trying to decide if Raven needs a friend

I am smitten with my kitten. I love her so much and she has been such a joy in my life for the last month that she has been here. She is 13 weeks old this week, and all kitten.
I am trying to decide if she needs a friend. And IF she does, when to add a friend. I am currently a stay at home mom and home almost all the time, and I worry about her for when I return to work someday (probably a few years away). I thought it would be best to make an addition now rather than then.
Anyway, I thought if we added a kitten sometime that it would at least make food less of a problem since they would both need kitten food.
I was thinking of waiting until closer to the time she needs to be spayed, and then add a kitten who is her age now, then I will vary stagger their vet costs, does that make sense?
What do you think?
Also, I think we would add a boy.

I would add a kitten now or soon. Cats are natuarlly social animals, I highly doubt such a young kitten wouldn't adjust to a playmate.

Originally Posted by mom2raven

I am trying to decide if she needs a friend. And IF she does, when to add a friend.

Click to expand...

Well, my Raven loves having pals. Nabu, the grey cat in my signature, is Raven's littermate. I have all boys, so I think a boy is a great idea.

I would add a friend soon, young kittens accept others pretty easily.

I think your logic is perfect. I got my cat a pal after moving into an apartment solo, and worrying that he was getting lonely. He wasn't exhibiting signs of stress before but he does seem happier now. And I don't worry if I'm away for longer than usual. So yeah, two cats is a great idea. They keep each other busy. And it's not much more work than one is.

We're getting our almost-5-month kitten a buddy right before thanksgiving. Not so much because we think he's lonely (we've stayed home some days and he just sleeps anyway), but because we know we wanted two cats and we wanted them to be playmates. Neither my wife nor I are really into a cat that ONLY interacts with people -- we like seeing them run around, play, do cat things and generally be independent. If they want to use us for a bed, that's cool, but not a requirement.

So we figured getting 2 while they're both young would be ideal, so they would have a buddy for life. Rather than being an "only cat" that suddenly had a rambunctious teenager tearing up the place.

IMO you can add a 2nd friend right now The younger they are, the quicker they adjust to a new playmate. You can get her spayed at 3-4 months old, so make the appointment now. Then let her heal completely and start looking for another kitten for her to play with.

Around the same age would be good and no matter if you get a male or female friend, have them neutered/spayed now too. I think its better to get a boy if you have a female as females tend to accept another male a lot faster and better then a rival female

I added my second cat when my first cat was six month old, i think you have to be careful with introductions as they get older, but they were fine a bit of hissing and swatting, then I introduced a third cat an older cat and that was a bit harder, I have three females and they are all fine with each other.

I agree that you should add the new kitten soon. In my experience, the younger they are, the more they enjoy having a playmate and the quicker they accept a newcomer.

I agree! This is a great time to add a second cat.

And if you haven't experienced boys, this is a great time to do so. While all cats vary, boys, as a rule, are more mellow about territory issues and make a great counterbalance to a female.

If you want them to be playmates, choose a cat as much like her as possible. A cat who likes to sit around quietly and not get into trouble will not bond readily with a kitten who feels their mission is to experiment on everything in the house! They are too different, and each can resent the other about getting attention for something they wouldn't dream of doing.

I am a firm advocate of the position that cat problems can often be eliminated by more cats!

The lonely problem, the discipline problem, the communication problem; I've found these are all easier with more cats because they form a "cat civilization" who all cooperate in getting their message across. And, in some strange math, two cats are four times the fun.

I agree to add another kitten soon. If you intend at some point to go back to work, then it's better for them to have some feline company.

It's a lot easier to do it when they're young and around the same size. I have 2 cats, both neutered boys, Radar and Sonic - Radar is the older by 6 months. When I first brought Sonic home, he was 3 months old and Radar was 9 months. I specifically chose a second cat with what I thought was a very similar personality and (nightmarishly high) energy and mischief level. It wasn't as easy as I thought - Radar didn't have a clue about how to appropriately interact with another, much smaller, cat (Is it a toy? Do I lick it? Do I try to take it apart to see how it works like I did with the video recorder? Does it fit behind the fridge?). Sonic didn't know what to make of the clumsy advances from this intelligent-yet-bumbling alien being who was obviously desperate to make friends but didn't quite know how...

They do get along now, but it was quite a while before I was happy to leave them alone together because of the size difference! Sonic went from having brothers to wrestle with on equal terms to having a wrestling partner that could win every time, and he really wasn't happy about that. They have never been seen sleeping in close proximity and there is an occassional spat, but generally they follow each other around and investigate things together, and have the same interest in taking things apart to see how they work...

But my point is that it's better to do it sooner rather than later - I'd have had a lot less bother if they'd both been small, rather than having one small and one still a kitten but in an adult body.

Mr. Bond informed me that he would like the kitten better if the kitten didn't greet him with the "ritual disemboweling move."

The kitten has calmed down somewhat, and Mr. Bond finds him a little more interesting now.