Brothers =(

Going to try to keep this short:

I adopted my two cats from the animal shelter about three years ago. I was only looking to adopt one boy cat but I found two cats from the same litter locked up in the same cage because they "couldn't be separated." The mother and the rest of the litter were up for adoption (poor things). Anyway, I ended up taking these two home. It just sounded picture perfect.

For the last three years they've had a tumultuous relationship. Strange, I thought, for two brothers. At first they were joined at the hip. In the later years they've constantly fought. Sometimes I dismiss it as playfighting but its gotten worse over the years. They hardly address each other and one refuses to be around the other.

Anyway, the other day one them ran off and decided to go Huckleberry Finn style. Its happened before. When he gets back, his brother hates it and starts hissing and biting and harassing him. They've both consistently taken territories almost at complete opposite areas of my apartment.

What do I do? I don't think they can coexist, but I love them both! =(

Oh, and also...is this normal for cats of the same litter? They're brothers, I'd expect them to at least be bonded in family.

Originally Posted by andrewweilin

Oh, and also...is this normal for cats of the same litter? They're brothers, I'd expect them to at least be bonded in family.

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They dont really have any feel about kinship. Although siblings are usually pals, being raised together.
The funny here is, they WERE best friends as young, but somewhere along the way they lost their friendship.
They are neutered, arent they?

Originally Posted by andrewweilin

Anyway, the other day one them ran off and decided to go Huckleberry Finn style. Its happened before. When he gets back, his brother hates it and starts hissing and biting and harassing him.

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He would have smelt different, like a strange cat when returning which is why his brother hissed - doesn't recognise him.

If they are not neutered that explains a lot of the behaviour. Otherwise perhaps try a Feliway diffuser, should help to calm them both down.

If they are not both neutered, doing that will help. If one of them went roaming for a while and returned, he probably doesn't smell like normal and there can be hissing for a while.

This is a long explanation and sorry if the point doesn't jump out at you right away.

There have been studies in feral cat colonies about blood relationships between cats and whether or not there is a natural bond between them. Behaviorally, domestic cat relationships are most closely linked to lion prides, and those have been studied. A lion pride consists primarily of blood related females and 1 or 2 males that are not related to the females, but most likely related to each other. Males that are not in a pride form their own "coalitions", consisting of 2-3 males that aren't related, or 6-10 blood related males. The interesting point with the male coalitions is that there is a theory that male cats do sense blood relationships, as they have only found blood relatives in coalitions comprised of more than 2-3 males. Any more cats than that and they will not form bonds.

So what this tells me is that cats do sense blood relationships, and can form bonds from them. But that does not mean that every cat related to another will bond. A have a number of littermate brother pairs in my house and in all my years, there was only 1 pair that fought and I suspect that they had different fathers in that litter. On the other hand, I have 3 males that were from 3 different litters of the same feral mom (I couldn't get her trapped), and they absolutely love each other. With 10 cats, they have a bond between them that isn't shared with the rest. Coincidence?

For your 2 brothers, I suggest you try some of the tips in the Introducing old cats to new thread. http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67321 Every now and then I have a falling out between the cats in my household and I still resort to the tips in this thread. Most people find that the vanilla extract trick will work with them (make them smell the same by dabbing a little vanilla extract (use the real stuff not imitation) on their chins, base of neck and base of tail. It may not bring a bond between them, but will allow them to coexist.