Question about solo cats vs multiples

I've had several cats, but they've always been solo cats. I tried once to
add a kitten to the mix, but the addition was unsuccessful and I lost a good
sofa in the battles. The kitten went to live with a friend and has had a
nice happy life, also as a solo kitten.

I have been thinking about getting a second cat. The current feline in the
house is a 9 year old domestic shorthair. He has been passed around from
home to home, and we rescued him from a grad student of mine a bit over a
year ago. He's totally adjusted to his new life and seems happy and content.
His issues are few, other than being overweight, and peeing outside his
litter box on occasion. That seems to happen in the spring, and when other
cats come onto our property. We live on a couple of acres, and he has just
recently started to be brave enough to go outside during the daytime. He
doesn't stray at all from the house, mostly spending a goodly amount of time
under the screened porch watching the world pass by. We don't have a road
nearby, and there are no other animals on the property.

I'm wondering if it would be fair to him to try and introduce another cat
into the mixture. He's always been a solo cat, and he seems quite content
being the boss of the humans.

I know people add cats to their homes all the time, but I'm wondering if
this is the right thing to do to an only of advanced age. Would a kitten be
more or less stressful for him? What about a female cat instead of a male?

I've read up on introducing new cats into the home, and we do have the
perfect setup, as our cat has his own 'room' in our huge downstairs
bathroom. His food, litter box, basket and scratching post are all there, so
he could be separated from another cat fairly easily, and of course he does
the outdoor thing on and off during the day.

I'm home all day, so I could supervise. My question is, is it worth the
effort? Would he resent the new cat, or would he eventually get used to it?

Marjorie

"animzmirot" wrote in message
...
I've had several cats, but they've always been solo cats. I tried once to
add a kitten to the mix, but the addition was unsuccessful and I lost a
good
sofa in the battles. The kitten went to live with a friend and has had a
nice happy life, also as a solo kitten.

I have been thinking about getting a second cat. The current feline in the
house is a 9 year old domestic shorthair. He has been passed around from
home to home, and we rescued him from a grad student of mine a bit over a
year ago. He's totally adjusted to his new life and seems happy and
content.
His issues are few, other than being overweight, and peeing outside his
litter box on occasion. That seems to happen in the spring, and when other
cats come onto our property. We live on a couple of acres, and he has just
recently started to be brave enough to go outside during the daytime. He
doesn't stray at all from the house, mostly spending a goodly amount of
time
under the screened porch watching the world pass by. We don't have a road
nearby, and there are no other animals on the property.

I'm wondering if it would be fair to him to try and introduce another cat
into the mixture. He's always been a solo cat, and he seems quite content
being the boss of the humans.

I know people add cats to their homes all the time, but I'm wondering if
this is the right thing to do to an only of advanced age. Would a kitten
be
more or less stressful for him? What about a female cat instead of a male?

I've read up on introducing new cats into the home, and we do have the
perfect setup, as our cat has his own 'room' in our huge downstairs
bathroom. His food, litter box, basket and scratching post are all there,
so
he could be separated from another cat fairly easily, and of course he
does
the outdoor thing on and off during the day.

I'm home all day, so I could supervise. My question is, is it worth the
effort? Would he resent the new cat, or would he eventually get used to
it?

Marjorie



You never know until you try I had a solo cat for years and then added
two kittens when she was 9 years old. She hissed at them, and then ignored
the kittens for the most part. When they grew up, she still never really
liked them, but there were no major fights or anything. If you do go the
kitten route, I would strongly suggest getting two. Your cat will probably
not want to play as much as the kitten and will get annoyed with him.
If you do an adult cat, I personally don't think gender matters as much as
personality. Get a cat that is known to get along with other cats. You
don't want a really aggressive cat who will completely take over.
Please go slooow with the introductions. I think rushing the intros kills
many cat intergrations.

