Too much testosterone?

Hi Gang!

This might be a long post, but I'll try to be succinct.

I have two male kittens (brothers) who are the greatest blessings in my life. However, I'm a little bit concerned about how they're getting along outside of my wonderful relationships with them individually. Just want to make sure everything's normal.

They FIGHT! a LOT! In fact, they never sleep close together which has raised a concern for me since I never see them snuggling with each other. Also, I've noticed that only one of them will accept affection from me at a time. I can never cuddle with both of them at the same time. One will always decide that it's "not his turn," and give the cold shoulder.

There's a little bit of brotherly grooming, but only for 10 seconds before one of them accidentally (or maybe intentionally) bites too hard and the grooming escalates into a full blown brawl session.

In short, "Am I living in a healthy home?"

Are they not neutered yet?
I briefly searched your posting history but could find no mention of neutering.

If they have not yet been neutered sooner or later there will be trouble.
It's just the nature of intact male cats- they are a "one to each territory" animal. You cannot change the nature of tomcats and fighting other tomcats is their prime directive.

Neutering will do them a world of good, eliminate inevitable dominance issues, and reduce the smell of your litter box. There is no good reason not to do it.

If they are already neutered, then there is no testosterone floating around and their play is normal and good.

You don't say how old they are but if they're approaching puberty (or older) then I agree with the above poster - get them neutered (assuming they're not already?) as that is almost certainly why war seems to be breaking out so frequently. Sounds like it's time for that trip to the vet! But bear in mind that it's actually quite rare for cats to snuggle up to one another once they grow up. Sure, some continue to do so but even siblings who spend their first few months cuddled up together often stop doing so as they get older. My 2 used to cuddle up together when kittens but they didn't as adults (although they would lie quite close together on the bed and groomed each other). Have they hurt each other with their 'fighting'? My 2 cats used to play very roughly but that's what it was - play.

My two boys always snuggled together as kittens, but do it less now as they get older, though they do play/fight and chase, and they groom each other regularly. They do sometimes sleep on the same chair, but so do the other cats, in pairs, threes or all together! They were neutered at 6 months old and I never had any trouble.

Yeah, I wouldn't bring in Dr. Phil, yet.

Getting them neutered isn't even an option...it really needs to happen, if it hasn't happened already. Male dominance issues can happen, and it can get ugly. Neutering will lessen if not alleviate these issues, along with undesirable spraying, aggression, and can eliminate the possibility of certain health problems down the road.

For now, I wouldn't get too worried about their lack of love for one another...sometimes play aggression can look so much worse than it really is. If it starts to get too rough looking or there's a possibility of injury, they will need to be separated momentarily, or even for an hour or two...really, for however long it takes them to get over their spat.

I agree with the rest. Young newly matured males if not neutered will fight for attention and not like each other - its competition you know

So get them neutered now. After everything is out of their system you will probably find them liking each other and wanting to play. All my neutered males were buddies and played fine together.

2 of my males are brothers, neutered at 12 weeks now 1 year old. They chase, play, snuggle together and wrestle, but no serious fighting.

Getting your boys neutered will calm them down.

Thanks so much for the replies!

They were both neutured very early (Thank goodness!) so I've never encountered any litterbox problems. They've both 5 months old now.

Now that I'm looking at their behavior more carefully, I think it's just a matter or personality. It seems like they're both just jealous for attention, and I did catch them grooming each other today for a period longer than 10 seconds...Although when they noticed me reaching for my camera they both diverted their attention towards me and their grooming session went out the window!

Too bad I don't have four arms...otherwise I could handle them both at the same time and we'd be one big happy family!

I wonder how many cats would let you handle them both at the same time?
I only have experience with one household with exactly two male cats, and one- the dominant by far- was very jealous if you paid attention to the other. They play fight alot, and only rarely groom each other, but every now and then you'll find them hidden away snuggled up together or they'll sleep on the bed with their butts touching-- only if they think nobody's looking. I think what you're describing is normal. One of the problems, if there is one, is that they haven't established dominance yet, so a certain amount of fighting canbe expected. They pretty much just have to work it out for themselvs, and trying to prevent this may make it way worse.

For the most part, if the cats are trained from babies, you can handle two at once. Since I showed cats, many times I could carry two littermates (or other close buddies) from the ring at the same time - walking thru crowds.

But I would carry them individual to the ring - much easier and when they got older, I'd carry them back individually - up to a certain point, you can handle to young kits.

I can carry any two of mine around, even upstairs - as long as one of them isn't Dushka! She will let me carry her in any position, but not if there is another cat in the other arm.

Sometimes one of mine will shove the other out of the way when I'm petting one. I usually try to pet both at once. Zakk and Rocky have always behaved the way you describe. As long as no one gets hurt I think it's okay.

They were both neutured very early (Thank goodness!) so I've never encountered any litterbox problems. They've both 5 months old now.

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Then it's just normal, and will probably get worse before it gets better.

I have three 7 month old boys, and they play very roughly. Sometimes one will be sleeping so sweetly and another will pounce on him and bite his neck in what I would judge to be a very mean way. But I'm not a cat, so I try and stay out of it. You can tell that they are playing becuase the one that was pounced upon will play back- roughly mind you, but playing all the same.

If it was true fighting I think you would know it. The sounds would be aggressive enough to trigger adrenaline in your system and there would be actual bleeding wounds. So unless or until that happens just relax and let them be cats. Their method of play seems savage to our human sensibilities but to them it is just good clean teenage boy fun.