What I Wish I Knew Before Adopting A Second Cat

Rei's Mom

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Same temperament is good but sometimes opposites attract. If you happen to get a kitty that’s he polar opposite of the one you have it may work out perfectly. My girls are like night and day but they stay at each other’s side (probably helps they’re approximately a month apart in age)
This is how they sleep now that they have a tree
 

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nahui

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I did not plan to adopt either of my cats. In fact, I did not intend on having a cat, let alone two (at least not yet), so I had no chance of matching their personalities of anything like that. I just found them on different occasions and brought them home. I had one cat for three years before I found the second one, and I was very nervous thinking that I had ruined my first cat's life by adding a second cat. I was so wrong. They turned out to be the best of friends. Thus, I wish I had known that having two cats is way better than having one, provided that they get along.

This is why I believe that taking the time to properly introduce them to each other is essential. I took over two weeks to slowly and gradually introduce them and also to quarantine the new kitten and they had no trouble at all getting along. In fact, now you can find them everywhere together: Sleeping in the same shoe box, sleeping in the same chair, perched on the same window, they even eat out of the same dish, although each of them has their own dish!

Lastly, having a nice scratching post, placed in the right spot worked wonders to spare my furniture of unwanted, cat-provided decoration, a.k.a. scratches.
 

tarasgirl06

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I did not plan to adopt either of my cats. In fact, I did not intend on having a cat, let alone two (at least not yet), so I had no chance of matching their personalities of anything like that. I just found them on different occasions and brought them home. I had one cat for three years before I found the second one, and I was very nervous thinking that I had ruined my first cat's life by adding a second cat. I was so wrong. They turned out to be the best of friends. Thus, I wish I had known that having two cats is way better than having one, provided that they get along.

This is why I believe that taking the time to properly introduce them to each other is essential. I took over two weeks to slowly and gradually introduce them and also to quarantine the new kitten and they had no trouble at all getting along. In fact, now you can find them everywhere together: Sleeping in the same shoe box, sleeping in the same chair, perched on the same window, they even eat out of the same dish, although each of them has their own dish!

Lastly, having a nice scratching post, placed in the right spot worked wonders to spare my furniture of unwanted, cat-provided decoration, a.k.a. scratches.
I like the way you think, nahui nahui ! You're thinking of THEIR needs, which is how it should always be. As far as scratchers go, we have them all over the house -- vertical and horizontal types, sisal, cardboard, and carpet -- and the furniture is never bothered at all. I freshen the catnip on the scratchers weekly, too.
And you're so right -- two cats are twice the love and fun! *And more are even more so!* :cutecat::kneading::lovecat3:
 

KatKnapper

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I wish I knew the child in me better, when comes to cats. My heart totally railroads over my thinking logically and planning ahead. I wish I had known that the introduction plans you read everywhere do not cover all the variables you're likely to encounter. My first cat thinks like "Thomas the Train" (I think I can, I think I can) while the new cat thinks like a US Marine War Strategist, then follows the plan through to execution and completion. Simply put...if you're not the Jack of All Trades kind of person, have one at your side or take up the trades.

I wish I had consumed and committed to memory every good resource dealing with second cat introductions, understanding cat logic, behaviors and interpreting their body language.
 

tarasgirl06

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I wish I knew the child in me better, when comes to cats. My heart totally railroads over my thinking logically and planning ahead. I wish I had known that the introduction plans you read everywhere do not cover all the variables you're likely to encounter. My first cat thinks like "Thomas the Train" (I think I can, I think I can) while the new cat thinks like a US Marine War Strategist, then follows the plan through to execution and completion. Simply put...if you're not the Jack of All Trades kind of person, have one at your side or take up the trades.

I wish I had consumed and committed to memory every good resource dealing with second cat introductions, understanding cat logic, behaviors and interpreting their body language.
Just like IT, with cats, *No one knows everything. But we all know something*:winkcat:
 

maggie101

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I love having two cats, but it's so so important to make sure that they're of similar temperaments, energy levels, and age. I learned the hard way that a shy, low-energy senior cat + hyper, dominating kitten is a bad idea. They never got along, even after two years, and had to be kept separated. Now, that hyper, dominating kitten is a slightly calmer 2-year-old who gets along great with a new hyper, even more dominating kitten.
I brought Peaches in when she was 5 weeks old. My cat Josis was 12 yrs old.
Josie&Peaches.jpg
She did not like her at first but now they lick each other. When Peaches is mad at someone she will swat at whomever is close by. What will happen when Josie's gone? Wish I knew
 

doomsdave

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View attachment 196763

Elfilou Elfilou - Caveat: I woke up one morning just about two weeks ago and said to myself, "you have ten cats; what's wrong with you?" I resolved then and there to do something about it. Cat number eleven - a wonderful friendly stray - is now ensconced in the guest house. See? People can change their Lives.
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And I thought I was hopeless with five.
 

doomsdave

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I have five cats, not gotten all at the same time.

They all get along, though not like peas in a pod. Cats don't do the pea in the pod thing, we here all know that. But they can suffer each other with reasonable grace.

When I get a new cat, I do the following:

1. Keep the new cat in a separate room from everyone else, separate food, litter, and water.

2. Take the carrier for the new cat and leave it a bit where the others can sniff it.

3. Cats from shelters get shots, flea-ed, wormed, etc., but a little quarantine won't hurt. (Do check on your present cats, so they don't give something to the newbie.)

4. I keep the new cat in the room for at least a few days. Accept that a new cat will go into deep hiding, until it begins to feel safe in a new place. It should begin to accept your presence when you walk into the room after a few days. Try to coax it near you or into your lap. If it won't go, after a day or two gently pick it up, talk soft and sweet to it, pet gently.

