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XP from Pets - getting a kitten w/ our older cat?
Our older cat has some issues. I'm not really sure how to describe him. He's not very affectionate, but will occassionally seek out affection from me or DH, but while petting him, he can quickly bite or scratch us. He also likes to hump DH's socks. He doesn't like toys either.
DD LOVES the cat and all she wants to do is play w/ him, pet him, talk to him. Of course the cat wants nothing to do with her and runs away from her. He will occassionally tolerate her petting him, while DH or I closely supervise and/or hold him.
We would like to get a new kitten though - partially to give him some companionship and possibly help him, but mostly to have a pleasant loving animal in the house.
We can keep them separated for a long time while they get used to each other, but would eventually like to have them both have a run of the house.
Is this the worst idea ever?
Re: XP from Pets - getting a kitten w/ our older cat?
How old is the cat you already have? Based on how you described him, it may be a tricky transition. Honestly, my guess would be that once your cat is used to the new kitten, he will likely just avoid him/her rather than seeing him/her as a companion. Not saying its necessarily a bad idea though.
My parents had an older cat (16) when they took in my sister's kitten. The older cat really wanted nothing to do with the kitten and kept her distance. She was similar to your cat - not very friendly, but would occasionally seek out my mom for a little bit of petting. Kitten antics did not amuse her but they managed to coexist for about a year before she passed away.
BFP#1: 01/10, M/C 6w -- BFP#2: 06/10, M/C 5w -- BFP#3: 09/10, DS born June 1, 2011
BFP#4: 07/12, M/C 5w3d -- BFP#5: 12/12, EDD 08/18/13
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The older cat is ~10. We've though about waiting until he passes away to get another cat, but honestly that could be 5+ years from now.
If they aren't BFF's that's fine too, I jsut don't want to have a constant aggression or violence either.
I'm not sure I'd subject an older cat to a kitten. It just doesn't seem fair. Kittens are high energy, love to play, and don't generally know that grumpy-old-man doesn't want anything to do with them.
I agree with PP: maybe consider an "adult" cat that's still young and known to be more affectionate and sociable. You still may have issues with the older cat, but at least he won't have a kitten trying to climb on top of him and bite his ear or whatever the hell a crazy kitten is into.
It's really hard to say. Growing up we had 1 cat that lived 18 years and during her life we had 3 other cats. One was her sibling from the same litter (he passed away 6 years later), the next we had for 4 years before she got really sick and we had to put her down, and the last one my parents still have, however we had to put our 18 year old one down. The 18 year old was very independent and not overly friendly, a sweet cat, but like yours she let you know when she wanted her space. It took some time, but she adapted really well to the other 2 cats we brought in the house, they were never close, but they co-existed pretty well.
We have 2 cats of our own. Our first wandered into our backyard, we let him in and tried to locate owners, but never did. He is a HUGE cat and pretty friendly, but your typical cat. Then about 2 years after we found him we found our second cat and brought him home. We tried to find that cats owners as well, but never did. Because we weren't sure if we would find his owners or keep him, we actually kept them separated for about a month, but they could sniff each other through the bottom of the door. When we did start introducing them we did it very slowly, at first there was a lot of hissing and lunging, and a few minor fights. Now they are BFF's, it's seriously cute, they spoon with each other, clean each other, play, and have little lovers spats from time to time. When #2 got out a few weeks ago #1 was beside himself, he wouldn't eat and just stared out the window and meowed. Then when we found #2, #1 was so angry with him for a week he wouldn't let #2 near him, now they are back to being BFF's. So in our case getting another cat really gave our first cat a companion.
So the point to my ridiculously long examples is that if you introduce them slowly I think you have a good chance of not having any problems, they could just tolerate each other or they could become cat BFF's.
Thanks guys - I've been texting w/ DH. He had the same idea - to adopt a slightly older, but still young cat - about a year old.
that would be a good age...lots of cute kittenish tendencies still but old enough to tell temperament.
I just want poor DD to have a pet she can actually touch and possibly interact with while being safe, you know?
This all started b/c she asked about getting a cat she could pet in the car this morning and mentioned some kittens she got to hold @ PetSmart - like a month ago and went on and on how she held them and they liked her, etc.
If you do adopt another, just take the transition REALLY slowly. Moving too fast can cause serious damage to the kitty relationship. You'll generally want to seclude new kitty in a room and then after a day or so switch them out - letting the new kitty have the run of the house while your older cat is in the room getting used to the smell of the new cat without actually being around her yet. Lather rinse repeat a number of times and then when they do meet take it super slow, make sure each has its own litter box, etc. Cats are crazy territorial. They will not be best friends right away and there will likely be kitty fights; but if you approach it right they'll likely be able to at least tolerate each other in time.
If you are seriously considering this I cannot recommend a rescue ragdoll strongly enough. They are the most relaxed cats in the world. DS is constantly crawling all over Moosh, hugging him and buring his face in his fur. (I know...ew.) Moosh tolerates it like he's some sort of incredibly likelike, huge stuffed animal. Completely amazing.
lovelylittleworld
BFP#2 1/12/12 ~ Missed M/C 8w2d