Expert: Kate Tilmouth - 8/13/2009

Question
We own one kitten and he is usually the only cat at our apartment. He is 5 months old and his name is Leo. A friend of ours comes over quite a bit and sometimes he brings over his cat Bean who is about 3 months old. Both are males. Bean growls / hisses quite a bit over at our place. Especially at Leo, but also at us. For the most part, they will sit a few feet apart and stare at each other. But every once and a while Leo will chase after Bean and tackle him. Leo lays on top of him and seems to lightly bite bean's neck. I usually pull Leo off and lock him in a different room when he does this. He usually won't do this again for quite some time. But after letting Leo out, Bean will paw at Leo's face which will make Leo bite/chase him. Before Leo even gets up though, he looks at me with what seems to be a "what do I do?" face. We have had them near each other 2-3 times now with no luck. We would love for these cats to get along... What should we do? Thank you!

Answer
Hi
Ummm well you may be wanting something that is just impossible in this situation.

cats don't naturally get along as they are not pack animals and do prefer there own territory. cats which live full time from birth have a better chance of egetting along or at least tolerating each other.

the behaviour of your two cats sound completely normal to me, especially as Leo is now moving into adult hood and will be full of male hormones all telling him that this other kitten is on his territory etc. things may be a little easier once they are both neutered in a few months or so.

the normal way you would try and introduce cats to each other is described here

http://www.our-happy-cat.com/introducing-cats.html

but this is really designed for cats who live together full time. in your case i'm not sure that they would ever except each other as every time the other cat comes over he is trespassing on your cats territory.

So I'm afraid i cannot give you much other advice apart from saying that once they are a little older and neutered they may have a better chance of at least tolerating each other.

best wishes Kate
http://www.our-happy-cat.com