Expert: Kate Tilmouth - 6/8/2008

Question
We have two 1-year old kittens that are sisters and have never been separated. We adopted them together as babies and they have been wonderful additions to our family. They have gotten along with us and, most importantly, with each other incredibly well their entire lives. They are very happy and friendly and healthy kittens.

We recently decided to adopt a third kitten, so this morning, we picked up an 8-week old kitten and introduced her to our existing kittens. The things we were most worried about have not been problems at all. The newest kitten is not scared and is adjusting quite well, and the two one-year olds do not seem upset at us (we have given them a lot of attention). However, there is a problem that we did not anticipate: they are, for the first times in their lives, being very aggressive with one another. The two one-year olds have been hissing and clawing and fighting each other all day. They are not hissing at us or the new kitten, but they are VERY aggressive with each other (which has never happened before).

So, I guess my question is two-fold: is this a problem and, if so, is there anything we can do? And, secondly, do you have any other advice as to how we should best integrate the new kitten to the older ones and our household?

Thank you very much!

Answer
Hi
This is a common problem and can be down to too many cats being in a small environment and this causes fights even among siblings. At the end of the day a cat is ruled by instinct like territory etc and emotions like love and family are often not the same as ours.

If the cats can be introduced in  a slow way over a few weeks then they stand more of a chance of living happily together. Also as long as there is enough space for them all to have their own areas etc especially for litter trays etc. they should get along.

As for how best to introduce the cats please see my web page about intoducing cats to each other here http://www.our-happy-cat.com/introducing-cats.html

I hope they will all settle down happily tohether soon.

best wishes
kate
http;//www.our-happy-cat.com