Some advice on adopting a second cat

dgtazzman

Hello all,

I was just after some experiences from 'slaves' of multiple cats. We currently have an RSPCA rescue cat, Maisie, we love to bits and she lets us bathe in her royal presence in return. She's about 4.5 years old, reasonably dominant, get's on with some cats in the neighbourhood, while tearing others a new breathing hole when she gets the chance.

We are considering rehoming a second cat soon, but are wondering what would have the most chance of success as to being accepted by Maisie. My wife would like another female, but part of me feels she might be more tolerant of a male. We were thinking of getting a young cat, so Maisie can establish her dominance without too much fuss and fighting so we can all just get along.

Some experiences might help us decide which road to go down.

BitterAndTwisted

Some cats don't adapt to another sharing their territory, ever. Especially dominant ones. And some leave home when it happens.


If you do decide to give another cat a home you should look into doing a very gradual introduction, like keeping the new cat in a separate room with its food, litter-tray and bed until they have got used to each other's scents.

But there's no real way of finding out how Maisie will tolerate another cat until you try. Also, I don't think there's any particular difference between a neutered male or a female, young or older. Cats by their natures are generally solitary.

Tiglath

Out of my current 9 moggies, it is without a doubt the 5 girls who fight the most. I'd be tempted to go for a neutered younger male in your position.

dgtazzman

Well, Maisie was in a foster home with other cats when we got her and she was fine with that. As stated, some cats she seems to gets along with just fine, others she doesn't. I guess I'm just thinking what type of cat would have the most chance to a successful introduction.

I would request that the new cat is introduced to Maisie before we fully proceed to adopting. Don't want to waste everybody's time and have to take the new cat back to the RSPCA after a few days...

gettingready

Young male cat. Possibly even a young kitten - so she does not feel threatened.

I have 6 cats at the moment, 4 boys and 2 girls. Boys are cool like cucumbers - girls start trouble LOL

Snuggles

dgtazzman wrote: »

I would request that the new cat is introduced to Maisie before we fully proceed to adopting. Don't want to waste everybody's time and have to take the new cat back to the RSPCA after a few days...

I don't really think that's a realistic option to be honest - how do you think that would happen? Take Maisie to "meet" the new cat, or bring the new cat to you to "meet" Maisie? Either way, one cat or the other will be stressed from being taken to a different environment and you will not get a realistic picture of how they will react to each other. Any cat is likely to take time (weeks, possibly months) to settle in, and only then will you really know if they are going to get on. Certainly the RSPCA local to me don't let you take them on a trial basis.

We have a two year old female RSPCA rescue cat and have also thought about adopting another. If we did, we would definitely get a younger male. Although it's not always the case, many poeple I've spoken to who have years of experience in rehoming cats say that a male/female pair has a better chance of getting on than a female/female pair. In fact one of our local cat rescues has a policy of not allowing female cats to be rehomed where there is already a female cat.

It's a really difficult decision, and we have held off for fear of it not working out. If you do get another, definitely do a gradual introduction, scent swapping etc, as BitterandTwisted advised.

dgtazzman

Looks like my wife is going to have to compromise and settle for a male then. I don't mind, at least it won't be 3 'women' against poor little me then.

We have an empty spare bedroom the new adoptee could go into to keep them separated at first. Maisie never goes into that bedroom as that's probably the only internal door other than the kitchen we keep closed. All the others are kept open to a degree with doorstops so our ginger goddess has free reign of the house...

paddypaws101

I agree with others to go for a young male, possibly kitten. Like GR, I have a multi-cat household and all the boys get on pretty well, the only fights I have are between the girls!
Being patient and keeping the new cat in that isolation room for days or even a week really helps....I like to think it makes the resident cat curious rather than furious.;)

rising_from_the_ashes

I'm very sadly having to rehome one of my cats this week (I won't post it all again but details can be found here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4763376 as someone else was also thinking of getting a 2nd)

Some cats seem to be able to live in multi-cat households ..... for others it sadly just doesn't work

Very hard as how on earth do you know before you get a 2nd - in my case, Archie had lived with other cats since he was a kitten and so was never a problem - it's Mia, the 2nd into the house, that has the issue with other cats & unfortunately there's no way I could have known that when I got her

Think long and hard about it ..... have a back up plan in case it doesn't work

I would love several cats.... I've never been able to get another because Mia absolutely hates other cats .... and TBH I can't see me having another (or ever even having another female which is sad) as I couldn't bear to go through this again

calicocat

Hope all goes well rising from the ashes.