new cats

starfish1

Howdy folks,

Recently we added 2 lovely new rescued cats to our family. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be getting along very well.

They are 6 months old,male,neutered cats and one arrived a day after the other. In fairness, our welcome wasn't too well organised as we just put the two cats in the room together and hoped for the best. One of them hisses at the other when he comes close but, from what i can see,there's no physical fighting just yet anyway.

It's early days though as we've only had them for 2 days but i'm worried that when we eventually let them outside one may run away due to the unfriendly company at home.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

anniehoo

First thing. Perfectly normal reaction so dont worry.They both are completely in a new environment-new smells,new noises...and now a new "buddy".At 6mths they're at the perfect age for adapting really quickly. If you want them to bond do everything the exact same with them i.e feed together but in separate dishes,give the same amount of affection etc. This time next week id almost guarantee they'll be new best buds. You can only do so much, they'll vie for "top cat" over time which is their thing not yours.Its like new siblings, dont treat one of them different over the other and they'll be fine.

There will be a "boss" eventually so dont worry about it. You have to accept their lingo as much as they need to accept yours

starfish1

cool-thanks a million thats great!I did feel like i was forcing them to be friends by making them share a feeding bowl etc but i'll take your advice and let you know how it goes

anniehoo

You cant force cats to do anything you'll find that out soon enough. Give it a week or so and they'll be grand.

dan_d

You probably know this...but keep them in for a good 2-3 weeks, maybe more.
Less chance of them running away then, as they will view your house as their home too, and understand that that's where the food is!!!