 6 months ago I took in a rescue cat that was released to me on the proviso that there were no other cats in the household (apparently she is a b!tch with other cats).

Both cats are desexed, 5+ years old. I am happy to have them both here but I’m quite anxious about how to get them to co-exist under the same roof without tearing each other apart so if anyone has any tried and true do’s or don’ts I’d love to hear them……thanks!!

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MoonWitch
Moderator

Posts: 505
From: The Beach
Registered: Apr 2009

posted December 26, 2010 11:20 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for MoonWitch     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Yes, it's absolutely possible. There will be an adjustment period, of course.

I used to have 5 cats at any given time because I would take in unwanted cats and find them homes. There will be some hissing and growling and complaining for a couple weeks but it'll die down.

My good friend just went through this last month. She brought home a stray to her cat that has been with her for years. It took two weeks for them to adjust. Now they play and sleep together. They still bicker sometimes but so do people that live together.

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NickiG
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Posts: 2691
From: Pluto, next to Ami Ann
Registered: Jul 2010

posted December 26, 2010 06:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NickiG     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
yea, i had 2 cats at a time once and they slept with each other all the time...of course one was a fixed male and the other was a female who eventually had a little of kittens

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put your foot down once, not stomp it over and over

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Randall
Webmaster

Posts: 4477
From: The Goober Galaxy
Registered: Apr 2009

posted December 27, 2010 11:17 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Randall     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Cats do tend to be territorial, though. That's why the rub on you--not to love you, but to put their scent on you to show that you belong to them. It's true.

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"The stars which shone over Babylon and the stable in Bethlehem still shine as brightly over the Empire State Building and your front yard today. They perform their cycles with the same mathematical precision, and they will continue to affect each thing on earth, including man, as long as the earth exists." Linda Goodman

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BearsArcher
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Posts: 509
From: Arizona with Bear the Leo
Registered: Apr 2010

posted December 27, 2010 01:52 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for BearsArcher     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
They can definitely co-exist and even get along great, after an adjustment period. We have 3 cats- Fletcher is 18 years old, Phoebe is 14 years old and Mac, the newbie, is 2 years old. I had Phoebe before Fletcher and they hit it off but the Siamese I had hated both of them. Sadly, she passed away about 2 years after Fletcher and Phoebe moved in.

After 12 years together, Mac was introduced as a kitten (we had his momma and she gave birth to 3 kitties- we found homes for all of them and kept Mac). Fletcher and Mac had a few territorial issues because Mac was a brat and wanted to play but Fletch is a bit too old for those games. In time they learned to really love each other. Phoebe is another story, she just tolerates Mac but they do all hang out together- probably because they have a common foe- Rocky- the almost 10 month old Lab (which is why they have their own room with a babygate so they can come and go as they please plus have refuge from the slobber head.

Every now and then Phoebe throws a hissy fit- pretty much her way of saying "mommmmmmmy.. dadddddy.. he's (Mac) touching ME". LOL... but other than that, they get along great.

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StarrofVenusGirl
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Posts: 1302
From: Down the Rabbit Hole
Registered: Jun 2009

posted December 27, 2010 03:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for StarrofVenusGirl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I had 2 cats once, but both were kittens. My college roommate and I adopted a 10 week old kitten we named Tigger and he was our only cat for about 2 months, but he was driving us CRAZY with his kitten antics and we felt horrible for leaving him home alone during the day so we adopted an 8 week old kitten named Callie to keep him company.

Even though they were both babies, he HATED her for the first week. She always wanted to play and he would run away from her or climb up to really high places that she couldn't get to and then tease her with his tail. He also got frustrated that she didn't groom herself frequently and would grab her and pin her down to groom her much to her horror (surprisingly, she turned out to be the neater one).

It took them about 2 weeks to develop a bond and a rhythm, but they became best friends. They shared litter boxes and food bowls so I think that helped.

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winter
Knowflake

Posts: 142
From: Australia
Registered: Apr 2009

posted December 28, 2010 12:28 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for winter     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thank you all for your responses, they are great and gives me hope that within a couple of weeks ‘all will be ok at the ok corrall’.

Bears, your post made me laugh, all those pets must provide an endless source of amusement!
And
MoonWitch, thankyou for mentioning the occasional bickering (just like people). A gentle reminder of ‘hey its all normal’ is just what I need to be reminded of.

The story so far………… my daughter bought Hoover (named after the vacuum cleaner not the FBI dude) and his chattels to my home yesterday.

Lucy (rescue cat) probably was picking up on my anxiousness and spent a good quarter an hour using the house as a grand prix track while Hoover was locked in my bedroom.

For the first 24 hours I kept them separate so Hoover could settle in and I’ve only just begun to leave the hall door open so they can check each other out. They are generally staying out of each others way for now but so far all the hissing and growling is coming from Hoover, surprisingly I though Lucy would be the most vocal but she seems more fascinated so far.

Its only early days and hopefully I can update later with tales of how cute they are playing together. Not sure if we’ll reach that stage, Hoover, the Capricorn was a grumpy old man at 8 weeks of age. I’m just aiming for them to tolerate each other, anything more is a bonus.

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StarrofVenusGirl
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Posts: 1302
From: Down the Rabbit Hole
Registered: Jun 2009

posted December 28, 2010 12:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for StarrofVenusGirl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
They will be fine. Worst case scenario they will work out a hierarchy of who gets what part of the house and what people and stay out of each other's way, with only an occasional hiss or growl.

We also catsat a Siamese for a friend once and he drove both our cats nuts. He wasn't fixed so was always trying to mack on Callie (who WAS fixed and not at all amused) and trying to usurp Tigger as man of the house (who was also not amused). Tigger only lacked balls physically--he could stand up for himself.

Callie would just run from Simba whenever he got too flirtatious, but otherwise would tolerate/occasionally play with him. Tigger would issue a warning growl whenever he got within a 3 foot radius (!) but Simba listened. He was a jolly cat and kind of clueless about how much they disliked him LOL.

Lucy sounds like Simba. Friendly and curious but hopefully wise enough to take a hint if personalities clash.

Just watch for signs of stress on Hoover (the least adaptable cat). I knew it was time for Simba's owner to come back from vacation when Tiggy became very withdrawn and started shedding like crazy.

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Randall
Webmaster

Posts: 4477
From: The Goober Galaxy
Registered: Apr 2009

posted January 08, 2011 11:41 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Randall     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
How are they doing?

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"No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown." William Penn

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winter
Knowflake

Posts: 142
From: Australia
Registered: Apr 2009

posted January 12, 2011 04:59 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for winter     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:

How are they doing?


Thanks for asking. :-)

It’s all going quite well, its just over 2 weeks now and no bloodshed. They give each other a wide berth, lots of hissing and growling from Hoover but Lucy has been quite placid.

Hoover has taken a couple of swipes at Lucy, once involved a wind-up kamikaze mouse and Lucy landing on Hoovers back…………not good,
and the other time Lucy snuck up behind Hoover to sniff his bum…..also not good.

All in all, I don’t think they will be preening each other anytime soon but they seem to be tolerating each other fairly well.

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