5. After a week or so, crack open the door to the "isolation room" but keep it shut so your other cats can't get in. They'll usually be super curious about who this new cat is, and will go out of the their way to check it out.

6. After a week or ten days, I usually open the doors to the isolation room and let the other cats in when I'm sitting there. Sometimes I do it with the new cat in my lap, if it will sit there.

7. If the new cat is seriously terrified of the others still, I'll wait a few more days, then open the doors and let everyone roam around.

8. My normal practice is to have food here, litter there, and water someplace else, all far away from each other (I have a large house); this prevents a bullying cat from dominating the necessaries.

9. New cats are pretty consistent about where they like to hide when they're first take out of isolation: (a) a closet, open a crack; (b) under a flight of small steps; (c) in a bookcase, crowded with books; or (d) any place else that's snug, small, and away from where the others like to lounge about.

10. It can take a month or more (sometimes a lot more) for a new cat to really integrate. Be patient. Some cats are just a lot bolder and "ballsier" than others. If you already have cats with brassy temperments, that can intimidate new cats who aren't like that.

Big Boy, pictured below, took a long time to get used to the other cats. Even now, after more than a year, he stays in hiding during the day and comes out at night, though he's getting a bit bolder.

All this assumes that the new cat is a more-or-less socialized kitty from a shelter or someone's house. Strays and semi-feral cats are sometimes another matter, especially if they've never been anyone's loved kitties.

 

doomsdave

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They will come to tolerate each other, especially on a cold night sharing a warm bed or fireside with you.

Here's Big Boy, front left, Tar Baby, front right, Zika, rear left, and Der Baron von Komfy, rear right.

 

tarasgirl06

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Wish I had known my best friend Judy years ago. She does tnr and took care of the costs for me.
Wish I knew what happened to CoCo when she was snatched by a stranger and dropped off a yr later
Wow, someone thought it was a cat lending library or something? Not cool! Not cool at all! So glad CoCo got back to you!
 

doomsdave

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Five? Five is a nice LITTLE family. Three, which is the number here now, is too small. 10 is getting to a good number. More than that? As long as you can care for them all well and they are all loved, it's even better IMHO.:sleepycat::geekcat::lovecat::cutecat::kneading::lovecat3::lovecat4:
How about 43, in an 800 square foot house in Mar Vista? I met a self-confessed crazy cat lady who was trying to get down to ten (saw the pictures on her iPad); I had a bunch of kittens at the time, had to say no. Now she's down to about 20. Still keeps paper taped to the windows.
 

tarasgirl06

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How about 43, in an 800 square foot house in Mar Vista? I met a self-confessed crazy cat lady who was trying to get down to ten (saw the pictures on her iPad); I had a bunch of kittens at the time, had to say no. Now she's down to about 20. Still keeps paper taped to the windows.
Probably not a good scenario for the cats - and that's who I care for, the cats. *PRAYERS* for them. Does anyone go in there to see if the cats are all right and their environment is clean?
 

doomsdave

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Probably not a good scenario for the cats - and that's who I care for, the cats. *PRAYERS* for them. Does anyone go in there to see if the cats are all right and their environment is clean?
I'm pretty sure they're okay, if a bit gemutlichkeit in there.

The lady was another attorney who had two crazy cat ladies to help her. Both were elderly; one died suddenly, the other had to leave to care for a sister "up north." Don't know what, or if, she paid them.

She woke up one day and had a "writhing mass of kitties" in her bedroom. That was, she said, "hitting bottom." She has another crazy cat lady, a niece, living with her to help. The cats in the pictures all looked good. Wish I'd taken that gorgeous calico Persian . . . .

The paper on the windows is to keep people from seeing in. Los Angeles has a law limiting one to three cats in a house. She way exceeds that, and can't afford a bigger house. She says. I'll bet she could buy a Glendale mansion with proceeds from a Mar Vista house . . . .
 

tarasgirl06

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I'm pretty sure they're okay, if a bit gemutlichkeit in there.

The lady was another attorney who had two crazy cat ladies to help her. Both were elderly; one died suddenly, the other had to leave to care for a sister "up north." Don't know what, or if, she paid them.

She woke up one day and had a "writhing mass of kitties" in her bedroom. That was, she said, "hitting bottom." She has another crazy cat lady, a niece, living with her to help. The cats in the pictures all looked good. Wish I'd taken that gorgeous calico Persian . . . .

The paper on the windows is to keep people from seeing in. Los Angeles has a law limiting one to three cats in a house. She way exceeds that, and can't afford a bigger house. She says. I'll bet she could buy a Glendale mansion with proceeds from a Mar Vista house . . . .
They do have some huge mansions here, for top dollar. The city limit is six, but well-cared-for indoor cats -- who knows? ;)
 

KalicoKitten

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A female to keep law and order and two males to play together are the perfect family!
That's exactly what I have and I wouldn't want it any other way! (Except maybe more haha, but not with the amount of space we have right now.) I will say though Zelda is also quite playful :D
20170925_151449.jpg
Rick and Morty are brothers so they've always been together and gotten along but when we first brought Zelda into the house she hid and hissed at them for a few days but gradually came out of hiding and now she loves them both like she's known them forever ;)
 
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tarasgirl06

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That's exactly what I have and I wouldn't want it any other way! (Except maybe more haha, but not with the amount of space we have right now.) I will say though Zelda is also quite playful :D
View attachment 197876
Rick and Morty are brothers so they've always been together and gotten along but when we first brought Zelda into the house she hid and hissed at them for a few days but gradually came out of hiding and now she loves them both like she's known them forever ;)
*CATWICH!*
 
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