They differ on 1 of 4 dimensions.
Joins in · Likes the familiar · Stays close · Regular hours
At the sound of keys it runs to the door and follows you in, rubbing against your legs. When the family gathers in the living room, it squeezes onto the sofa too. It asks to be petted at about the same times each day and plays the same few games.
Read the type guide · ESFJ
Joins in · Likes the familiar · Stays close · Goes with the moment
Whoever is home, it heads for them, rubs against them and rolls onto its side. Any time is a good time for a familiar toy, and when it tires it sleeps in the sun next to someone. There is no telling when it will come looking for you.
Read the type guide · ESFPOn these dimensions the two type descriptions lean the same way. Similar habits can mean easy company, and also wanting the same spot at the same time.
With the family sitting on the living-room rug, it settles in the middle of everyone.
It sees you sit down on the floor and comes straight over, tail up.
They may turn up in the same room, or at the same door, at the same moment. Offer more than one place to settle near you, such as two perches or two spots on the sofa, so neither has to wait for the other to move.
The evening game is the one it knows: you roll the cloth ball and it trots along behind.
The familiar ball is all it needs: it stretches out a paw and the game has started.
A new cat, new furniture or a new smell is a big change for either of them. Change one thing at a time, and keep each cat’s own bed, blanket and favorite toy where they have always been.
You open the door and it is at your ankles, winding around them with its tail up.
It brushes its whole side along your leg in passing, then turns back to do it again.
They may want the same lap. Sit where there is room on both sides, give each cat some time with you on its own, and pause the petting now and then so either one can leave.
On these dimensions the descriptions lean in opposite directions. A difference is not a problem; it shows where each cat may need a choice of its own.
It curls up in its corner of the sofa beside whoever is sitting there, as it does every night.
It falls asleep on the big cushion next to whoever is on the sofa, at no particular time of day.
One cat’s playtime may be the other’s nap. Keep the routine steady for the cat that relies on it, and offer the other a short game somewhere else when it gets going at an odd hour.
These steps are the same for any two cats, whatever their types. Go at the pace of the less comfortable cat.
This compares type descriptions for fun. How two cats actually get along depends on each cat and their home. How it works
