Three Cat Dynamic

[flybear]

When I was researching having 3 cats I found little information so I thought I post my own experience here and see what other people's experiences have been.

Our first kitten was a foster- he was supposed to stay with us only to recover from neutering and find a home. We fell in love with him of course and became his forever home. His story is sad: he was found ( or dumped by his people who knows) at only 3 weeks of age - in very bad condition. It was touch an go for him for several weeks due to intestinal issues , blood sugar, infection. He was raised as a singleton with a few other cats in his first foster home but spent much of his earlier kitten hood in a box due to medical treatment. He wouldn't eat well and came to us at just over 2 lb at 16 weeks - we think he has some type of issue with grains and/or food allergies because he ate our grain free premium food just fine, gained weight and after we treated a pretty bad ear infection ... he is now quite happy and healthy at 6 months of age. He is affectionate but also independent - and he loves to play.
We decided that he should have company so we took in two female foster kittens waiting to grow enough to be spayed. We got very lucky as the family that surrendered them has socialized them well but they were way too young to be away from mom ( that is why we decided to take two). These two babies were spayed at 10 weeks and are very easy going.
Introductions went better than expected ... we used a hormone diffuser and kept the babies in an adjoining room for about a day or two so our first cat could sniff and get acquainted ... From the first day they tried to get to each other, played pat-a-paw under the door. When we replaced the door with a baby gate one of the girls climbed right over and landed smack on the top of our resident cat ... they started wrestling, a few hisses but ... it looked like they had fun ... The second girl was a bit more defensive and spat and hissed when things got too close for her comfort for a few days but ... also pounced on her new brother and joined the wild game of chase. There have been no issues and all three are living together quite happily. It is amazing to me how much more active multiple cats are. I had to play with my single kitten to et him to move around more - the three run full speed up and down play trees and whizz through hallways like crazy for hours.
What I notice about their dynamic is that having 3 really works well because our resident cat who is now a bratty teenager can be quite a pest sometimes ( no personal boundaries apparently lol) and the girls seem to take turns resting and playing. One of them can lay on my lab and sleep and nobody minds as the other two usually play ( or I get all three on the lab which is a great way to stay warm in winter) ... Tension is always diffused by the third cat. We hope that these three will still get along well when they reach adulthood.
What are your experiences with having 3 cats? How is the dynamic compared to having just 2?How does the sibling dynamic change when babies grow up?

 

[susanm9006]

There have been periods of time in the past when I had three cats of varying ages. Some times it went well, the younger two playing together, the older acting as sort of an auntie. But I have also had issues where the younger cats pestered and ganged up on the older, blocking her way to the litterbox, seemingly doing little things to annoy her to the point where I needed to separate them. So, it just sort of depends on the cats, their ages and their personalities. And sometimes you don’t see the conflicts arise until the cats reach maturity.

 

[flybear]

I can see squabbles arising when they get older - I can just hope that all goes well and they stay easy going and relaxed with each other. We created plenty of hiding spots and resting spots all over the place so they don't have to be on the top of each other but ... who knows what will happen.

 

[di and bob]

I have three right now! A mama and her two male kittens from different litters, all grown and within a year in age. (she had her first litter at 6 months, the second at a year, then was spayed. She WAS the neighbor's cat but we got tired of all the kittens and asked if we could adopt her. So happily she is ours now) Females get to be a little standoffish when grown, but they are the manners teachers and your two will keep that boy in line. My little female gets tired of the boys wrestling with her, and screams sometimes, but all in all they get along well. It's great one of your little girls can rest while the other plays, that will keep the boy satisfied with roughhousing, which they live for at that age. Younger females love to play too. Since they are so close in age, I think you have an ideal dynamic going there!