Will Another Young Cat Get My Kitten To Give My Cat A Break?

[Cf24248]

Hi!

So. I have my adult cat Monty, who is around 8. I brought home a kitten in September. After about 3 months, I was able to integrate them. Kitten is now about 10 months old, and as he has grown, Monty's tolerance of his antics has grown almost non-existent. Monty will still play with the kitten, groom him, etc on his own terms. But mostly, he wants to be left to his own devices. Most of the time his greeting to Ori is hissing in passing.

Ori, the kitten, is... Well, a kitten. He wants to play, constantly. He generally ignores Monty's anger and will chase him, pounce on him, etc ALL the time, and Monty gets more and more frustrated to the point he will growl if Ori walks into the room.

Sometimes, their wrestling gets to the point it sounds like Monty's in an alley cat fight because he is furious and Ori just doesn't get it to back off. He's nevernused actual claws and teeth but itiis absolutely so far beyond playing for him. I'm guessing as ori gets older and chills they will get along a little better but Ori has way too much get up and go for Monty.

I'm wondering if I should bring home another young cat for Ori to have a more willing playmate. Monty likes to play when he wants to, and Ori wants to play all day. I'm wondering if the two younger cats would be playmates and more or less leave Monty alone? Or would it backfire and Monty would he double angry? I'm thinking if Ori left him alone more they might be on better terms?

 

[Danglos]

Hi,

We have had a lot of problems with multi-cat household and have gone through eight cats in a year. Not at the same time! 2 sadly died, 2 were moved on as they didn't get on with the other cats and finally a 5th was rehomed as she was unable to cope with the kittens and she's doing well at our friends. We now have 3 boys. I'd say from my experience including cats I had as a kid that girl cats are more territorial and not suited to multi cat situations.

Male kittens fight more but it's normally playful. This week Milo had a scratched eye and a vet bill sigh. Milo is older and really acts as the boss cat. We found two evenly sized cats without a clear big one in charge would constantly fight for the crown. We now have two younger kittens who follow him around but also burn out energy with each other. So our lesson was that it's largely down to cat personalities. It took many attempts to get three who get along well but its definitely worth having the third cat.

My dilemma is after having had 4 at a time and now only 3 I have the opportunity to take on another little boy and I'm not sure whether that would be a good idea or not. So three for us work... I just like cats in even numbers lol!

Dan

 

[Mamanyt1953]

If you have the time for another round of introductions, a younger cat may be the answer to your problems! THAT SAID, it is also possible that the pair of them would gang up on Ori. Just make sure that Ori has a private place to retreat to if things get rough! One neighbor of mine installed a cat door (keyed to a collar that would ONLY open for her senior cat) in the door of her guest room. That became Miley's retreat.

 

[rubysmama]

I've only ever had 1 cat at a time, so I can't advise from personal experience. However, I think your concerns are valid, in that getting a 3rd cat might just create a tag team of kittens versus Monty. However, if you are considering getting a 3rd cat, it's probably better to do it now, and get another kitten, than later when both Monty and Ori are older.

You've probably already read these, or similar articles, but I'll post links to some TCS articles that might be helpful.

Your Second Cat: How To Choose The Best Friend For Kitty (in your case, it would be your third)
How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide | TheCatSite
How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat | TheCatSite
How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction | TheCatSite
The Multi-cat Household | TheCatSite

 

[ArtNJ]

I once had 3 where the chill kitten got along well with the older cat, but did absolutely nothing to moderate the hyper kitten that still annoyed the *&^! out of the older cat. And I think a second hyper kitten could potentially be worse. And that would be the more common scenario...not too many chill kittens out there, % wise.

I know this seems bad to you, but many of us have had this type of situation. If the older cat is actually willing to groom the younger when its tired, that is a very good sign for the future. I'd just continue to be patient. Unless *you* really want another cat, then you could roll the dice.