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Two orange tabby males... getting along tips?

post #1 of 6
7/8/11 at 11:33am
Thread Starter 
For the past two years we've had an orange tabby cat named Berkeley. He's a male who was neutered at a very young age (less than 8 weeks). He's been a joy to have and is very playful and loving.

Yesterday, we decided to add another orange tabby male to our family named Marley. He's 7 weeks old and has also been neutered. So far they seem to be interacting okay. They sniff each other but Berkeley will tend to back away. Berkeley has patted him around but has not shown any real aggression. His ears are pretty much always perked up, his tail doesn't fluff, and he doesn't arch his back. THey chase each other around from time to time and sometimes Berkeley will meow, but once again, it doesn't sound like an agressive growl. The place we adopted Marley from has agreed to take Marley back if he causes any problems with Berkeley.

I know that there are steps to take to introducing cats, but we want to know if we should follow them very closely. They seem to be doing alright. What should we look out for as "warning signs" that this might not be a good match? Any tips from previous experience? We know that orange tabby males are typically very friendly and affectionate, so we're hoping that will eliminate any cat animosity.
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post #2 of 6
7/8/11 at 12:05pm
Based on their behavior so far you can probably look forward to nothing but smooth sailing! Sometimes a slow introduction isn't necessary.

If the kittens energy starts to bother Berkeley you might want to give Berkeley a break by putting the kitten in another room for an hour or so. But if Berkeley doesn't seem bothered just let them be.
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post #3 of 6
7/8/11 at 12:59pm
Thread Starter 
thanks for your help. of course I'd love to hear some more opinions if anyone has them! I should go ahead and add that Berkeley does put his ears back and will run away from time to to time, but they don't stay back for more than a few seconds. When he starts acting like he's irritated we take him away ASAP.
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post #4 of 6
7/9/11 at 4:28am
you got the new kitty 2 days ago? Give them time! Cats are territorial and the resident cat may feel threatened by the new cat.

I probably won't leave them together unsupervised. Do you have a safe room for the new kitty?

Give Berkley extra attention so he won't feel like he's being replaced. Ensure him that he's still your #1 baby!

as for "Warning signs".. If they really start to not get a long and fight, then I'd start the introduction over from the beginning and follow the "Rules of thumb" when introducing cats.

I hope my own introduction later will go as smoothly as yours thus far!
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post #5 of 6
7/9/11 at 8:15am
Thread Starter 
We're introducing them for short amounts of time throughout the day. Marley stays in my bedroom and bathroom all day and comes downstairs to meet Berkeley and the dog in the morning and at night. We let Berkeley come in and play if he cries at the bedroom door.

We are definitely giving Berkeley plenty of love. He's my mom's cat, so he pals around with her most of the time. I go down and play with him, but since I've been at college he doesn't spend too much time with me (I'm kind of a stranger to him, although he's warming up again). We call him "top cat" and snuggle with him all the time. We also bought him some new toys when we got Marley some, and he's been loving playing with those!

This morning we took Marley to see Berkeley when he was in my mom's bed. Marley quite rudely walked on top of Berkeley and he didn't seem to mind one bit. They sniffed each other and at one point took turns pawing with each other. No meowing, no hissing, no ears back, no fluffed up tails.

From the looks of it everything seems to be going really well! We're all keeping our fingers crossed over here! Thanks for all your reassurance and help
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post #6 of 6
7/9/11 at 9:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mschauer View Post
If the kittens energy starts to bother Berkeley you might want to give Berkeley a break by putting the kitten in another room for an hour or so. But if Berkeley doesn't seem bothered just let them be.


The only thing I can add is that if your resident cat does seem to get bothered at some point keep the kitten in a separate area when they can not be supervised. Or when the resident cat seems upset. Then only give a special treat to the resident cat when the kitten is around.

But please do not over think your situation. If all seems to go like in the original post just keep doing what you are doing .
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