Kittens not getting along

Question

I have one 8 week old female kitten and one almost 9 week old male kitten yesterday. They are both very temperate but when they are introduced to each other, every time they make eye-contact the female hisses at the male. He doesn't like the female hissing so he goes away and hides under something.

Often he will come up to her like he is curious but she just hisses at him. It isn't like full blown hissing but she does the same thing when she's playing with her cat toys and there was no aggression on the car ride home. They were both scared and climbed onto my lap and slept on top of each other facing different directions and slept for the car ride.

All night, the female laid on top of me guarding me from the male. He would meow and if I meowed back he would climb up onto the bed and try and come close, realize she was there, and walk around me on the bed, then go back down to side.

Neither of them are skittish and also both have refused to eat or drink anything since I got them at approximately 6pm yesterday. It is 1pm now and I am getting worried they just want to play and explore.

Should I take them to the vet?

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Update: the male just started eating dry food on his own and I managed to get the female to eat some wet food. I am not sure why she was being so picky but she devoured a large amount of it mixed with her dry food around 36hrs after I got her.

To stop them fighting I used their favorite toy on the bed and each time she hissed at him I picked her up immediately and put her on the floor and let it be the other one's turn. At first she seemed to think that the toy belonged to the other cat and not her, but eventually she figured out she could play with it as much as she wanted if she didn't hiss at the other kitten. They have been playing and chasing the other's tail, etc., since.

Answer 1

Your kittens will get along, very likely.

Kittens this young will get along together. They just need to get to know the other. What you want to do is try and make their interactions with each other as pleasant as you can. So cuddle them both, give them treats together. Stuff like that. Make: together = better.

Now for drinking and eating.

They are hungry and thirsty now. Make water available to them all the time. Like a little bowl somewhere. Keep it at the same place so they can find it when they want.

Go to your local pet store and get kitten milk if you can. Also get wet kitten food. You seem to have normal (kitten) food already, so that is fine.

Now take the wet food and mush it (take a fork and stamp it so it will become fine and easy to bite into). Add a little bit of kitten milk to it and work it into the wet food. Kittens don't eat a lot in one sitting, but they do need to eat often, so a dessert bowl size amount should do for now.

Place this very moist food in two small bowl on the floor where you want your kittens to eat. Bring them close to the food. They may start to eat, if they don't, do one of these:

1) Put a bit of the moist food on your finger and put it into their mouth. They will resist a bit first, but they should start eating it if its tasty enough.

2) Push their nose (very, very!) gently into the mush. You want them to lick it of their nose and get a taste.

This should learn them that this is indeed good food. They will eat a bit clumsy, but that is half the fun.

Note: have food and water available for them at all times. They are still very little and need to eat and drink often (every 2 to 4 hours).

And while we are on the subject, while having kittens sleeping in your bed is a great joy, but think about it, having cats sleep in your bed might impact the amount of sleep you get. My recommendation is to have your 2 bundles of joy sleep in the living room, preferably in their own basket or such. That way you have a good night rest and they learn things the right way from the beginning.

Have fun!