Not Sure What We Want To Do

[Suchasweety]

Last week we had to put our 12 year old dog to sleep. The concern is our 3 1/2 year old cat. Since we have had him, we had to put our 15 year old cat to rest, our 20 year old Chihuahua to sleep, and now our other dog. One each year.

Our cat Sylvester has been kind of depressed. Lays where the dog use to. Looks sad. He is happy and full of himself when the rabbit is out and about and they do play.

We are unsure if we should be considering another cat, more on the lines of a kitten. We are both in agreement no more dogs. We are unsure of a kitten due to the rabbit ( although he grew up them) we are concerned that a kitten may get it's head stuck in the rabbits home base. But know if we went with one we would want a young one more on the lines of a 6 month old( unless it is tiny i know it won't fit in the bars of home base)

What are your expertise or experiences on a grieving cat

 

[ArtNJ]

Its often quite tough for an older cat to get used to a new cat. I know you've had a multi-pet house for a while now, but when is the last time you added a dog or cat? If you added a pet, what was its age and how did it act towards this cat? Because a 6 month old will quite possibly jump all over him, or hiss, growl and swat. Either is possible. Just saying, your current cat may be more stressed than pleased. So I think my usual advice is best -- get another pet only if YOU the humans want one -- i.e. not a good fix for a grieving cat. You can probably guide them through the stress in a hopefully reasonable time, but they may never be friends.

A true kitten is on average going to be a bit easier than a 6 month old, unless maybe you adopt a home raised 6 month old where you can be pretty sure that you are getting a reliable account of its personality. A mellow adult with a history of getting along with other cats may be the best bet, but even that is a gamble.

 

[Etarre]

Although I have no personal experience with new cat integrations, I've certainly read a lot of threads about them, and the standard advice is generally not to adopt a kitten if you have an older cat.

I can understand not wanting to get another senior kitten after losing so many pets in such a short time; we certainly had the same thought when we got a new cat after losing our senior. At the same time, what about a young adult? They might mesh better with your current cat, and you could probably get a better sense of their adult personality before adopting.

We adopted an 8-month old cat, and she has some kitten-ish traits (she's energetic and playful) without some (endless energy, the need to constantly get into things, not yet having learned manners) of the traits that might drive you and your senior cat nuts.

Good luck whatever you decide, and much sympathy on the loss of so many fuzzy family members.

 

[Suchasweety]

As for new pets added recently a bunny. He gets along with all pets including my mother's dog when she comes for a visit.

We are giving it time to see if he comes out of it before making a decision. I do know that some animals need companionship when other pets die. Some just do better. Of course you have those that don't.

We had a cat who lost his other kitty friend and got so depressed he wouldn't eat and lost so much weight. So after debating it we got another one and that cat ate and ate and played. What an improvement.

Sylvester has only been moping around. He still eats his fair share and all is healthy and well as far as that goes.

I was always under the impression that a younger kitten/cat is the better choice as dominance is set and the older cat(as long as it is still playful) will "train" the younger one. I could be mistaken. I thought 2 cat's about the same age would fight more until they worked out their differences.

Of course you have to keep them separate for awhile so they can get use to the smells of each other and gradually introduce them. I think you should do that regardless of what animal you have.

He loves the rabbit and the rabbit loves him so I hope that is enough to pull him through this. Right now we see how long it lasts. As long as he is eating we are not going to change anything.

Of course we wouldn't get another one if we didn't want another one. But if you truly love your fur babies you make a choice that benefits everyone including them.

 

[ArtNJ]

Its very random, but here is the breakdown:

(1) young kitten + elder cat = the elder cat acts afraid of the kitten and highly stressed a surprising % of the time. Weird but true. If the kitten is unusually chill or patient, sometimes its ok. If the older cat asserts dominance, teaches the kitten boundaries, its likely to go well but many older cats cant or wont. This is usually the least risky if you can't match personalities, but there is still a lot of risk.

(2) older kitten/young cat + elder cat = this is even more risky, but if the newcomer is chill it might be ok.

(3) older cat + older cat = maybe the most risky if you don't have in depth info on the new cat, but if both cats are low key and have a history of being ok with other animals, might actually be least risk.

Its really a dice roll. Even if you try and match personalities, there is no guaranty. You could maybe find an adoption agency that will let you bring the cat back in a couple of weeks if the stress is bad and not resolving.

I suppose your right, if your cat was really devastated and couldn't snap out, maybe it would be worth a shot. But I still think that in most cases, it should be about what you want, because you could well end up stressing out your older cat to add a newcomer that will never become a friend.

 

[Willowy]

I think, at 3 1/2, he's still in the "young cat" category and would probably appreciate a kitty friend. A laid-back male or female, should be fine either way.

 

[ArtNJ]

Oh I misread and thought the cat was 12. 3 1/2 is better. Still a dice roll though.

 

[Suchasweety]

Oh my goodness, no no no. If Sylvester was 12 years old I wouldn't even consider get another cat.

Thank you for the replies. I fully understand the personality differences. I will keep monitoring it and let you all know if we decide to. Right now I am going to read other posts.