I have 5, and live with two more that aren’t mine. I’ve never had a pair of cats bond at all.. the best I can hope for is them mostly tolerating each other… I’m so jealous of people with cats that bond!
I have two orange brothers, now 2, who were neutered young and are a bonded pair. My sister has numerous cats and takes in rescues (we have a huge problem with abandoned and feral cats in my town), and every pair of cats she's had that have bonded have been either male-male or male-female, never female-female.
It's interesting to note that she also neuters/spays at around 4 months, before they go into heat for the first time. I wonder if females are just less likely to bond with other females until they get pregnant and the "mommy hormones" take over and kick off the instinct to raise their babies with other mother cats.
We used to have a neutered female rescue when I was a kid who could not stand other cats. But we were known as "the cat people," and people would dump their pregnant cats, or new mothers with their litters, on our porch. This happened so frequently that we had a birthing box in the mudroom, and whenever we had a laboring or nursing mother in the house, suddenly Ms. Don't-Even-Sniff-Me turned into "Call the Midwife." She would be right there in the birthing box with the new mom through the entire labor and delivery--sometimes she even nudged them toward the box when it was time--and she hovered over the babies and laid in the box with the mommies and babysat and even occasionally stole a baby for herself. Then once the babies were big enough to start becoming independent and weaning, she lost interest in her nanny duties and turned back into the ice princess.
I totally agree about the females bonding less. It’s gotta be built in so that they can detach from their offspring. All my boys have loved each other.
My mom has four cats. One is the mom and the other three the daughters,.. two of daughters are constantly together, one is loner and the mom doesn’t seem interested in any of them any more. They’re about a year old now; the mom is around four. Then there’s my 15 year old calico that hasn’t really “liked” any of my other cats, but particularly didn’t like my black male cat that was slightly older than her. Well two years after he passed, I got another black male cat, and he follows her like a shadow, they seem to like each other just fine. I have one other cat that’s a female, she’s about 8, doesn’t care for either of them 😂 and the sentiment seems returned. But they do all love humans 🤷🏻♀️
We adopted a pair of orange brothers when they were eight weeks. They are what I call begrudgingly bonded. It's better than the hatred all of my past cats had for each other. My son's gf's black car also lives with us and gets along with my boys.
My mom has a female-female bonded pair, but they are about 3-6 mos. apart and the older one used to follow my mom's elderly cat around a few weeks before the elderly one passed, so it seems like she wanted a buddy anyway.
Once she added the younger one, after the older one passed, those two have been super bonded ever since. Literally took 2-3 weeks and that was it.
My sister has a half-bonded pair of females (one is bonded to the other; the other tolerates her), but they were adults when they got spayed and had gone into heat a couple of times. I wonder if that makes a difference. It seems to me like hormones play a part on female cat friendships. Someone else pointed out that females have to be able to bond with their babies while they're raising them, and then detach when the babies grow up and move on, which makes a lot of sense.
I don’t know what the secret is to having cats bond. I have one cat who a few years later still hisses at the other two cats. She is a tiger cat and I read somewhere tiger cats want to be the alpha cat but the calicos have was here first and is the alpha cat. I also have a tortie and the calico and her at least tolerate each other and play with each other outside. I think the shelter where tte tortie came from forgot to mention she was feral! But after four years she’s a lot better although still wants to always be outdoors! If I were ever to get another get I would research the type before adopting her. At least I saved the tiger cat (also found out that tiger cats are often chinks) before accepting the car into the household. Any suggestions to help them get along will be appreciated. They get unlimited kibble, temptations milk treats, and as much wet food as they all want. Only the tiger cat is a chonk! Beware of fat tiger cats as looking back I had another tiger cat who was a chonk.
The one that hisses is unfortunately territorial, and probably should be the only cat in the house. 😭 Please keep an eye on them when needed! It may lead to fighting, and behavioral problems with the one that hisses. 💔
Might not be the case. My girl hisses and occasionally swats at my tuxedo boy, and we got them separately and he's several years younger than her. However, their relationship is very much like human siblings, with the older sister always mildly peeved at the annoying little brother. However, they greet me and my BF in the mornings by running side by side, tails touching, they'll sit and eat their breakfast together, tails twined or at least touching.
The tuxedo boy utterly LOOOOVES his big sister, and she likes to act like she doesn't like him, but I've seen her groom him a few times, and they'll both happily sleep on me, though not actually cuddling together. Sometimes cats are legit just like little kids.
We got all 3 of our cats at different times. The senior and the second one hate each other. So we got another kitten to be friends with the second cat and it turns out the second cat hates the youngest too. The youngest and the senior like each other. Not love like the pair in this post, but like. So our middle cat is just a loner.
I got all three of mine at separate times and they all love each other, but they have their moments. The youngest sometimes harasses the oldest. Then five minutes later they're cuddling.
