how long for kittens to settle together?

emlou2009

a friend of mine has been hand rearing two kittens, one male, one female, since they were 2 weeks old, and the plan was for me to have the male when they reached 8 weeks old. however, she has now decided that since the lady taking the female cant take her til the middle of november, she wants to keep the male so she can let them go on the same day which will be less distressing for them (i dont agree, but i'm trying to bite my tongue on this one!)

the thing is, i'm on maternity leave at the moment and will be going back to work mid november and would prefer to have the new kitten at the very least mostly settled with my 6 month old male by then, but she isnt budging. the cats will only be left two full days a week alone.

how long is it likely to take for them to get used to each other? is a week to two weeks reasonable? i think i am going to have to tell her that if i cant have the kitten for x amount of time then she will have to find another home for him i dont want to take him and then suddenly have him flung from being with his sister and surrogate mummy, to being here with a scary older cat, and being left alone to boot? which would be 100x worse than "the distress he would suffer" from being taken away from the other one?

i think she is worried that once she gives me this one she wont be able to give away the other so wants it done together and is making up a silly excuse :rolleyes:

Kimberley

She probably thinks that the female will get bored on her own lol..

It really depends on the kittens on how long they take to get used to each other. Some are instant and some take a few days and some weeks. Some never do but tolerate each other.

lowis

it took my two old cats about a week before i was confident i could leave them alone together...they met when they were aged 13 and 14 years old! they soon became close and are now best of friends.

some great advice here about integration
http://www.wvcats.com/integrating_cats.htm

x

bkca1230

we got 12 week old and 13 week old kittens and it took them 3 days of hissing and hiding from each other slowly they got used to it,but after about 10days they are now washing each other and playing.dont force them together and still give both same amount of attention. the lady has still got to let kitty go so sooner would be better in my opinion.

devils_vixen

My cats are brother and sister and still hiss and fight with each other and they are 10!
Thankfully it is a rare occurance and only once have they had a "proper" fight. Fur was flying everywhere:eek: It had been brewing for some time though. It's also very rare to see them side by side:rolleyes: but so cute when they settle their differences and curl up next to each other or start cleaning each other (that usually ends up in a swipe!):D
I had thought about getting a kitten but my two might end up killing it so I am holding off for now.

loobylou2

It took about a week / 10 days for Angel our new kitten to become friendly with Susie our existing older kitten!!! She was a rescue kitten and I think she"d been through a lot in a very short life so she was pretty hostile towards Susie at first when I brought her home with me. Susie just took all the hissing and paw swipes in her stride though ( she"s not the most intelligent kitten in the universe!!!) and just kept trying to be friends with Angel !!!! Now they are the best of friends though and inseparable from each other they even sleep curled up together. I think that however you do this you just need to give it time and so sooner probably would be better than later in this instance.

eamon

My two cats still don't get on and thats after 10 years!

Mercy

The two cats I have left were thrust together as 1 each of two lifetime pairs. I was working full time after the first week and let them get on with it after that introduction. The 4 never truly got on, there were factions But as time went on detente was established and things settled down. Some (6) years later there's only Newt n Sherl left (natural causes). They occasionally row but as they'd both had lifelong littermates they probably need somecat for company. That said they're older now 10 and 14 (and niether has ever been a fighter.) They groom each other and often curl up close - but rarely touching:rotfl:

Most adult cats have a certain leeway where kitties are concerned and forgive quite a lot. Will be a battle of wills and a teaching of ways but probably easier to introduce a kitten to a grown cat than trying to introduce another adult. Or push 2 pairs of grown cats together lol We did it and survived - Ive got lots of room, plenty of places to hide / call your own, thank goodness, and I made sure to give each one it's share of love and snuggles.

Again, sooner the better. Maybe separate them whilst you are out for the first week or so?

Best of luck

MX