One Kitty or Two?

I'm sorry if this has been discussed before. I tried searching but had no luck.

I am going to get a kitten or two in a couple of months (September). I am starting medical school and am waiting a month into school to make sure I have as much free time as I think I will to make sure its fair to the kitties. I should be only gone 4-5 hrs a day.

I was originally planning on getting two sibling kitten, I had read some articles about how they keep each other busy when you're not home and train each other etc. I thought it would be better for the cats to get two.

But my mother is adamant that if I get two they will not bond with me as well, will always be getting in trouble together and destroying things and will in general be worse pets than if I were to only get one.

What is everyone here's opinion on whether getting one kitty alone or two together is best?

In my opinion- 2 is better than just 1. Especially if your planning on getting your kitten younger. (12+ weeks is the suggested age to be bringing your kitty home with you from their mom)

When we got Harley, he was our only kitty- to this day I wish we could have gotten him a friend right away- we were always gone for work during the day, & he was up all night crazy & wanting to play (even tho we played with him for hours when we were home)

We have 2 cats now, and when we brought Bayley home, he bonded with us just fine & has bonded with Harley too. Bayley is 1 and we got him from our shelter- he's a lover & a cuddler with us, and with Harley.

In the best interest of your kitten, I would get two- they will entertain eachother while your gone AND while your sleeping too

If you can afford it, go for 2!

There is a thread somewhere, but oh well. I say get 2!! I have always only had one kitty... female. When my last one passed, I adopted 2 from the shelter.... brother and sister. I will NEVER only have one kitty again. They DO keep each other company and play and get into stuff, however, the boy kitty, Reggae, loves on me more than any other cat I have ever had. ALWAYS sleeps with me, ALWAYS laying on me, ALWAYS following me around. Tiki, the female kitty spends time with me when SHE feels like it.

I say get 2!! You will see a lot of people agree on here. Good luck!

hehehe just needed to use them!!

Mooch and Noodles are litter mates. If I had to do it all over again I would not change that a bit! Mooch at this moment is sleeping in my lap. Noodles snuggles with me a lot also.

I got them when they were 11 weeks old. I just made sure I played and cuddled each of them. I've never had a problem with them except when they were both just spayed and wanted to play and had aggravated their stitches. I ended up having to kennel them in separate kennels but facing each other. They both cried their little hearts out!

When they were small I kept them in a large dog crate with a small litter box, a bed, a few toys, and their food and water, when I was sleeping or not home. (I don't have a good safe room for kittens) I never had a problem with them being in there. In the past, when introducing a kitten into the house, they would cry at night if kenneled and things. That was never a problem with these 2 so long as they were together. They would however cry if they were in a room and suddenly realized the other one wasn't in sight!

My personal opinion is that you should get 2 if you can afford it. When you are home you will be needing to study and things, so they will still be able to entertain one another then. Good luck!

I agree with two as well. They do not have to be littermates, or even the same age. I volunteer at the local HS & place cats/kittens. I always reccomend two as they are much more "mentally stable" & much more....I dunno...happier! Cats are social animals...they do better in 2+. I've successfully placed kittens that are 6 months & 2 years....12 weeks & 8 months, etc.

I will also throw out that they can easily live to be 20+ year old. Remember, kittens are still kittens at 6 months old. They are much harder to place once they get to be that age, so please do not look past them. There are so many wonderful "teenage" kittens in shelters & those few months do not matter much.

I say get two.

Bo, Duke and Cooter are littermates... yes, they get into trouble together (that's why we call em the cat brat gang) but they are all VERY attached to us..... Especially Duke...

No doubt about it: TWO! They will be happier and actually LESS likely to become bored and destructive.

Also, if you have just one kitten and he's a dominant type, he may try to dominate you -- which often means rough play and biting. With two, the dominant kitty will always have one of his own kind to take the pressure off... and that will make it easier for you to bond with him.

We went through this with our Dylan, who was an only cat for six months. He's an extreme alpha male, and his instinctive need to dominate someone got focused on my elderly mother. She was actually hurt very badly on a few occasions, and we were at a loss.

Then someone told us about the dominance issue, and we adopted Sassy, a pretty little companion for Dylan. Everything changed within a couple of weeks, and Dylan is no longer rough with his humans at all. In fact, he's a great big muuush!

So for all those reasons, and just for the double-your-fun of it... you definitely want two kittens! And siblings would be especially likely to get along well.

Two is probably ideal, especially if you are just starting med school. You may find that 4-5 hours is more like the amount of free time you have per week, and as others have said in a couple years you'll be starting your residency and you will have a very cat-unfriendly schedule. By then, whichever number of cats you have will be fine with it, but two will keep each other company.

IMO they mostly just sleep while we're gone anyway. (Aside from the random hour when they tear everything apart and hide your mail).

That said, I have one, and she's just fine with me. I have found that when around other cats she's like a teenager "But MOOOOOMMM, I wanna play with my friends! See you later!", and this may be where your mom gets it. When you have two cats and it is the normal circumstance, they bond with you together. Your mom may be misinterpreting their actions, a lot of what two cats do (playfighting, chasing, etc) is actually to impress you.

