Going from 1 to 2 cats

[mcmel]

Sept 2, 2014 14:01:19 GMT -5 ginap said:

Sept 2, 2014 13:39:57 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Last pic is really old, gray/white cat died:( solid white is with my mom and we have newer, younger cat, seen in the other pics.

I have an all white cat too.  He was sent from hell to test me.    He was our second cat.  Our first cat hated him and even though she died in Jan he is still a fucking stress-ball nightmare. 

Goddamnit! Lol

[escrow]

I was recently in this position. I have a 15 year old kitty who loves the dog, he grew up with his mama who passed away a few years ago. I started thinking about adopting another kitty not to keep the other cat company but because we love animals and have the space and ability to care for another one. A friend posted about a friend of hers needing to rehome their kitty due to health reasons, she was adorable and sounded perfect for us so we went and met her and brought her home.

That was about 6 weeks ago maybe. Things have not gone quite as well as I had hoped for My old man is not at all thrilled about the new cat (she is 6). He is twice the size of her and intimidates her quite a bit. I have invested in some of the feliway diffusers and spray which I do think has helped a bit, but new kitty is scared of old kitty for sure. We keep them separated while we are away, watch very closely when we are home and at night we let her have free reign of the house while old kitty sleeps in our room.

We have had zero problems with piss (of the cat variety anyway, haha) or poo where it shouldn't be, so I am very thankful for that. I think it is just going to take lots of time for both of the cats to be comfortable with each other. We have plenty of room for each cat to have their own "territory". Not sure how else we would manage.

[mcmel]

Here's a pic of Mia letting Eevee lick her dry after a bath.



The cat likes baths for god's sake. And she purrs while I clip her nails. Why can't they all be this laid back!

[ginap]

Sept 2, 2014 13:56:45 GMT -5 mcmel said:

Sept 2, 2014 13:52:01 GMT -5 oceanspray said:

In all seriousness, I don't think I'd risk getting a second cat when you have such a great situation going on right now.

I meant to quote this, NOT LIKE IT!

I know that I should just stick with what we have, but I have SO MUCH LOVE IN MY HEART TO GIVE

I would have 50 cats of my H would let me, I love them and totally get it.  It really is a crap shoot - they could be besties or they could hate each other.  Cats are such jerks in that regard. 

[juliagoulia]

Sept 2, 2014 14:04:34 GMT -5 mcmel said:

Sept 2, 2014 14:01:40 GMT -5 juliagoulia said:

Dammit I didn't think of that

OP- I have a.... Lovely..... Grey tiger for you. Super friendly. Very affectionate. Will clean your eyelids at 2 am free of charge. 

Oh my god WHY do cats do this?! Every night that I use makeup remover on my eyes I get a sandpaper bath around 2am.

I DONT KNOW and when I finally shoo her away she gets SO offended. "FINE BITCH I was just TRYING TO HELP YOUR FILTHY EYELIDS!" 

I think ours does it, too, to try to wake you up because then she thinks she will get fed. Eyes open = breakfast? 

[mcmel]

Sept 2, 2014 14:09:49 GMT -5 juliagoulia said:

Sept 2, 2014 14:04:34 GMT -5 mcmel said:

Oh my god WHY do cats do this?! Every night that I use makeup remover on my eyes I get a sandpaper bath around 2am.

I DONT KNOW and when I finally shoo her away she gets SO offended. "FINE BITCH I was just TRYING TO HELP YOUR FILTHY EYELIDS!" 

I think ours does it, too, to try to wake you up because then she thinks she will get fed. Eyes open = breakfast? 

Lol. "Fine bitch! KOKO with your dirty eyeballs!"

[gummy]

Ok you might just have a magical cat there after the bath pics! Get kitty number 2!

[booknerd]

Sept 2, 2014 13:59:44 GMT -5 mcmel said:

Sept 2, 2014 13:57:37 GMT -5 booknerd said:

We have a 7 year old perfectly behaved kitty. She is so sweet and affectionate and spoiled. About a year ago we got a kitten, a girl. It did take a few weeks for them to get used to each other, which was fine because I was waiting on kitten to get all of her shots and dewormed before introducing them anyway. My older cat hissed and growled at the bathroom door (where we kept kitten). 

I think it took about a month for everyone to get along well. There were no fights but my older cat was pissed and would run away from it. She wouldn't be affectionate either if the kitten was around. Now they get along great. They play and chase and sleep together. My older cat is basically my younger cat's favorite thing ever lol. 

We definitely had a happy ending but I've heard horror stories. 

OMG squee! Cute babies! Okay, I'm only going to show H your post. Kthanx!

I kid, I kid. Maybe.

They really are cute! Show whoever, I'm all about sharing the kitty love.

[agnes]

Sept 2, 2014 13:47:14 GMT -5 mcmel said:

Sept 2, 2014 13:39:22 GMT -5 juliagoulia said:

We introduced our second kitty about a year after the first... It was ugly for months. H was furious with me because he thought first cat was being scarred. Then one day they were fine and now they're best buddies. My vet said it may have been because they're both female? Said male-female tends to be easier. I don't want to scare you- just know that there may be an adjustment period and it may even be an unpleasant one (our first cat basically only hid under our bed or hissed for months.) we also tried introducing them slowly and stuff but it really didn't make a huge difference. They just had to work it out.

