Bonding Female-Female

[CandiceB]

We have a 4 year old female rescue that we have had since April-ish of this year nameed Stewie. My father-in-law rescued a 4 month old female about 2 weeks ago and brought her to us. Freezer (since she was found on the coldest night of the year) received a clean bill of health from the vet and we'd like to keep her as no one has claimed her. The vet gave us tips on bonding, but I've read that they would need to be rebonded after Freezer matures and/or is fixed.

We've introduced them twice. Stewie started out sniffing Freezer, and even started licking her. However, she ended up chasing and nipping at Freezer both times. They are housed separately and are let out of their cages separately. Stewie's enclosure is ground-level, and Freezer tends to sniff her through the bars. So far Stewie seems to react aggressively, and Freezer runs away. Freezer's cage is too high for Stewie to see into, but she spends a lot of time underneath the cage when she is out. No aggressive behaviour, just some preiscoping and sniffing. I'll see a pellet or two if Freezer's litterbox drips, but that's it.

So I'm unsure if we should try to bond them now, wait until Freezer is fixed, or if there's even a chance that they will bond. :?

 

[Tweetiepy]

I'm in waiting for bonding as well - mine are two males. From what I read, most females are territorial and trying to bond them before they're fixed is very difficult. I see that Freezer is 4 mo old, and I'm not sure when females reach adolescence, but her behaviour might change later. Even if you managed to bond them now, they might fight later if they aren't both fixed. A friend has two females that they can put together for a short period of time (like 30 minutes) then they fight. I'm readying myself for a long process as male-male is quite difficult too - and my younger bun seems quite aggressive at this time

 

[CandiceB]

That's what I've gathered ( I found a few more bonding posts while poking around the board over the past couple of days). I wasn't sure of how long the process would take, and I'm not as discouraged now that I see it can take months. Stewie has been more inquisitive when Freezer approaches her enclosure, so I'm hopeful that bonding will be possible over time. I have also noticed that Stewie has figured out that she can see into Freezer's cage if she goes up a few stairs. She has been watching Freezer without showing any signs of aggression. I'm going to build Freezer a ground-level enclosure next to Stewie's so they can get used to each other while they are separated. The vet said Freezer can be spayed when she's at least 2Kg ( she's 1.5Kg now), and I'll work on bonding once she's recovered.

 

[elrohwen]

Some chasing and nipping is perfectly normal, so I wouldn't worry that they will never bond. I would recommend waiting until the baby is older and spayed before starting - no point in going through it twice and having their bond break with a big fight or something before you can get the little one spayed.