Fostering Kittens As A Way To Keep Keegan A Playmate?

mokapi

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So my younger cat, Keegan, is about 11 months old now (guesstimate). My older cat, Mrowmrow, is 9 years old. M is not playful; not with me, not with the dog, etc. He never really has been. He just wants to be held or lounge on the dish drying mat, or sometimes in the sunshine. His activity always came from supervised, on-leash walks.

Keegan is an absolute nutball. He has at least four pounds on M (possibly more) and is much taller and bulkier. And he's a total dweeb. Clumsy, pushy, curious...real bull in a china shop kind of cat. This morning, in a span of about 45 seconds, he hoisted himself onto the kitchen counter-- he can't really jump-- and it all fell apart from there. He immediately knocked over an entire pint of blueberries onto the floor, along with three glasses. He knocked all of my boyfriend's windowsill geodes into the sink, and then he noticed the string that I looped up high for the blinds. He yank on the string, causing the blinds to fall on his head at a very weird angle. That scared him, and he fell into the sink. He tried to clamber out of the sink by grabbing onto the completely full dish drying rack on the counter, which caused all of the dishes to topple in top of him in the sink. He escaped by literally falling off of the counter. He has basically no coordination and motor skills. I have never experienced a cat this outright clumsy in my life.

And he's hyper. He's caused M to lose weight because he just runs him ragged all over the house. He does this weird thing where he pounces backwards, and basically squishes M into the floor by sitting on his head. He doesn't really get how to play by himself. He has a crinkle chute, a playmat, a Da Bird (can't leave it out), multiple kicker toys, lots of little chewy catnip toys, boxes, paper to shred, a scratching pad for the floor, and one of those circular scratch board with a ball that rolls around. He'll play with them for a few minutes if we watch him, but he won't play by himself.

He's really stressing out M, who is at the point where he yowls, hisses, and swipes if Keegan even approaches him. M swiped angrily at my dog yesterday, the first time ever, so I know he's feeling very upset.

It's difficult to give M any room or space to himself, which is what I would ultimately like to do. I'm curious if you all think that fostering kittens would be a way for Keegan to have a playmate, allowing M to relax for a while, or if that would just be another stressor.
 

Mamanyt1953

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Any kittens that you fostered would have to be certified healthy, of course, and there would have to be a period of introduction, AND they would have to be very closely supervised thereafter, but you know all of that. M might very well find the whole thing stressful, with strange kittens in and out all the time. Dunno. This will take some thought.
 

susanm9006

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Honestly, I don't know that fostering kittens would be the best thing for your older cat. Another kitten wouldn't simply play with Keegan, it would likely also pester M as well. And if you don't have enough space now for me to get away, how would he be with another hyper cat.
 
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