I just wanted to reply that I'm starting law school in August. I've read a few things that say Law/Med students are helped with pets because it will snap us out of our study-study-study life! haha. If I didn't have my boyfriend here to play with our new kitty Tsar I would have gotten two. Simply becuase when Tsar's climbing all over my computer it would be a lot easier for him to go play with his other kitty friend than trying to teach him they keyboard isn't a toy!! HAHA

Goodluck starting school! I hope for both of us we don't get too wrapped up in the books! Law school is also only a few hours a day, but talking to students it seems like they are on campus ALL day anyway in the library/cafe etc.

I am also in the crowd that says two are better than one. I only own one, but I have several dogs and they play with each other and are good company.

Most of my life I've only ever had one dog at a time, one cat at a time both species together. Until 7 yrs ago my son brought home a pup, so we have 2 dogs. Its been the greatest experience ever, watching them play & interact with each other. To this day I've still only ever had one cat at a time. Having said all that, I think you'd love having 2 cats, as everyone else has said.

Here's another vote for 2!! When we had Jonah on his lonesome he just shlumped around the place all day when we were at work and was DESPERATE for attention as soon as we got home. When we added Misha to the mix he was much more content. They'd sleep together, play together etc. but still needed their lovin' from us.

I just wanted to add that when I got my kitties from the shelter, they were already over 8 months old. They still bonded with me very quickly. Good luck!

2 please ... When I was young we had two dogs and two cats..they were easy to care for and they played together. then I stupidly got one kitty and one doggy...lolll... LOTS of work

Thanks so much for all the info and opinions everyone! I really appreciate it. I think I'm gonna go ahead and get two.

That was my original instict anyway but everyone around me is soooo opposed to me getting kitties (my parents, best friends' parents, best friend, etc) that I was thinking that getting 1 would be just as good but a compromise for them. But if the kitties will be happier together then I'll just get two and deal with my family.

Note: Its not that I'm that young that any of them have a say in my life - I'm 23. But I've never disagreed with them on something this big before.

So maybe this is a good question for the lot of cat lovers out here. Do you think its wrong for me to get kitties now while I'm still in school/an apartment. I think a couple of kittens could be perfectly happy with a decent sized apartment/patio and a couple of hours of playtime a night from a slightly stressed med student. And then when rotations start they'll be older and I will probably be living with my bf by then. If not - rotations are not that bad - just change a lot. Then by the time they're 4 I'll do internship and residency which can be as bad as a normal job if I do an easy specialty or about twice as many hours if I do a long residency. But by then its pretty unlikely I'd still be living alone and would have someone at home to help (I will now too - a roommate).

So what do you guys think? Fair to the kitties?

People always recommend against students getting pets.

I got Zissou in my 3rd year of undergrad, but I do know enough people who screwed up having pets to know that maybe we do deserve some of the warnings.

Here is the requirement: Are you prepared to be committed to your cats for the rest of their lives? In some cases this will mean putting their needs before your own. You may have to pass on that perfect apartment because it doesn't allow pets, give up travelling overseas extensively, etc. When you are a student, you are in a constant state of flux, your life will change drastically and more than once, and in some ways you never would have expected.

If you can say with certainty there is no future you envision for yourself where they won't be, then you are ready for pet ownership. This is true at any age.

As for your long hours, etc, no worries. Cats are almost ridiculously self-sufficient when they need to be.

In your case, from what you've said, I do think you are ready to get kittens! You're already planning ahead for them, researching them, and choosing their own well-being over an easier time with other people. And you obviously understand it isn't something to be done lightly.

And one final plug: Spay and neuter before 6 months, and just say no to declawing.

Originally Posted by alwaysaangel

So maybe this is a good question for the lot of cat lovers out here. Do you think its wrong for me to get kitties now while I'm still in school/an apartment. So what do you guys think? Fair to the kitties?

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That is a subjective question and your answers aren’t as simple as no or yes.

I owned and showed pets in college, grad and undergrad. I know many that did/do and did so responsibly. I also knew some that weren’t responsible.

I think instead of people making blanket statements that students shouldn't own animals, it is an individual case by case basis to see if the person is devoted to making this work, can be mature and responsible enough to give the pets the attention they deserve, and will always put them high on the priority scale regardless of what comes up.

Seems like you have given this a lot of thought and are being mature about this decision. I would say go for it and please find time to share pics and stories with us occasionally!

Thanks guys for the support. Once I'm a month into school and I'm sure the schedule is what I think it will be - I'm gonna go for it. I'm not much of a traveler and I already spent a month finding an apartment in Irvine that allowed cats in preparation for this - so doing it again is no big. And I never take anything lightly.

Can't wait to get my new kitties! I'll post pics in a few months once I get them!

I'll never have one of anything. I feel animals need companionship, be it two or more cats, one dog with one cat, etc. My animals have always had "brothers and sisters" no matter whethey they be dogs or rabbits...