Advice on getting a second cat

[Anonymous]

We have a female cat that is just over 2 years old. She has a lot of energy and often gets bored during the day. She does a sad meow and will scratch and just generally get into things she knows she shouldn't. So we are thinking a second cat might be good. We will foster first to make sure they get along. We are looking for another female and are thinking around 1-3 years old. Is that a good age range (don't really want a kitten, but if that is an advantage might consider). Any other advice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a female cat that is just over 2 years old. She has a lot of energy and often gets bored during the day. She does a sad meow and will scratch and just generally get into things she knows she shouldn't. So we are thinking a second cat might be good. We will foster first to make sure they get along. We are looking for another female and are thinking around 1-3 years old. Is that a good age range (don't really want a kitten, but if that is an advantage might consider). Any other advice?

I would be open to a male cat. Just go and meet the cats that are around your cat's age. The shelter should know their personality.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Don't.

[Anonymous]

Get her a little baby kitten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a female cat that is just over 2 years old. She has a lot of energy and often gets bored during the day. She does a sad meow and will scratch and just generally get into things she knows she shouldn't. So we are thinking a second cat might be good. We will foster first to make sure they get along. We are looking for another female and are thinking around 1-3 years old. Is that a good age range (don't really want a kitten, but if that is an advantage might consider). Any other advice?

I would be open to a male cat. Just go and meet the cats that are around your cat's age. The shelter should know their personality.

Good luck!

+1 Under no circumstances get another female. They typically don't get along.

[Anonymous]

You do need a plan for introducing them and another for rehoming the 2nd one if after a month or so it's not working out.

Separate rooms, food, litters. They can tap each other's paws under a shut door.

Slowly introduce them in a communal space. Correct any bullying behavior from Cat 1 (or cat 2). Re-separate until next time.

Do not leave them unattended together to "get on with it" you need to establish a positive dynamic from the get go.

Unless they come from the same litter, this is always going to be the case.

[Anonymous]

Get a kitten - preferably a male who likes other cats. Then introduce them slowly - kitten in the bathroom with his own litter while you’re out of the house and after big kitty gets annoyed for a week or 2. Put their food close together on opposite sides of the door so they smell each other, get toys they can play with on opposite sides of the door, and they’ll be fine. It mostly takes time and you don’t want the kitten to totally invade the big kitties space right away.

[Anonymous]

I work in animal welfare and there is zero sense to basing any of this on the cat's sex. Your cats are going to be fixed, right? So get the cat you like.

A kitten isn't a terrible idea because they will be very adaptable. Or a cat who's been in foster with another cat.

But yeah, def be prepared for an adjustment period. It's usually taken our cats two weeks to accept there's another cat there, and another couple of weeks to start really liking each other. We now have three cats we got at different times, who love each other and are so mch fun..

[Anonymous]

We got a 2nd cat for our docile and playful first cat - a rescue who had been around dozens of other cats. She basically treated it like prey, sat on it, squashed it and bit it's ears. Not a good situation at all. 2nd cat left and you'd have never known it happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a female cat that is just over 2 years old. She has a lot of energy and often gets bored during the day. She does a sad meow and will scratch and just generally get into things she knows she shouldn't. So we are thinking a second cat might be good. We will foster first to make sure they get along. We are looking for another female and are thinking around 1-3 years old. Is that a good age range (don't really want a kitten, but if that is an advantage might consider). Any other advice?

I would be open to a male cat. Just go and meet the cats that are around your cat's age. The shelter should know their personality.

Good luck!

+1 Under no circumstances get another female. They typically don't get along.

I have five cats...all female and they get along great. And yes they are indoor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't.

+1

[Anonymous]

We had no difficulty introducing our 2nd cat to our 1st (they’re about 3 years apart). We just did it slowly as mentioned above (different rooms, letting them sniff and paw under the door and then gradual supervised time together). It went pretty quickly. Maybe a week. They are very bonded.

We had another bonded pair when we first got married. It was a very similar experience with introducing them.

I grew up believing cats are solitary animals. That is definitely not the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a female cat that is just over 2 years old. She has a lot of energy and often gets bored during the day. She does a sad meow and will scratch and just generally get into things she knows she shouldn't. So we are thinking a second cat might be good. We will foster first to make sure they get along. We are looking for another female and are thinking around 1-3 years old. Is that a good age range (don't really want a kitten, but if that is an advantage might consider). Any other advice?

I would be open to a male cat. Just go and meet the cats that are around your cat's age. The shelter should know their personality.

Good luck!

+1 Under no circumstances get another female. They typically don't get along.

I have five cats...all female and they get along great. And yes they are indoor

NP. Our problem cats have always been girls.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the replies. Our cat is fixed and the other cat would be as well. Interesting on the mixed opinions about the sex. We will follow the slow approach mentioned - good to know approximate times of how long it could take. And we are aware that it just may not work depending on how our cat responds.

[Anonymous]

I had good luck introducing a second cat years ago. The cats were about the same age (1.5 years old). First cat was female. Second cat, which I got maybe 6 months later, was a male tabby. I was prepared to take it slow with introducing them but within 2-3 days they were ready to hang out. I do think cats do better in pairs (rather than solo).

Jackson Galaxy has some good youtube videos on cats - and several on introducing cats to each other:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsYT7yIOdqQ