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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?
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?