Hi,
I got my new kitten, Happy, a month ago. He is now 3months and 1 week old. I was thinking about (maybe) get him a friend in a couple of months, but... this weekend.. Happy started to meow and scratch the corners/floor of our room. It's the same behaviour he had for the 2 first days when we got him, because he was searching for his mommy and brothers/sisters. The breeder I got him from assured me it was normal (at the time), maybe he was feeling lonely because it was the first time he was apart from his mom. These days, he's also meowing a lot without any (apparent) reason. We spend a lot of time with him since my boyfriend and I do not have the same schedule, Happy is alone only 2 days a week while my boyfriend and I are both at work. We play a lot with him, but somehow I can't help but to think that we might not be "enough"...
I don't know what to do. I love Happy just the way he is - playful, loving, and, I must admit, he's also spoiled, haha! And I'm scared he would not be so happy to share his things and owners with a "friend". He has is own huge cat tree on which he sleeps at night (it's in our room so he's not too far away from us and he gets up to greet us everyday when our alarm clock goes off).
So, I have to think about a few things; if I get a kitten, I know I wilk have to keep them separate so they get used to each other's scent. I have read it can take only a few hours since they are young (Happy would probably be around 4mths/5mths max) but some other websites say it can take a few days for the "resident kitten" to adjust. For those of you who have 2 cats, how did the introduction went?
We have a 2 bedroom apartment, but the other room is huge and I don't want either kitty to feel like the other one is more loved/cared for. It wouldn't be right either to keep Happy from "his" room which is our bedroom.. I want to have a special and strong bond with the new kitten, like I do with Happy. But for this to happen, I took 3 days off work to spend all my time with Happy. I'm not sure I could repeat it with the new kitty and not make Happy feel left out. But I know the sooner we get the second kitten, the easier it is to introduce them to each other.
I also read that people often get a female if their other cat is male. Is there a reason for this?
I'm a bit conflicted because I've always felt like males are more affectionate than females. Would it be a bad thing to get a second male?
And finally, I know a lot of you took your cats from shelters/rescue, and believe me, I'd love to do the same but I have very bad allergies to cat and so does my boyfriend. So I opted for a Siberian cat, which is not hypoallergenic but "almost" since complete hypoallergenic doesn't exist.
Now, and I'd just really like your thoughts on this: I have 2 options for which breeder to take my new kitten from. I could either go back to the same breeder I took Happy from; they have been doing this for more than 20 years and the kitten was completely socialized and loved to be petted when we got him. However, this particular breeder sells her cats for an expensive price.
Or, should I try another breeder which I found sells her cats cheaper, depending of the fur's colour. The more "normal" colour are a lot cheaper ($500 less than any other kitty I can get at the other breeder) but I don't think she have been doing this for long, 3-4 years maximum. (Not that 4 years isn't long but for sure it's a lot less than 20 years!) Plus, the lady has a weird way of letting us "choose" our kitten by its colour, meaning, the first person who goes to pick up one of the three brown/black tabby has the first choice, the second has the second choice and the third one gets the last one that the other two buyers didn't want. I'm a bit weirded out by this "selection process" because this breeder offers a free delivery to Toronto but it also mean I couldn't "choose" at all my kitten... she also doesn't put new pictures of the kitties as they grow up so it's hard to know what they look like. The 2 past litters I saw were all gorgeous, but, I don't know... I'd like to know which kitten is mine, you know what I mean?
Sorry for this very lengthy post; the ultimate question is: what is the best thing I could do for my cat and how can I get the new and current kitten to get along... without making my dear Happy mad at me? I love him so much, and I want his personality/mood to fit his name as much as possible. (lol)
Here is a picture of my baby I took while he was happily munching on my lamp!
I got my new kitten, Happy, a month ago. He is now 3months and 1 week old. I was thinking about (maybe) get him a friend in a couple of months, but... this weekend.. Happy started to meow and scratch the corners/floor of our room. It's the same behaviour he had for the 2 first days when we got him, because he was searching for his mommy and brothers/sisters. The breeder I got him from assured me it was normal (at the time), maybe he was feeling lonely because it was the first time he was apart from his mom. These days, he's also meowing a lot without any (apparent) reason. We spend a lot of time with him since my boyfriend and I do not have the same schedule, Happy is alone only 2 days a week while my boyfriend and I are both at work. We play a lot with him, but somehow I can't help but to think that we might not be "enough"...
I don't know what to do. I love Happy just the way he is - playful, loving, and, I must admit, he's also spoiled, haha! And I'm scared he would not be so happy to share his things and owners with a "friend". He has is own huge cat tree on which he sleeps at night (it's in our room so he's not too far away from us and he gets up to greet us everyday when our alarm clock goes off).
So, I have to think about a few things; if I get a kitten, I know I wilk have to keep them separate so they get used to each other's scent. I have read it can take only a few hours since they are young (Happy would probably be around 4mths/5mths max) but some other websites say it can take a few days for the "resident kitten" to adjust. For those of you who have 2 cats, how did the introduction went?
We have a 2 bedroom apartment, but the other room is huge and I don't want either kitty to feel like the other one is more loved/cared for. It wouldn't be right either to keep Happy from "his" room which is our bedroom.. I want to have a special and strong bond with the new kitten, like I do with Happy. But for this to happen, I took 3 days off work to spend all my time with Happy. I'm not sure I could repeat it with the new kitty and not make Happy feel left out. But I know the sooner we get the second kitten, the easier it is to introduce them to each other.
I also read that people often get a female if their other cat is male. Is there a reason for this?
I'm a bit conflicted because I've always felt like males are more affectionate than females. Would it be a bad thing to get a second male?
And finally, I know a lot of you took your cats from shelters/rescue, and believe me, I'd love to do the same but I have very bad allergies to cat and so does my boyfriend. So I opted for a Siberian cat, which is not hypoallergenic but "almost" since complete hypoallergenic doesn't exist.
Now, and I'd just really like your thoughts on this: I have 2 options for which breeder to take my new kitten from. I could either go back to the same breeder I took Happy from; they have been doing this for more than 20 years and the kitten was completely socialized and loved to be petted when we got him. However, this particular breeder sells her cats for an expensive price.
Or, should I try another breeder which I found sells her cats cheaper, depending of the fur's colour. The more "normal" colour are a lot cheaper ($500 less than any other kitty I can get at the other breeder) but I don't think she have been doing this for long, 3-4 years maximum. (Not that 4 years isn't long but for sure it's a lot less than 20 years!) Plus, the lady has a weird way of letting us "choose" our kitten by its colour, meaning, the first person who goes to pick up one of the three brown/black tabby has the first choice, the second has the second choice and the third one gets the last one that the other two buyers didn't want. I'm a bit weirded out by this "selection process" because this breeder offers a free delivery to Toronto but it also mean I couldn't "choose" at all my kitten... she also doesn't put new pictures of the kitties as they grow up so it's hard to know what they look like. The 2 past litters I saw were all gorgeous, but, I don't know... I'd like to know which kitten is mine, you know what I mean?
Sorry for this very lengthy post; the ultimate question is: what is the best thing I could do for my cat and how can I get the new and current kitten to get along... without making my dear Happy mad at me? I love him so much, and I want his personality/mood to fit his name as much as possible. (lol)
Here is a picture of my baby I took while he was happily munching on my lamp!