What do you think of play dates for kittens?

[kiva13]

Hi,
I feel guilty because I'm always posting with questions and never respond with answers. Maybe that will change in a few months when I feel like I'm not a beginner anymore. Anyway, thank you all for being so helpful in the meantime. I took my about 12 week old kitten to a friend's house twice last week, who has 5 grown cats. It was pretty interesting. None of the grown cats wanted to play with him, they either growled and hissed, batted at him or ignored him. But I still feel like it was important interaction time. He learned to respect another cat and be patient. Before this, I tried to adopt another kitten twice, but it was so stressful because he wouldn't leave them alone. Kept attacking them non-stop until they got into rollling around, ears back, yowling fights. I ended up returning them each to their owners. (Which thankfully worked out okay.)

I don't want to try it again because I don't have the space to keep them separate for a while in the beginning. And I don't want to risk that they might not get along. Life is too demanding right now with work and kids. But it seemed like my kitten was better behaved with the older cats. So now I'm thinking, maybe I should get another cat that is about a year old. Old enough to teach him manners, and young enough to still want to play. OR, even better, I could advertise for someone with a single cat who wants to have play dates. We could take turns going to each other's houses. Is that crazy? Have you ever heard of cat play dates? Maybe I'm getting my children and pet lives confused. What do you think?
Thanks

 

[yayi]

Cats are territorial so whether you bring a kitten or an adult to another place with cats the reaction of the locals will be the same. If you read the stickies on introductions you will get a clearer picture on cat behavior.
Bringing cats for "play sessions" with other strange cats may be a cute idea. Unfortunately, it is very stressful for the kitties.

 

[cheylink]

I agree, it is stressful for the adult cats, even in the situation of adopting an older cat to come in to your home with the kitten. Kittens are sponges, they will take in so much and never forget without the stress factor that an adult cat has. Your best bet to adopt another kitten would be as close to the same age as yours you can find. Otherwise you could have a number of behavioral problems on your hands. However, travel with your kitten I feel is extremely important in the first 5 months, this helps build a trust between you and your cat as well as future travel issues, vets, sitters, moving......

 

[kiva13]

Thank you. No play dates then.

 

[cheylink]

Originally Posted by Kiva13

Thank you. No play dates then.

I would'nt say no play dates, just keep it with other kittens no older then 5 months, closest to your kittens age the better. The trick is before they begin "puberty", then everything changes! Maia had a grow up buddy, we would go to my friends house for days, they were 3 weeks difference, but I think it was a great experience for her! Here's a pic of them....

You can see that CeCe was bigger, Maia was also the runt of her litter....... When 6 months came around, I could see there was to much tension, mostly for Maia, to keep up the visits. But let me tell you, Maia is the best traveling kitty ever!!!!!! Shes not a year yet and I take her to my boyfriends once a month, she loves it!

 

[kiva13]

That's so cute! And it's great that your cat is still a good traveler. I know most cats hate to ride in the car.

 

[goldenkitty45]

Cats are not dogs. Its takes longer then a few hours to get used to each other. It is VERY rare for a cat to accept strange cats within a few mins.

If your cat is an only cat, and you want a bubby, then I'd advise to go adopt another cat similar in personality and keep both of them. We just brought Charlie home yesterday. He got to meet Keno (the dog) face to face this morning. No hissing but arch/tail as a bottle brush. He's more curious (he's also 4 months old).

Charlie has not met Ling yet - and she's not indicated any curiousity yet. I'll wait till the weekend to let them see each other.

 

[lisab917]

When I first gave Ethel's babies away we kept one. Since all of the babies went to friends I thought it would be fun to "visit" one. They were about 4 months old. My kitten Peyton was excited to see her sister, but her sister was not happy to see her at all. Probably since it was at the sister's house.

Her older brother came to visit one day and they just DID NOT hit it off!

And since Mom has been going outside again, she doesn't seem to have any patience for her daughter. (And yes, she has been fixed)

 

[jen]

I used to try taking my cats to my moms but they all hated it and so did her cats. Except for one and I eventually gave her to my mom. She just seemed so much more happy there. But I agree definately that cats are way more territorial and not at all like dogs. It does take more then just a few minutes for them to get used to each other and I think it is way too stressful on the MAJORITY of cats. Here and there may be a cat who likes it, but in general, no.

 

[lionessrampant]

Whenever you introduce new cats to a new "territory" with existing cats the initial reaction will be the same: some unique combination of hissing, growling, swatting and hiding. Cats need a chance to adjust to each other before meeting face to face. So while I feel 100% strongly that all kittens need a playmate and should never be adopted alone (which isn't your fault...it's your breeder/shelter's), if you can't separate them, you'll continue to return these cats over and over again because they simply need for the introduction process to be followed. Even when they do meet face to face, there will still be an initial period with a lot of hissing and growling. This is called posturing. Heirarchy is a fact in multiple cat households and they need to figure this out. Usually it's more stressful for the people than the cats

 

[goldenkitty45]

Charlie's been here since Wednesday nite - and this is the 1st day that he and Ling actually are playing chase with each other. Ling still hisses a little, but she's decided that Charlie is not too bad

So it took her 4 days to be more comfortable - still doesn't accept totally but i suspect they will be a lot better in another week and won't have to be supervised.

Most cats take days, weeks, months to get used to each other. Its not a few hours like a "playtime" would be. Even as kittens - if they are not littermates, they will be defensive with another kitten their own age.

 

[reenadshaik]

heyyy were do ya live cuz i really wanna hav a play date 4 ma baby kitty <3 he is 5 months old and really playful he gets along well with other cats <3 were do u live btw??? as in do u live in ksa riyadh? 

hi-5 for being beginners <# ^^

 

[GemsGem]

This is an old thread from 2006. If you read all the posts you will see that cat play dates are a very bad idea