Help with 2 cats?

Question

I have a house with 2 cats. Cali is 7 and JD is 3. When I brought JD home, we kept them separated from minute one! They sniff each other, and Cali would always hiss at him, and has swatted at him.
Now, JD is 16 lbs. compared to Cali's 6 lbs.! I bring them to the same room, usually a bedroom where she's sleeping, and he'll sit next to her, with me watching and guarding. She'll growl a bit, but if she's happy enough, she'll purr. He'll sniff her butt.
We are moving to a new house, and I'm tired of having them apart. How do I integrate these 2 wild beasts, who still have all of their claws mind you, into a happy household?

Answer 1

I was in a similar situation so I can give you some advice... Everything should get better when you move into a new house because now each of your pets has marked their own teritory and they are protecting it. The key is to introduce your pets to the new house together - not by one so they don't get a chance to mark personal teritory. And try to keep them in the same room for a while (you can keep them in separate travel boxes for a few hours if they fight) at the new house. Good luck managing your household problems!

Answer 2

It took me about a week to integrate my two cats. I locked one up in a bedroom with a litterbox, food and water and let the other one roam the house. I made sure I played and handled both of them so they could get used to the smell.

They hissed and batted at each other through the door. After they got used to that, I put the cat that had free run into the room, and let the other one roam. They hissed at each other through the door a little, and stopped much faster.

After a day or two, I put a baby gate between the two areas. One hissed, the other pretended he didn't exist. That lasted a couple of hours. Then it was done.

I opened the baby gate. They spent the next few days alternating between fighting for position, and playing...and the little female won. She was the head cat.

They spent the remainder of the little one's life being the best of buddies.

Good luck!!

Answer 3

Are they really fighting or just playing. I have two cats that are bother and sister born from the same litter. They paw and jump on each other all the time. I have had them about 6 moths now and they have never hurt each other. I would say to let them be together while you are home. If what they are doing just seems to be playful fighting then they should be ok but if they really start acting up then you might have to seperate them.

Answer 4

Get both of them neutered and get a kitty pheromone releaser so that Cali will calm down, her hormones keep her in heat every time JD comes over and sniffs her so just get them separated y using separated food bowls, kitty litter boxes, beds, toys and maybe even favourite sleeping areas if this doesn't help.
Hope this helps

Answer 5

Best thing to help is to make sure both are spayed/neutered. Time has passed, and they both now know that the other cat is in the house. Just let them be. They might fight at first, but in my experience, they eventually will tolerate each other. I have lots of cats, and only the boys that are not neutered feel the urge to dominate other males. You might have to break them up from fighting a time or two. They might surprise you, tho, and completely ignore the other, or spend time curled up together.

Answer 6

The only thing you can do is let them get together and work it out themselves. Most cats get used to each other after a week or so but some never actually get along. It's down to personality as much as anything though if a cat has been used to living alone it's harder for it to accept other cats. They will squabble a bit, that's inevitable, even when cats get on well they squabble from time to time.