should i add another cat to the mix?

meghanv

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Hi there! I have a domestic shorthair cat. He is 9 months old. Rocky is super loving at times but also shows spouts of aggression here and there. He has so much energy and displays a lot of Obsessive compulsive behaviors. My husband and i both work 8 hour days so he is alone at home during that time. He has free range of the whole house while we are gone. We make it a point to play with him for at least a solid 30 minutes everyday and i take him outside on a leash every now and then when he meows at the front door. He used to have free range to roam around our back patio, but recently discovered he could jump the fence to our neighbors yard and they have a dog so now he can no longer go out there unless i can be out there with him supervising the whole time. When he can't go outside he was will attack the blinds, attack the curtains and even attack me. I ignore this behavior and he normally calms down after 5 minutes. When we are home he follows us around the house like a dog. He constantly craves attention(negative and positive). In the middle of the night he will attack the blinds and curtians in our bedroom and will harass us if we try and sleep. He is obsessed with lights and will watch the walls for cars headlights to come in through the blinds then he scales our bed and attacks the walls. Ive tried black out curtains and even tried just leaving the window open at night with blinds and curtains open to see if he had access if that would help but it doesn't. We sometimes have to put him in his kennel at night just to get some sleep. Oddly he likes his kennel and doesn't mind being in there for the most part. He has attacked guests and family members that come over to our house. I'm at the point of wondering if he needs a cat companion or if he needs to be rehoused with a family that is home more. I'm not sure if he would do well with kids which is concerning. We don't have kids now but one day we will. He is deeply loved and i want to do anything i can before rehoming. Do you think getting a kitten would help him or make things worse? Rocky is a fixed male. If we were to get another kitten do males to better with females or another male(we would also get the kitten spayed or neutered).
 

shebaa

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From what I read and heard when I adopted my 2 kittens in February, both 5 months old at the time, is that it doesnt matter as long if both are kittens and both fixed. Both my kittens (a male and female) get along really well and loves each other. It did take about 3 days for them to get along. What really made a difference in there relationship is when they played with the red dot together. That was the starting point of them getting along
 

susanm9006

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Most young cats like yours love having a playmate and companion. It isn’t a 100% certainty but a very strong likelihood. And having someone to play with should theoretically lessen some behaviors caused by boredom. BUT, having two half grown kittens is like having two seven year olds - they sometimes get into more mischief just because they are together and running/chasing games can sometimes get too wild. So, you have to be prepared for possibly more work, more damage and absolutely more noise. If you can live with that then go for a second.

As far as boy or girl, it doesn’t make much difference in my opinion.
 
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meghanv

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Most young cats like yours love having a playmate and companion. It isn’t a 100% certainty but a very strong likelihood. And having someone to play with should theoretically lessen some behaviors caused by boredom. BUT, having two half grown kittens is like having two seven year olds - they sometimes get into more mischief just because they are together and running/chasing games can sometimes get too wild. So, you have to be prepared for possibly more work, more damage and absolutely more noise. If you can live with that then go for a second.

As far as boy or girl, it doesn’t make much difference in my opinion.
As long as i can get some sleep ill do anything! lol Thanks for the feedback!
 
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meghanv

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Most young cats like yours love having a playmate and companion. It isn’t a 100% certainty but a very strong likelihood. And having someone to play with should theoretically lessen some behaviors caused by boredom. BUT, having two half grown kittens is like having two seven year olds - they sometimes get into more mischief just because they are together and running/chasing games can sometimes get too wild. So, you have to be prepared for possibly more work, more damage and absolutely more noise. If you can live with that then go for a second.