--
-Kelly

You never know until you try I had a solo cat for years and then added
two kittens when she was 9 years old. She hissed at them, and then ignored
the kittens for the most part. When they grew up, she still never really
liked them, but there were no major fights or anything. If you do go the
kitten route, I would strongly suggest getting two. Your cat will probably
not want to play as much as the kitten and will get annoyed with him.
If you do an adult cat, I personally don't think gender matters as much as
personality. Get a cat that is known to get along with other cats. You
don't want a really aggressive cat who will completely take over.
Please go slooow with the introductions. I think rushing the intros kills
many cat intergrations.

--
-Kelly

Two kittens is a great idea. Last year, I had Billy & Lily. This year,
I've got the Babycat. Babycat is TWICE as much trouble as Billy & Lily
were. She pesters the older cats. She follows me around and stays under
my feet. Billy & Lily kept each other occupied. They didn't bug the
older cats nearly as much as Babycat.

Sherry

On 24 Jun 2005 19:56:41 -0700, wrote:

| Two kittens is a great idea.

I agree.

| Billy & Lily kept each other occupied. They didn't bug the older cats
| nearly as much as Babycat.

Phoenix wouldn't leave Scruffy alone. Good thing that Scruffy took a
shine to him, but he still got annoyed at times. Later, Calvin and
Katrina had more cats to bug if they wanted to, but a lot of the time
they kept each other occupied instead. Some pictures:

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...751&uid=514878
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...628&uid=514878

Arjun Ray wrote:
On 24 Jun 2005 19:56:41 -0700, wrote:

| Two kittens is a great idea.

I agree.

| Billy & Lily kept each other occupied. They didn't bug the older cats
| nearly as much as Babycat.

Phoenix wouldn't leave Scruffy alone. Good thing that Scruffy took a
shine to him, but he still got annoyed at times. Later, Calvin and
Katrina had more cats to bug if they wanted to, but a lot of the time
they kept each other occupied instead. Some pictures:

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...751&uid=514878
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...628&uid=514878

Oh man. I *love* the one of Katrina and Calvin. They look like twins!
psst...don't let them see this....but aren't those extra large jumbo
sized ears for a cat?? They're cuties!!

Sherry

in article , Arjun Ray at
wrote on 6/24/05 11:42 PM:

On 24 Jun 2005 19:56:41 -0700, wrote:

| Two kittens is a great idea.

I agree.

| Billy & Lily kept each other occupied. They didn't bug the older cats
| nearly as much as Babycat.

Phoenix wouldn't leave Scruffy alone. Good thing that Scruffy took a
shine to him, but he still got annoyed at times. Later, Calvin and
Katrina had more cats to bug if they wanted to, but a lot of the time
they kept each other occupied instead. Some pictures:

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...751&uid=514878
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...628&uid=514878

OK, these are just the BEST two pictures ever:

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...751&uid=514878

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...751&uid=514878

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 00:02:34 -0500, Karen wrote:
| in article , Arjun Ray at
| wrote on 6/24/05 11:42 PM:

| http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...751&uid=514878
| http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...628&uid=514878
|
| OK, these are just the BEST two pictures ever:
|
| http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...751&uid=514878
|
| http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...751&uid=514878

Hmm, you seem to have run afoul of Netscape's invention, FRAMES. If
your browser is Microsoft's piece of crap, it's especially difficult
to get the URLs for individual pictures.

Try the thumbnail galleries themselves as the starting point:

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...751&uid=514878
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...628&uid=514878

(The difference is p=1 instead of p=999 in the URL. You can also try
p=9.)

If your browser recognizes the cheesy Javascript, context menus will
still be disabled, but selecting a link will take you to the full size
picture by itself, and then you can grab the URL from the Location
bar.

On 24 Jun 2005 21:49:35 -0700, wrote:


| http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...628&uid=514878
|
| Oh man. I *love* the one of Katrina and Calvin. They look like twins!

Same litter, and from a colony of grey tiger tabbies all:

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...059&uid=514878

| psst...don't let them see this....but aren't those extra large jumbo
| sized ears for a cat??

Seems to run in the family. Check out Greystoke's pictures, e.g.

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...imgid=31367820

I haven't seen Katrina and calvin in a while, but I'm told they've
grown into their ears. :-)