Hello all!
So my boyfriend and I have adopted two male neutered kittens from the Humane Society. One is 4 months, the other is 5 months. We were told not to introduce them to each other and keep them separate for 2 weeks, due to if one has an illness he doesn't pass it on to the other. Both seem healthy to me. Both very affectionate and playful.
One did have an upper respiratory infection, but I was told he'd been treated for it already. 2 weeks seems like a ridiculously long time to me. Should I keep them apart that long? For a shorter period of time? Right now they're in separate rooms.
The shelter said both cats had been exposed to other cats previously and had no problems....so I don't really see the need to keep them apart.
First time cat owner here, so please give me your opinions!
I will also update with pictures shortly!
P.s. I love my new kitties!<3
Posts
tl;dr: Two weeks seems like too long.
Gaius:
Pax:
Upper respiratory infections are a fancy way of saying colds.
Give them both towels or old sweatshirts to sleep on. Get them both to the vet this week, when they're checked out as healthy and all up to date on their shots, exchange whatever they were sleeping on. A day later, let them meet through a crack in a door. Repeat until they're cool and eventually let them meet. If they watch each other, that's normal, if they hiss that's not the end of the world but I'd probably separate them until a bit later.
You are correct that they already likely have whatever everything other cat in the shelter conceivably had, but the fact that they both came from the shelter on the same day makes me less likely to keep them in quarantine for longer than the time it takes to get them to the vet.
I'm no vet, and if the advice was from a vet, I suppose you can ignore it like any medical advice, but at your (and your cats) own risk.
To be honest, I don't really see the point as you will be interacting with both animals in a limited amount of space (your home) and, from what I've read, it's possible for you to act as a transfer agent between the animals for some illnesses. So unless you're scrubbing down and changing clothes between cuddling each cat, it's probably not much worse to just let them hang out together.
Two kittens around the same age introduced to a place at the same time are probably gonna work it out just fine.
Gaius it a perfect name for a grey kitty!! Aww...
Great, but my way is the recommended method for introducing two cats.
Yea, I got 10 stitches in the face from "posturing" after letting the cats together after 2 days. Don't do it this way.
plus i would not worry about keeping them separate. you got them from the same place right? anything one has , the other other one will have or already had and will be fine
No scratches here.