As far as boy or girl, it doesn’t make much difference in my opinion.
From what I read and heard when I adopted my 2 kittens in February, both 5 months old at the time, is that it doesnt matter as long if both are kittens and both fixed. Both my kittens (a male and female) get along really well and loves each other. It did take about 3 days for them to get along. What really made a difference in there relationship is when they played with the red dot together. That was the starting point of them getting along
Did you get both of your cats from the same litter? My parents have a small shitzu that he loves to play with so i'm hoping that he will do okay with a smaller kitten. Thanks for your response it was very helpful!
 

danteshuman

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I say get him a playmate! He will accept a baby kitten better than a 5 month old kitten.... however he might try to play a little to rough with the smaller sized kitten until the kitten is bigger. I don’t think the sex matters as much as the personality matching your cat.

All that said a window or full sized catio would be cheaper than a second cat. A catio & some bird feeders would help calm him down. You have to tire their minds to tire their bodies.

If a kitten and a catio still don’t tire out your destructive bigger in 6 months; you can talk to your vet about kitty prozac. I wish I had known about prozac cream for cats when Dante was alive & young!!!
 

slowblink

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We had some blind chewing from our young cat when she was an only kitten (RIP blinds behind the fridge). We got a second kitten when the first was 9 months old. The new kitten was about 3.5 months. The size difference was really scary, and the older kitten was very energetic and as one member here put it "stupid excited" to have a friend. I think if we had had more options, I would have liked to get a kitten a little closer in size - because that constant watching to make sure they played safely was honestly a lot. And now this kitten is closer to 5 months, and they still play a little rough for the younger one sometimes. She'll give a hiss and I often go check on them and break them up if need be.

I think one thing that helped was just how outgoing the younger kitten is - not a lot seems to phase her. If she was a more cautious kitten, I think the big older cat wanting to tackle play lots of the time might be more distressing. So personality is something to keep in mind when looking for a second (which I support from the sounds of it - think getting another cat definitely helped ours and when we do go back to work post-covid, the cats will hopefully be better off with each other). Gender not so much. And also size/age - if that feels right to you to get one a little more on your older kitten's level - sounds like could be potentially good. And there's tons of threads and support here for (slowly) introducing two cats to each other!
 

danteshuman

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The blind chewing i would suggest bitter spray or cat repellent along with jumbo straws (toss when it looks chewed), silvervine sticks and kitty rawhide chew sticks. When I had the three kittens teething they loved the jumbo straws best, liked the silvervine sticks, ignored the rawhide and laughed at the dental kitten toys they ignored! 🙄
 

shebaa

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Did you get both of your cats from the same litter? My parents have a small shitzu that he loves to play with so i'm hoping that he will do okay with a smaller kitten. Thanks for your response it was very helpful!
From different litters, which is why it took them a few days to get along. I would say if you are gonna get a 2nd kitten, do it now than later. From my experience, if cats grow up to be the only pet/cat then they'll get used to it and wont like a 2nd pet coming into the home
 

Maggiez

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I think getting a second cat is a good idea. We adopted two 6-month old kittens from the same litter last year. Boy they play A LOT and have endless energy. My husband and I were both home all the time and they needed a dozen play sessions per day, and still get the zoomies and chase each other around nonstop. They are 1 year's old now so I don't need to entertain them all the time. But they still play together a lot and that is a huge help.

Rocky is still a kitten and probably needs more play time during the day to burn off energy.

I do recommend getting another young male kitten (or young adult). I've read that two male cats usually get long well. Male and female combo is not bad, but the girl might get tired faster while the boy still wants to play. That happens a lot to our cats. My boy Loki is strong and energetic (biggest one from the litter) and my little girl Pen Pen is tiny. They get along well most of the time. But sometimes Loki wants to play and shows some aggressive behavior, when Pen Pen gets tired and wants to be left alone. She would hiss, and if he doesn't back off, she will growl. She also gets pinned by Loki and meow real loud. It rarely happens these days and she never got injured, but sometimes I do wonder if I want to add another male cat to our house so Loki can have a playmate his size.

If Rocky is energetic and shows aggressive behavior, you might want to get a male cat that's about the same size to contain him, so the new cat won't be bullied.
 
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