I thought of sticking to all female because I'm terrified of a boy marking their territory. Is this not true?

Females will also mark their territory.  My old female family cat (lived to 20+ years) would spray.  I watched her do it one time and was in complete shock.  She was a people person.  She hated all her children and was only happy as the only cat in the household.  She stopped marking her territory when all her children were gone. 

My current cat, Princess Larrie, is pretty fucking awesome.  We can only have one female cat due to being renters and it's stipulated in the lease.  When we move, I plan to add another animal to our family.  I hope that since she was good with other cats at her foster home that she'll be fine with it in the future.  

Good luck!  I hope the kitties get along.  

[blackcat]

This post literally could have been written by me. LITERALLY. Word for word.

We've had Sadie for 10 months and she is such a great cat. She doesn't destroy things, she doesn't jump on/walk on my countertops, she doesn't destroy the furniture, or have litter box issues... she was in a foster home for a long time with other cats and supposedly does really well with them. And the cat I found from the same rescue (Wildflower), has the same description that Sadie did, pretty much... great personality, loves people, affectionate, does well with other cats/dogs.

My fear, though, is that Sadie hasn't been around any other animals for a while now, so what if they fought, what if they hated each other, what if cat #2 was destructive? I wish I could see into the future and know the answer to these questions.

[aprilsails]

I have two litter mates (males) and they fight pretty regularly. We keep their nails trimmed so they don't do any damage to each other but otherwise we just let them do it since neither one ever gets hurt and they are the same size (16 hefty lbs). They don't yowl though which is great.

We introduced a third cat that we were cat-sitting for a friend and she was itty-bitty. The boys were in lurve and wanted to be with her all the time and you could tell she just wanted the hell out of there. That month was a bit stressful.

Now you have all my anecdotes. While DH wants a little girly cat I refuse to have more animals than humans in the house.

[stella1802]

Sept 2, 2014 13:47:14 GMT -5 mcmel said:

Sept 2, 2014 13:39:22 GMT -5 juliagoulia said:

I thought of sticking to all female because I'm terrified of a boy marking their territory. Is this not true?

I have a female that marks all over the damn house, and she is medicated.  If we didn't love her so much...

[midnightmare81]

Sept 2, 2014 13:37:46 GMT -5 lpcats said:

We've introduced three additional cats to our first cat in the last 6 years. I wouldn't say any of them really love each other, but very rarely do they actually fight. They pretty much all just coexist and are as happy as can be just interacting with us.

Just a thought about this particular cat...tri-colors (calicos and tortoiseshells) have a reputation for having what is called "tortitude." They tend to have more of an attitude and are more active. However, I have two of them and love their personalities.

ETA: I obviously support getting her, as I have 4 of my own cats. And currently 2 foster kittens...the more the merrier!

I had no idea this was a "thing" but explains SO much. We have a calico. Karma is an in your face, demanding cat who thinks new people are there for her personal entertainment and definitely earned her name. As a kitten she used to randomly bite your chin, frequently when you were sleeping. She has grown into a very cool cat who acts more like a dog. She rules the house and made this clear to our dog the moment they met. Now they are like siblings, taunting each other one minute then cuddling the next.

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[bonquiqui]

Sept 2, 2014 13:39:57 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Last pic is really old, gray/white cat died:( solid white is with my mom and we have newer, younger cat, seen in the other pics.

Do not listen to mofo. Clearly by the evidence presented once again in this post, she stole my cat !

[bonquiqui]

Get a kitty friend!

[bonquiqui]

❤️

[mcmel]

Sept 2, 2014 22:08:56 GMT -5 bonquiqui said:

❤️

OMG their little faces!

[mcmel]

Sept 2, 2014 21:56:47 GMT -5 kevin arnold said:

That is 100% more cats.

That's a pretty substantial cat increase.

Imagine double the amount of spilled kibble sticking to the bottom of your bare feet as you walk across the kitchen floor in the morning. I'm just saying...

Lol yes, it is a substantial cat increase. We feed raw so it would be double the blood and guts. Yum.

[verycontrary247]

I have an older cat who previously had a companion that passed away. A few years back I thought she was lonely and I decided to get her (me) a friend.

Turns out she did not need a friend. They hate and avoid each other after many many fights. I got cat #3 to be a friend to cat #2, which has worked out wonderfully.

Moral of the story? If adding 1 cat doesn't work out, get 2

ETA: none of my additions caused inappropriate peeing or destruction of household property.

Also, while they will never cuddle- sometimes they all get on the bed and very carefully don't make eye contact with each other! Squee!

[alicenelson]

Sept 2, 2014 21:56:47 GMT -5 kevin arnold said:

That is 100% more cats.

That's a pretty substantial cat increase.

Imagine double the amount of spilled kibble sticking to the bottom of your bare feet as you walk across the kitchen floor in the morning. I'm just saying...

You hush!

::squints eyes at Kevin Arnold::

[spindle92]

Team 2 cats.

Here are mine holding hands (well technically I guess those are paws) then 5 minutes later he puts her in a head lock.

[So_Fetch]

I think its just going to depend on the cats. My clyde dis not get along with the rescue I found (bonnie). But when I got salem as a kitten, clyde ended up loving him. They were best buds until we lost salem last week. we added two others that clyde doesnt get along with. Now that its just him and jack, im hoping they become friends.