Bonded pairs

[KittyBurrito]

Our beloved puss passed in April and we feel nearly ready to adopt again. We are seeing a lot of pairs at our local rescue but no details about how bonded they are. A friend adopted two who the rescue said were bonded but they can't stand each other, and it's been difficult. How do I check if cats are really bonded or the rescue is just trying to re-home two at a time?

Sometimes cats' dynamics can change in a new environment, or simply over time as they get older. The rescue won't just be trying to home two at a time though as it's in their interest for the rehoming to be successful and cats and new humans to all be happy.

Mine were allegedly bonded but they hate each other. They do have a weird relationship where the female is scared of the male but she also pushes him out of the way at dinner time and he keeps coming back for more swipes and hisses so they’re obviously getting something out of it!

We we’re actually told not to bother adopting the male - who was super friendly when we visited him - because we’d have to take the other one too! We decided it was worth it to give the friendly one a nice home and figured if the other one kept to herself that was fine too. Turns out she was just super shy and anxious and is actually a delight when she’s alone. Think she’d have been happier on her own, but she’s such a character I’m glad we took a chance on her. Even though she’s now diabetic and costs me a bloody fortune in insulin and vet bills and has just peed all over the floor today 🙄

My last two cats came from Battersea as a bonded pair of kittens that therefore had to go together.

I can confirm that they bloody well aren't bonded 🤣.
I've had lots of cats that rub along quite happily together, but only ever had one truly bonded pair
(always curled up together, always grooming each other etc.) I think it's quite rare.
I alao think in cat rescue speak 'bonded' means 'Great! We can home two in one go and they probably won't actually kill each other'

I've got sibling cats and they also hate each other. When I was a child we had cats who weren't related who were really bonded so this really surprised me!

This is what worries me. We made a mistake and tried to introduce a kitten to our old lady. Didn't end well. So we are a solo cat household now but in the fullness of time I guess we will be on the market again. IdeallyI'd love two but it's now quite clear that cats getting on is rarer than you'd think. And our local rescues are obsessed with housing cats with other cats! So how do you ensure you get two that can get on.

My current pair were listed as a bonded pair of siblings. They are siblings for sure, but have never had anything to do with each other.
Mind you, they were also supposed to be super friendly 'oh, they were very loved and lived in the lady's bedroom with her till she had to go into care'. Reader, I should have doubted this more when I went to pick them up and they offered me the leather gloves to put them in the cat carrier (and didn't offer to put them in).

Randomly we went to our local shelter this week as we are looking to adopt again. There were several "bonded" pairs but the only ones that actually looked like they gave half a crap about each other were sibling older kittens who were playing and grooming and then went to sleep in the same bed. Everyone else in their pairs just seemed to exist alongside each other.

We are happy to take 2 but it worries me that they'll hate each other once they're not forced to live in a confined space together.

I was told my sisters were bonded. As soon as they got into a home, with a human that loved them. They didn't need each other for comfort. They rubbed along ok but weren't best friends. One of as very dominant and the other flourished when she died. The rescue were genuinely surprised when I said they didn't like each other!

I have two sisters who are abandoned on the clinic doorstep at 7 weeks old.
By day they appear to not give two shots about each and by night the sleep next to me curled up together like yin and Yang.