I posted here first about a month and a half ago when we were deciding whether or not to adopt a second kitten. We went ahead with the adoption and now have two kittens - a six month old female and a nearly four month old male. We had the female kitten for about two months on her own before adopting the male and thought she could use a companion (although in hindsight she may have been better off alone!).
We kept them separate for about a week before allowing them to begin interacting. They seemed to enjoy each other's company to a certain extent and spent time play fighting (although quite roughly), exploring together, and chasing each other around the house. The female cat groomed the male cat from time to time although it seemed to be more of a dominance thing than a sign of affection and always ended in a fight.
Lately, the relationship seems to be deteriorating for some reason. They aren't play fighting as much anymore and the female kitten gets really annoyed at the male whenever he tries to initiate play. I think he's being too rough and she just gets annoyed with him but over the past couple weeks their fights have become more vocal - mostly her meowing and yelping - and the past couple of days I've heard her hiss at him a couple of times when he's pounced on her.
They are generally fine whenever she initiates an interaction - whether it's play fighting, chasing, or sharing the top of the cat tower or one of the window ledges - but whenever he initiates, she gets really upset and tries to get away from him. He tends to want to squeeze himself in to whatever spot she is resting in or tries to play when she's not in the mood. I don't think he's bullying her or trying to assert his dominance, it really does just seem like he just annoys her but it makes me upset when she's purring away with us in bed or on the couch and then jumps off because he tries to join. I've noticed that they leave each other alone if one of them is eating or using one of the litter boxes - they seem to respect those boundaries and not pounce or attack in those situations.
Other than her seeming to be really annoyed with him the majority of the time, they do still sometimes sit next to each other on the balcony, I've caught them almost cuddling a few times (although only in prime locations that they both want to be in) and engaging in play, although pretty infrequently. They basically just seem to coexist, which makes me feel especially bad for our older kitten who may have been happier as an only cat.
This was a bit long-winded, not sure if I explained clearly - but I'm basically wondering what the best thing to do for both kittens is - reintroduction? returning the younger one to the rescue? leaving it be to see what happens? I do remember that our older kitten was super rowdy from 3-4 months of age so Im thinking the male may calm down in a couple weeks and perhaps be a bit more even keeled. I just don't want it to become worse due to our inaction in managing the situation. We do have two litter boxes that they have no problem sharing, separate food and water bowls for them, one cat tower, two window ledges, and three scratching posts so I do think they have a good amount of separate resources. We also live in a two bedroom apartment with a balcony so the space is reasonable I'd think for two cats to share. We do play sessions with them both separately on a daily basis, they both love wand toys and we'll take them in to separate parts of the house to play with them since they get distracted when we try to play with them both in the same room.
Any help or input would be much appreciated!!
We kept them separate for about a week before allowing them to begin interacting. They seemed to enjoy each other's company to a certain extent and spent time play fighting (although quite roughly), exploring together, and chasing each other around the house. The female cat groomed the male cat from time to time although it seemed to be more of a dominance thing than a sign of affection and always ended in a fight.
Lately, the relationship seems to be deteriorating for some reason. They aren't play fighting as much anymore and the female kitten gets really annoyed at the male whenever he tries to initiate play. I think he's being too rough and she just gets annoyed with him but over the past couple weeks their fights have become more vocal - mostly her meowing and yelping - and the past couple of days I've heard her hiss at him a couple of times when he's pounced on her.
They are generally fine whenever she initiates an interaction - whether it's play fighting, chasing, or sharing the top of the cat tower or one of the window ledges - but whenever he initiates, she gets really upset and tries to get away from him. He tends to want to squeeze himself in to whatever spot she is resting in or tries to play when she's not in the mood. I don't think he's bullying her or trying to assert his dominance, it really does just seem like he just annoys her but it makes me upset when she's purring away with us in bed or on the couch and then jumps off because he tries to join. I've noticed that they leave each other alone if one of them is eating or using one of the litter boxes - they seem to respect those boundaries and not pounce or attack in those situations.
Other than her seeming to be really annoyed with him the majority of the time, they do still sometimes sit next to each other on the balcony, I've caught them almost cuddling a few times (although only in prime locations that they both want to be in) and engaging in play, although pretty infrequently. They basically just seem to coexist, which makes me feel especially bad for our older kitten who may have been happier as an only cat.
This was a bit long-winded, not sure if I explained clearly - but I'm basically wondering what the best thing to do for both kittens is - reintroduction? returning the younger one to the rescue? leaving it be to see what happens? I do remember that our older kitten was super rowdy from 3-4 months of age so Im thinking the male may calm down in a couple weeks and perhaps be a bit more even keeled. I just don't want it to become worse due to our inaction in managing the situation. We do have two litter boxes that they have no problem sharing, separate food and water bowls for them, one cat tower, two window ledges, and three scratching posts so I do think they have a good amount of separate resources. We also live in a two bedroom apartment with a balcony so the space is reasonable I'd think for two cats to share. We do play sessions with them both separately on a daily basis, they both love wand toys and we'll take them in to separate parts of the house to play with them since they get distracted when we try to play with them both in the same room.
Any help or input would be much appreciated!!
. I also think she's just a bit of a drama queen because she only complains/yelps when he initiates play and is a lot more vocal than him in general. They seem to enjoy each others company and are often exploring together or relaxing on the balcony together. I've also started doing interactive play with both of them at the same time - we used to take them in to separate rooms to play as they'd get distracted by each other but they're doing a lot better at taking turns and playing in front of each other. We end each interactive play session with a treat so I'm hoping that continuing to do that will strengthen their relationship further. It's only been about six weeks now that we've had them both so hoping things will continue to progress positively!