Kittens not getting on

I adopted one kitten and left his brother at the office, then three weeks later ended up adopting the brother and my home has been chaos ever since. My husband is diagnosed ocd so he is growing impatient. I have one kitten in my daughters room so he doesn't get lonely and meow and the original adoptee runs the house. They are 12 weeks old and the og is much bigger than his brother as his brother had a broken leg for a while and hasn't caught up yet. (Both were thrown from a moving vehicle at 6 weeks of age and the woman behind the vehicle saw the whole thing and brought them in the the vets office where they fix up and rehome kittens). So the new kitty growls and howls and hisses and hides while the original makes zero noise but has this psycho look in his eye, ears pointed forward, and relentlessly jumps new kitty and bites and stalks til I seperate them. The whole thing is exhausting. My vet had me bring them in a day early before fixing and she slapped them in the same cage together. There has been minimal sass she said but I fear it will start up again once back in the 'territory'. Any tips? Sincerely, completely desperate

Hi @EastwoodNJosey, how are your two kittens doing now, after being together in the same cage at the vets?

Having them both neutered, you should eventually be seeing them calm down, but it might take weeks to perhaps a month for the hormones to level off, so in this time you may still have to separate them, to properly heal, and also if your second kitty is still healing from his broken leg.

I would suggest large amounts of playing with the original cat, to tire him out, if he is super playful, with wand toys, ping pong balls, scrunched up paper, wide strings, and other cat toys that he might like to pounce on.

Don't worry, we all here will turn that 'completely desperate' to 'completely kittenproof' or at least 'less chaos and more kitten fun'.

Thanks for replying:-) they are getting along MUCH better. I don't have to keep them separated most of the time now and after they have worn themselves out they will even lay together. Eastwood (the original) is definitely still the aggressor and gets to turning play time into what looks like a lesson in heiarchy a bit much and I have to seperate them just to give new kitty Josey a chance to eat and use the litter box. I see lots of progress from this vet visit though thank goodness!

I just want to post this picture and say THERE IS HOPE. I have went through almost three weeks of Kitty Hell but it was truly all worth it. They are grooming each other and just beautiful together now. LOTS of rough housing and I mean LOTS highlighted by these sweet moments. When you feel like it will never happen-just keep swimming! [emoji]128514[/emoji]

Things I've learned from this that might help: playtime. Lots. Individual playtime and eventually together. But separate them if they start getting too rough with each other like a little cool down. NO catnip. It can make the aggressive behavior worse. Also individual loving time with each cat. AND sometimes put the original house cat away in a comfortable area and let the new kitty explore without fear of attack. It took WEEKS for Josey to wander without jumping and hiding at every noise. Remember cats don't move like us. Quiet and calm and slow when letting kitty get comfortable in his new surroundings. Never hold down a cat that is excited as this excites them more. This whole thing has taken LOTS of my time. Many hairs of mine have been pulled out. lol but it happened! They are finally friends. Watch a million educational videos on you tube. Google. Figure out what works for your kitties. JUST DONT GIVE UP!