We're thinking about a second cat....

[AmazingGrace]

We've got a three year old male, who's very affectionate and kind of does his own thing. He's an indoor cat. I'm thinking maybe he would like a little buddy. I'm thinking that if we could adopted a younger male cat, Rusty would still feel like the main cat and maybe he'sd like to take the younger cat under his wing, so to speak. Does anyone have any insight or experience on this? We love Rusty. if we adopt another, we want to do it right.

 

[Kath2003]

We got our cat because he used to belong to our neighbour, who decided to get another cat when he was two years old. He left home and never went back. He still beats the other cat up in the street if he sees it. He has to be the only one. It was a very young, timid kitten, by the way, but he wasn't having any of it. Think LONG AND HARD before you do this - male cats are particularly territorial and jealous.

 

[Sha]

duplicate

 

[Sha]

We've got a three year old male, who's very affectionate and kind of does his own thing. He's an indoor cat. I'm thinking maybe he would like a little buddy. I'm thinking that if we could adopted a younger male cat, Rusty would still feel like the main cat and maybe he'sd like to take the younger cat under his wing, so to speak. Does anyone have any insight or experience on this? We love Rusty. if we adopt another, we want to do it right.

I was told to get a female if you have a male (fixed of course)... I had wanted to do that with my cat but never got too. There will always be a hierarchy there too... where cats have a place in the home. Slowly introduce them (ie keep the new one in a room alone and let the other get used to the smell from outside... that is what I have heard) Your vet should be a good source of information.

 

[Claire L]

Our two older brothers, then aged 4 years, initially hissed and wouldn't come in for a little while after we got their baby brother, this soon subsided. Now 4 years later they are fine, have the odd hiss but even the two older brothers can be like this to each other. We wouldn't hesitate to get more younger male kittens, if we had room!!

Claire

 

[sarha]

We had a 1 year old male cat who loved being the only cat except when we went on vacation. He'd get very lonely even though we had a friend who would visit 2x a day to feed and play with our Andrei. He'd go on a hunger strike and the vet said that it was dangerous. Drei was a little neurotic

Our vet suggested getting Andrei a kitten to keep him company and the vet did suggest getting a female since he said cats generally are more accepting of an opposite sex companion.

So we adopted Gracie, and while it took a while to gradually introduce them, Andrei aand Gracie became good friends.

 

[Stephanie218]

We had a 1 year old female cat, Gracie - and she just seemed like she was bored all the time. We just adopted a female kitten about a month ago - Recon. We kept them separated for the first few days, and after that there were a few days of jealousy and hissing and all that...but given maybe 3 days together, they're best friends now. I'd really recommend doing it - we read online that cats are happier in pairs with someone to keep them company. With a male cat though, I might think about getting a female kitten (fixed) just to prevent more hierarchy issues.

 

[Ephany]

When we found out we were pregnant, our vet recommended getting another cat as company to our female, Belle. We adopted a little male kitten; 6 years later and things are fine. They're not buddy-buddy all the time, but they do play together and get along all right. We've not ever regretted having two instead of one.