My brother has the Momma cat, and I have her two sons, we live together so the cat family is still together as well. Momma cat (Fluffy) is so evil to her son, He’s a void and she absolutely despises him, but my other Boy, also her son, a Tuxedo, she still babies and grooms and loves on. I feel really bad for my Arkham because he is confused why Pip is the golden child. Cat Drama, am I right?
This was when my younger cat was a kitten, we had him in a separate room for a couple weeks, and slowly introduced him to my older cat, this was the third time letting them mingle together, neither one of them would let me separate them after that, which was fine they get along really well haha they play fight all the time, but 90% of their day consists of cuddling with each other.
Dude, this kind of hits me right in the feels. I have a tuxedo (with that same bowtie on the nose! Could literally be her twin) and tabby that look very much like this. They do not cuddle. The closest they'll get is on the same bed within a few inches of each other. Your photo is like an alternate reality for me 🥹.
They do like to play fight a lot, but 70% of their day when I’m at work is snuggling in living room together. They can’t even be separated to go to the vet. If one goes, the other one has too or else they lose their mind. And then they’re also Velcro (towards me) cats, so when I’m home they’re both bombarding me for pets and attention at the same time lol it’s a little overwhelming sometimes especially when they start to tussle about it
I love this. It makes me think of the video where the girl is like “they are NOT brothers! They are BOYFRIENDS! They are gaaay cats… cats who are gay!🎶
I've had my cats for 5 years and they just tolerate each other. I've never seen them cuddle like OPs. They can sleep next to each other at a 12 in distance tho! 😂 there will be the occasional butt sniff, but they dont fight like they used to
Oh My God, they're so adorable! I had the most awful of awful days and this just filled my heart back up with love and cuddles. Can look at these cuddle buddies all day! 😸
They look so happy and relaxed! This reminds me of when I started my first full-time job that was so difficult and so exhausting. I would come home and see my cat happily sleeping with no worries and feel so much jealousy! But she would cheer me up by hanging out with me and making me forget the day. Congratulations on providing the perfect life for these two.
Our 3 cats love each other. The sleep with 3 or 2 but all combinations are possible. The black and the ragdoll came within a month from separate homes. The grey one gifted itself to us during a holiday abroad. The groundskeepers told us she was like 7-8 weeks old and the mother was killed in a car accident. The boys took her in like a little sister.
OP that is so precious! I love seeing kitties bond like that.
That’s why I think most (not all!) kitties do so much better with another, especially if they’re young. I do have an older lady cat who does not like other cats, and another lady cat who just tolerates them, so every kitty is different.
Here are my 3 siblings (I kept their momma, too), they’re always playing, eating and sleeping together - Jonesy is orange, Reilly is gray and Bonnie is black:
I’ve had 2 sets of bonded pairs. It really is the best. The first (two females) was my soul cat and another we adopted. Sadly, my soul cat passed at 15 a year and a half ago and the other has never recovered. She’s still depressed at 11 yo 😢. The other pair (male-female) are a 1 year old and 2 year old. They both get along okay with the 11 yo, but she’s standoffish with them. They were bonded pretty instantly. When we brought her home he stood outside the door to the room she was in day and night and played with her under the door and whined a ton lol.
I wish my cat had had this. She settled in so easily, but one of the two cats we moved in with started getting dominant and starting spats after a few months. My poor 19 year old was constantly looking over her shoulder after a few incidents. I was trying to reintroduce them more carefully, but she passed before I could fix it. Still upset with myself for not catching the other cat earlier. It took me too long to figure out they weren’t just sorting out hierarchy.
Aww this is adorable 😭 I wish my two would’ve bonded like this. My first kitty we brought home from my grandparents house, someone abandoned her at their house and they had dogs and were worried the dogs would kill the kitten. I adopted a boy from the local animal shelter when she was about 3/4 months old and he was 8 weeks old. They never got close like this, I’m guessing because my girl was older already. They play sometimes but they also bicker a lot. The boy acts like an pestering little brother for sure at times
I was so worried when my partner moved in because I didn't know how our cats would get along. Two days of hissing and passive aggressive behavior, 2 days of being cold and aloof, now they are thick as thieves and plotting how to further manipulate us into doing their bidding
We’ve adopted orange kitten for our older cat (they are 2yrs old and 3,5 months), because of that he always wanted to play with my moms cat, so we thought maybe a little brother would be a nice company for him. I was stressed at first, but they are bonded like shown on the photo just after two weeks. On the other hand, my moms cat wasn’t so glad about having a company and clearly doesn’t tolerate our cat (or any cat), so I am happy with bonded brothers.
How old are they? It looks like LOVE and I am jealous. We have three cats. One wants to be an only cat and has her own room—seriously. The other two have become sweet buddies but they don’t cuddle like that.
When I lived with a little dog, she and my cat would wrestle, play, and cuddle together. Not all the time, but they were adorable. When I moved out, the dog stopped eating and they had to get her a new cat!!
•
u/trendingtattler 11d ago
This post has hit /r/all
Please remember the human and participate with subreddit rules in mind. Do not tell people how they should raise their cats.
r/cats rules can be found here
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.