Hello everyone. This is my first post on the site and I would like some help and advice with my two new kittens.
My wife and I got a 6 week old kitten (El President...El P for short) and we loved him so much after 2 weeks we decided to get him a friend to play with. El P is very very playful and energetic all the time. We found another boy (Mojito) who is 10weeks old and we brought him home and introduced them.
El P was very young when we got him and he settled in very quickly and was very happy, Mojito on the other hand is very very quite and doesn't seem to want to play at all... especially with El P. However El P is very aggressive with his playing and bites a lot. We are currently trying to teach El P to not play rough with us because he does bite very hard and we are hopping that this will transfer to how he plays with Mojito. Mojito does not like it at all when El P tries to play with him, he seems very disinterested and often annoyed and walks away 95% of the time.
The other thing is that we discovered is that when we separate the two and spend time alone with Mojito he does come out of his shell a little bit and is often very cuddly and seems happy but still is not all that playful. My wife thinks he just needs more time to adapt to his new home and surroundings. Mojito often looks sad and when El P is around he often just finds a place to sit and stays there unmoving until he is disturbed. Also Mojito likes to sleep....ALOT!!!

I just wondered if anyone had any insights and thoughts that could be helpful. El P is currently asleep and Mojito has been sitting here with me purring and meowing a lot which has only happened once or twice since we got him but that was only less than a week ago.

Thank You for reading, any thoughts will be much appreciated.

Mr and Mrs Johnson, El Presidente and Mojito

Sorry to hear you are having problems.

You seem to be having two different problems here. One is that El P has not been socialised by his Mum and siblings, as he was separated so young. Often, with having a young unsocialised kitten, advice given is that an older cat is a better match, as the kitten will soon learn (in feline terms) what is not acceptable.

The second issue is, as you are learning, cats are solitary animals and 'can' tolerate living with each other, but this may not always be the case. As humans, we assume two kittens of similar age will get on, but unless they are litter mates (and sometimes not even then) it is very hit and miss whether they will ever get on as we expect them to. At present, it doesn't appear as if Mojito appreciates his boisterous feline mate at all.

How soon after you got Mojito was he introduced to El P? Were they introduced to each other gradually? The way of introduction can make a difference to future relations.

My suggestion would be to keep the two kittens apart for a little while, so they can grow more confident in their new home (and with you) without the stress of each other. I assume they have separate sleeping places, food bowls and litter trays provided anyway. From what you have written it seems they will both thrive with more one to one time with you, rather than each other.

A Feliway diffuser may help to relax Mojito as well.

Another point is have they both been health checked by a vet? Cats do sleep a lot and not all kittens are equally playful. However, any health issues should be ruled out first.

Have you provided El P with enough toys, scratch posts, things to chew on? And how are you teaching him not to behave rough?

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Thank you for your reply.

We have started keeping them apart as much as possible although it isn't always easy. However when they are apart Mojito is much more friendly and seems happier and does seem to be gaining a little more energy as the days go by but is also very needed.

We had El P for two weeks before we decided to buy Mojito and we just introduced them to each and let them be and I think this was obviously a mistake. My partner had introduced kittens to each other in the past and within two hours they were happy together but all cats are different as we know.

They both have separate feeding bowls, water, beds etc. (and now even separate rooms) and yes El P has plenty of toys around the house.

We are trying to teach him to play less rough with us by giving him a toy to play with every time he plays to rough and to end play time for a while. (I found an interesting article all about it online) It seems to be gradually working quite quickly but he is still far to rough with Mojito.

Mojito is very submissive and it is obvious El P is the dominant male. But is he still trying to prove a point still or is he just an aggressive play fighter? or even jealous? Will they ever be friends?

El P's presence really affects Mojito's happiness I feel. It would break my heart to have to sell Mojito but if they do not get along I fear Mojito will always be a little sad and may be happier in a single cat home.

My wife and I are in two minds whether to spend a week where we keep them completely separated and then re introduce them slowly or whether to just leave them together to sort of their differences?

Occasionally they show signs of love for each other with very short bursts of grooming when they are both in quite moods but usually this ends up with El P biting poor Mojito.

We are a bit of a loss what to do!

Any more advice would be appreciated. For now we will try and keep the apart as much as possible

Thank You