-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
2nd Cat?
- Thread starter Logan83
- Start Date
Hi!
It's possible, although you could have several reactions from your resident. If it's a young kitten, there might actually be fear, running away and hiding. Or your resident kitty could hiss, and smack the kitten, either with claws in, or not.
A slightly older cat might be a little easier for your resident kitty, there's just no way to know since every cat is different.
Could you foster and see how that goes?
How is her health? Some illnesses flare up with stress.
Whichever you decide, here are a couple of how-tos;
How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide
How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat
You, Your Cat And Stress
It's possible, although you could have several reactions from your resident. If it's a young kitten, there might actually be fear, running away and hiding. Or your resident kitty could hiss, and smack the kitten, either with claws in, or not.
A slightly older cat might be a little easier for your resident kitty, there's just no way to know since every cat is different.
Could you foster and see how that goes?
How is her health? Some illnesses flare up with stress.
Whichever you decide, here are a couple of how-tos;
How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide
How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat
You, Your Cat And Stress
Hello and welcome to TCS.
I've never had more than 1 cat at a time, so I can't speak from experience, but from things I've read, it seems that it's easier to introduce cats when they are younger. That's not to say it couldn't work, but I'd be concerned that the kitten would want to play with your senior girl, and would end up annoying her.
Would you consider getting 2 kittens? Then they'd have each other to play with, and your 12 year old could carry on as she is now.
Here's a TCS article on Your Second Cat: How To Choose The Best Friend For Kitty that may be helpful.
I've never had more than 1 cat at a time, so I can't speak from experience, but from things I've read, it seems that it's easier to introduce cats when they are younger. That's not to say it couldn't work, but I'd be concerned that the kitten would want to play with your senior girl, and would end up annoying her.
Would you consider getting 2 kittens? Then they'd have each other to play with, and your 12 year old could carry on as she is now.
Here's a TCS article on Your Second Cat: How To Choose The Best Friend For Kitty that may be helpful.
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2018
- Messages
- 250
- Purraise
- 283
I can only share what personal decisions I made with my senior kitty, who recently passed away at the age of 15-18 (got him as an adult, never learned his exact age). I was debating for the last few years whether or not to get a kitten, and ultimately decided against it.
Irving and I had moved around a lot (about once a year during our 13 years together), and he had lived with other cats during some of it. Some were ok experiences, some not so much. In all that time, there was only 1 cat I could say he was buddies with, and they were very much alike in personality and in age. I had a good handle on what I could expect of his reaction and probably could have introduced him to another cat successfully. He was also pretty street smart and very well behaved, so I thought he would have been a good mentor for a young kitty.
Ultimately, I chose not to because I did not want to add any kind of stress in his life and I what I wanted most for him, after all these years, was a home to call his own. His death was unexpected as he was in pretty good shape for his age, and he only lived in this house for 3 years before he passed away this summer. Maybe if he were younger I would have gone for it but as it happens, I'm satisfied that I made the right choice. He was such a wonderful and loyal companion that all I wanted for him was his very own home to live out the rest of his days.
Your situation may be different, and it could make sense to add another furry friend to eventually make the ease of the older's passing a little easier. It would have been easier on me, to not have the house so empty when Irving passed. But I feel confident that I made the right decision for *him* in the end, and I was able to open my home to 2 new kittens who are close in age.
Irving and I had moved around a lot (about once a year during our 13 years together), and he had lived with other cats during some of it. Some were ok experiences, some not so much. In all that time, there was only 1 cat I could say he was buddies with, and they were very much alike in personality and in age. I had a good handle on what I could expect of his reaction and probably could have introduced him to another cat successfully. He was also pretty street smart and very well behaved, so I thought he would have been a good mentor for a young kitty.
Ultimately, I chose not to because I did not want to add any kind of stress in his life and I what I wanted most for him, after all these years, was a home to call his own. His death was unexpected as he was in pretty good shape for his age, and he only lived in this house for 3 years before he passed away this summer. Maybe if he were younger I would have gone for it but as it happens, I'm satisfied that I made the right choice. He was such a wonderful and loyal companion that all I wanted for him was his very own home to live out the rest of his days.
Your situation may be different, and it could make sense to add another furry friend to eventually make the ease of the older's passing a little easier. It would have been easier on me, to not have the house so empty when Irving passed. But I feel confident that I made the right decision for *him* in the end, and I was able to open my home to 2 new kittens who are close in age.
