It was a bit stressful at first, knowing they might not get along, for they might fly (literally). What will we do? Ask our son to leave his feline charge and bestie at home, board our cat baby? Keeping the two cats separate in our small townhouse wasn’t practical. But my son’s cat, HB (Hash Brown), was really attached to him, a very needy cat. Hash brown hated being by himself while Hassan visited us. Hassan also cut his visits short because of Hash Brown. I went online and did some research on how to introduce cats to each other. What you do is you introduce two cats to each other via a partition of closed doors; the cats should be able to smell and hear each other. Then slowly and gradually, you put them in the same space.

It was a cold December day when HB came with Hassan. We closed HB in a room and put Latte outside to hear and smell HB. There was some ferocious hissing on Latte’s part, and they were in front of each other within a couple of days. There was low growling and some cat drama. We learned that Latte is pretty territorial. Latte, for his small size, can make up for it with bared teeth, hisses, and long, scary growls. And Hash brown, well, he does not need to do anything. Weighing in at 18 lbs, he is scary just being there.HB wanted to be friends and was curious about Latte.

Latte hissed at Hash Brown, scaring him back into the room. Hash Brown soon realized Latte was all bark and no bite, in a feline way. Some half-hearted fighting followed—nothing aggressive or mean. I checked online and found they were showing play aggression. They wrestled, no claws, just lots of paw slaps and some biting. Then the most amazing thing happened: Latte and Hash brown started playing like a couple of toddlers, chasing each other, fake-wrestling, and some play-stalking. Their relationship blossomed into a very cute, picture-worthy friendship. In the morning, whoever woke up first ran to wait for the other outside the door. It was so relaxing and fun to watch them pin each other to the ground, wrestling without causing any real harm. Latte’s love language is licking. He licks himself and anything that comes in contact with him. Hash brown does not enjoy licking; Latte would pin HB to the ground and lick him to death while HB squirmed. Over the course of the month, they grew close enough that once HB left, Latte went into a real depression. For a couple of days, he refused to eat or come running for his treats. Now, HB visits and they have a fabulous time together, but after HB leaves, Latte sinks into a real cat depression. It is absolutely adorable to see this kitty friendship develop