That’s an excellent summary: the hissing and growling never stopped–generally more from one kitty than the other–but they managed to coexist and we just got used to watching the kitty dominance/cohabitation show.
By the way, I didn’t mention it before, but all of our lady-kitties have been spayed at the time they were cohabitating. (I was lazy about getting mine spayed, so she did have one heat, but she was snipped by the time I moved back in with my folks and Very Much Spayed and a Grand Olde Dame by the time parents’ cat showed up on the scene.)
I used to live with two female cats, both spayed. My cat, Olive, was about two years old when I got her, and my roommate’s cat, Biddy, was eight.
They never really got along, although after a few months they learned to tolerate each other. Olive was still very much a kitten back then. She thought it was fun to pounce on Biddy and try to play with her. Biddy was a crotchety old lady with a lot of issues (she had been abandoned and found on the street), while Olive had always had a home) and always reacted to Olive’s antics with a hiss and a snarl. But every so often I’d catch them sitting in the same chair, and Biddy would occasionally deign to let Olive groom her.
Sometimes, though, I’d shut Olive in my room just to give Biddy a break. Kittens can be really annoying to older kitties.
I had two female cats, sisters from the same litter, and they *haaaaated *each other. Did not even like being in the same room together, and slept on different sides of me at night so they wouldn’t have to see each other.
Of course, one of them was an evil sadistic little imp, so I basically blame her.
I have two female cats. They get along very well, never any hissing or fighting.
I adopted the first at 1.5 yrs old and one year later brought in a 6 month old kitten. Both are spayed and were spayed prior to me adopting them. There was one hiss out of the older one when introduced to the younger one, but after they slept cuddled up next to each other the first night, I suspected we weren’t going to have any problems.
I’ve had all combinations. Currently only two cats, one male, one female, but I’ve had as many as nine. I say, adopt BOTH kittens! Three is a more stable society than two anyway.
Yeah, if you can financially swing getting both, I’d go it - you won’t split up the siblings, and the kittens can burn off energy playing with each other instead of annoying the older cat too much.
Thank you all so much for the responses. I considered taking home both kittens, but it’s really not an option for me unfortunately. Hate to break up a litter but it’s just the situation.
I think you’re right that it’s really more the individual cats, not so much the gender. i think (hope) my girl will welcome the company and a baby to help take care of.
Three spayed females here. We got the older one as a stray when she got stuck in our tree, and adopted the other two from a litter that my uncle’s cat had about a year later. The littermates have always gotten along very well, but the first cat did NOT like having to share us (this was before we got our dog, so she was an only child for a year). We went through the usual precautions (more because they were two new animals in a household with an established pet rather than because they were all females) and when the littermates got released into gen pop, so to speak, things were pretty copacetic. They occasionally have their disagreements, but it never goes beyond a quick swat and hiss.
the superkitties are two girls and a boy. the boy, turk, pretty much ignores them both and avoids them as much as possible. he’s so easy-going he does get picked on from time to time from the older girl maggie, the established alpha female in the house. the kitten, widget, just wants to play with him and they get along pretty well.
there was much hissing and spitting from maggie when i brought four-week old widget home last summer. since then she has developed into an utterly fearless little beast and doesn’t put up with maggie’s bullying.
much of the time, the girls observe a fairly-consistent detente - they both sleep with me at night - and then there are times when they chase one another all over the house like their tails are on fire and the world as we know it is about to end.
